Five years after the Lindt cafe siege, 48 police officers will today be honoured at a secret ceremony.

29 officers will receive the force’s highest honour, the Commissioner’s Valour Award. A further 19 will receive the Commissioner’s Commendation for Courage.

The time and location has to be kept secret as most of those involved are Tactical Operations officers involved in “covert type roles”.

Commissioner Mick Fuller tells Alan Jones the 2014 terrorist attack has had a lasting impact on a lot of people.

“They’re going into high-risk situations every day and it just happened that Lindt Cafe, obviously being a terrorist incident and the first of its kind in Australia, received a lot of scrutiny.

“For mine, these officers were courageous before Lindt Cafe and they will be afterwards.

“I meet with some of the survivors and the police and they talk about it as if it was yesterday.”

Alan Jones says they awards are well-deserved and long overdue.

“I don’t have any comprehension of how they handle this, let alone how they handle the aftermath.

“All I can say is they’ve earnt their medals and our gratitude.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

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