The Evolution of Life-Saving Tools (Tac:Life)
I went from a minimal skill set Johnny Plod in the patrol van who you’d expect as a new recruit to then being one of the most well trained tactical medics in the Northern Territory Police Force, Police Tactical Group, so well trained in fact that the Ambo’s would even let me fold the sheets for them when they arrived to do the cardiac arrests (basically in my head, I’m a surgeon) and time after time was able to begin using my skills on a number of different traumatically injured patients to help save their lives, one such offender I helped save, I’d also just been involved moments before in apprehending (albeit the K9 did most the work)!
Every frontline responder has war stories and getting into them is always great over a couple of beers at a BBQ which usually turns into part therapy, part comedy, the morose humour is some of the best you’ll ever hear and is absolutely the way to exercise that black dog leashed to us all.
What matters more than that though is being ready for the next time it happens (the trauma, not the beers and the bbq), something, I think that we all become conditioned to expect. Hence why so many of us become fanatics for collecting amazing kit and shopping department for that shiney new gear (Tac:Life) that we know is going to essentially be used to save ours or someone else’s life.
Sticky Situation
In 2006, as a police officer in the Northern Territory, I learnt the hard way that all my comrades and I were out there on the daily being thrown into situations where people’s lives literally hung in the balance (shit pun for when you find a swinger in a church at night – happened). I remember one particularly tough day though, responding to a call where a person had self-harmed so severely, they were losing blood fast from a big ass needle they’d cannulated their own anti-cubital fossa (A.C.F.) (think fire hose, pushing blood all over the floor). All I had was a basic first-aid kit which was in the car back over the barbed wire fence that I had needed to cut and climb before my partner and I had kicked a door off it’s hinges even just to get to this fella in the first place, and I felt utterly helpless watching this prick drain his life credits all over the floor like some sort of open faucet.
What’s my job? To try and save this dickhead, but with no advanced medical tools, 5 fifths of F-all skills, it was like trying to stop a flood with a bucket.
Stayin’ Alive!
What Life Was Like Before
In those days, the training was minimal—DRABC (Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation) was all I had. And when the situation was more severe, cannulated veins, cut wrists, or hanging incidents, I was forced to rely on basic interventions. Imagine showing up to a critical scene with nothing more than a plastic first-aid kit while trying to stop someone from bleeding out. We had nothing advanced—no hemorrhage control devices, no AED, just basic bandages and saline solution to rinse wounds.
Look at this old school bullshit! If you don’t have it, you’re going to need it!
Aha Moment
Fast forward to today, where the need for more than just a basic first-aid kit has become evident in every corner of the world LET ALONE in the EP environment where your Principal probably has a bunch of co-morbidities highlighted by the pandemic. The tragic loss of lives due to a lack of proper medical intervention should never be an option, not when you’re dealing with Ultra High Net Worths, Fortune 500 CEO’s and anything from A to D list influencer celebrities. This is why at Panoptic Solutions – Australia & Asia Security & Risk Management , we’ve partnered with tac:life ltd to provide a deployable, advanced trauma system that includes both catastrophic hemorrhage control and AED capabilities.
The realisation came over time. As more tactical medics trained alongside some of the best military doctors, nurses, and special forces medics, it became clear that frontline responders need the tools to operate as medical professionals—because trauma doesn’t wait.
Youtube short of Tac:Life
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Steps to Success
Here’s how we’re changing the game. With the Tac:Life Belt and AED system, responders now have immediate access to life-saving equipment on their back and equippable even in a DigPro/Executive Protection suited and booted load out as an every day carry. These systems are designed to be:
- Quick to deploy: The belt integrates into standard police and military gear.
- Easy to use: Clear, intuitive instructions so that even those with basic medical training can deploy it effectively.
- Compact and portable: So officers and operatives can move freely without being weighed down.
Moreover, we’ve ensured that this equipment is available to the broader industry, not just those within our organisation. We’ve signed a distribution deal to bring the Tac:Life Belt to law enforcement, military, and even private security sectors across Australia and the Asia-Pacific.
End Result
We are on a mission to ensure no officer feels the helplessness I once felt. With access to advanced medical tools like the Tac:Life Belt, officers will be empowered to save lives in those critical moments when every second counts.
Our goal is to help bridge the gap between first response and trauma care in the field. The tools are here, the training is ready—it’s up to the industry to take the next step.
There’s 25 available in Australia right now, sitting in our office,
Of those, we will keep 5, because….. well obviously they’re fucking amazing.
Of the 20 remaining another 5 will be sent out to field trainers and our network keen to test them for us,
Of the remaining 15, only 13 will be for sale,
Of those 13, 3 have already been spoken for.
10 Left…
Want to be an industry leader, you can wait, or you can dive in. We’ve got ours so……
Info@panopticsolutions.com be fast, if you’re lucky there might be some left.