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Australian Federal Police - Platypus Journal/Magazine |
A borderless world: The politics and realities of policing in the new millennium
The last century has seen perhaps the most dramatic changes in environment and lifestyle than any other. Technological advances have in many ways defined the 20th century and, at the dawn of a new millennium, it is clear that the criminal world also has been affected by these rapid technological changes. Indeed, it could be said that the changes are most apparent in computer-related crime.
Police organisations around the world must therefore adapt to the new criminal environment. said in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on October 20 that the AFP is meeting this challenge, and is well placed to successfully police the crimes of the future. His address follows.
Historically, laws were made by and for sovereign states with the geographic concept of borders and jurisdictional limitations. In today's world, geographic borders are becoming increasingly meaningless.
Crime is now a global as well as a local problem. Increasingly, many local crimes now have international dimensions.
The new reality is that the Internet and e-commerce are redefining the world. Technology is transforming markets and enterprises at a frenetic pace. Wireless telephones and small pocket-sized computers already enable millions of people to conduct business anywhere, anytime, in real time. While physical location still matters, increasingly, the location of business is becoming the location of the customer. Our laws were never created with this environment in mind.
This new borderless world poses daunting problems for both our legislators and those required to enforce the law. Future legislation will need to address the internationality of criminal activity and ensure that law enforcement agencies have the legal means to support international collaboration, coordination and investigation.
In a much celebrated interview in 1982, long before the microchip or e-commerce, the distinguished English scientist Sir Ieuan Maddock said:
"To cherish traditions, old buildings, ancient cultures and graceful lifestyles is a worthy thing — but in the world of technology, to cling to outmoded methods of manufacture, old product lines, old markets or old attitudes among management and workers, is a prescription for suicide" (New Scientist, 1982).
I believe the AFP is meeting this challenge.
October 19 was the 20th anniversary of the formation of the Australian Federal Police.
The AFP was created as a consequence of a suspected act of terrorism which occurred in the early hours of February 13, 1978, when two men were killed when a bomb exploded at the entrance to the Hilton Hotel in George Street, Sydney.
That bomb was believed to be the work of an international extremist group and targeted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting, which was in progress. Such events were fairly rare in those days. Fortunately they still are rare — in Australia. But regrettably, less so internationally. We are all too aware of recent acts of international terrorism:
• a series of bomb blasts in apartment blocks in Russia in September killed 292 residents;
• the bombing of the government building in Oklahoma in April 1995 in which 168 people died;
• when sarin gas was released in a Tokyo subway in March 1995, 12 people died and 5000 were injured;
• in Yemen in December 1998, four tourists, including one Australian, were killed by Islamic terrorists; and
• at the Columbine High School in the United States in April this year, two students killed 12 fellow classmates and a teacher and then killed themselves.
A series of bomb blasts in Russian
apartment blocks in September
killed 292 residents.
Picture: AP
Sadly, there are many other examples.
Many of these acts of terrorism were not carried out by external political extremists, but rather by citizens within their own countries, and against their own countrymen.
This is an alarming trend.
In Australia, we have seen similar acts of violence:
• the Port Arthur massacre on April 28, 1996, when 35 people died;
• the letter bombing of the NCA offices in Adelaide in March 1994, when one police officer was killed and his colleague was seriously injured; and
• during December 1998, a Canberra resident sent 28 explosive devices to Australian Taxation Office and Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission employees.
Today, all governments and law enforcement agencies throughout the world are concerned and vigilant about the potential for acts of domestic and international terrorism.
The AFP is a relatively small organisation by comparison to other law enforcement agencies in Australia. We currently comprise 2800 people, which will increase to some 3000 during the next 12 months or so.
Today, the AFP is a critical and primary part of the Commonwealth's law enforcement effort and an important player in Australia's law enforcement matrix. It also provides the jurisdictional and operational link between Australia and the rest of the world.
The principal role of the AFP today is to investigate crimes affecting the Commonwealth's interests, particularly drug trafficking, wider organised criminal activity, serious fraud against Commonwealth agencies and money laundering.
We also provide personal protection to the Prime Minister, other dignitaries and internationally protected people, community policing for the ACT, Jervis Bay and in Australia's external territories — Norfolk, Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
When the AFP was formed, it inherited the responsibility to provide personnel to the United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Cyprus. We remain there 20 years on, but over the past five years alone, we have found ourselves in a range of world trouble spots, including Somalia, Mozambique, Haiti, Cambodia, Bougainville and perhaps most graphically, East Timor.
In addition, we have members assisting at the War Crimes Commission in The Hague.
Over the past five years, we have been involved in money laundering investigations in the South Pacific, paedophilia inquiries in South East Asia, the investigation of the Aum Sect activities in Western Australia, and kidnapping and homicide related inquiries in Cambodia.
During the same period, we found ourselves providing close personal protection for parliamentarians, high office holders and diplomatic or internationally protected persons outside the scope of people we would ordinarily protect.
We currently operate a liaison network in 16 countries and this will shortly grow to 20.
By any estimate, the AFP is now an international business.
Our role, as we respond to a rapidly changing social, economic and political environment is, of course, much broader than what was originally envisaged by Sir Robert Mark.
I am the fourth commissioner in the Australian Federal Police's 20 year history. I have been commissioner for five years.
Each of my predecessors left his own indelible stamp upon the AFP's history.
Sir Colin Woods — the first Commissioner — was instrumental in melding two separate organisations, the Commonwealth Police and the Australian Capital Territory Police, as well as members of the Federal Narcotics Bureau, into a single, viable entity. He concerned himself particularly and importantly with the people.
Major General Ronald Grey — Commissioner from 1983 to 1988 — initiated a major expansion of the AFP's overseas liaison officer network and focused government attention on the cost of crime and the resources required to cope with it. He also made the organisation more aware of the value of strategic tactical intelligence in fighting organised and serious crime.
Peter McAulay — Commissioner from February 1988 to May 1994 — introduced the first major reforms, including the employment of all personnel under the Australian Federal Police Act. He dramatically reduced the number of unions and awards and developed a unique AFP employment environment involving a flattened rank structure and fixed term appointments for all employees. He was Commissioner at the time of the tragic slaying of Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester in January 1989.
When I took office in mid-1994, it was with a mandate to continue the reform process commenced by Peter McAulay and to reprofile, up-skill and reposition the organisation to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
In retrospect, I am not sure that I, or my colleagues, fully appreciated the magnitude of this challenge.
The world had moved on at a rate and complexity not anticipated in the 1970s. The rapidly changing international environment and exponential growth in technology made radical change a non-negotiable imperative.
To attempt to ensure the AFP is properly positioned for the future, we have undertaken many organisational, structural and cultural changes. Many of these were initiated from within the organisation, while others were driven by external reviews.
The nature of our work required our reforms to occur without losing any days because it is not possible to ever ‘close the business for stocktaking'. And we did this at a time of financial constraint and when the influence of the AFP within the bureaucracy and government was relatively low.
As part of this process we have:
• abolished all branches and divisions;
• implemented a teams-based approach to the way we do our work, aimed at widening and enhancing the skills of our people, so as to ensure — as far as possible — we always have the best mix of skills and resources for the task at hand;
• created a new generic title of federal agent for all members involved in national operations;
• further enhanced our range of internal audit and integrity measures;
• negotiated towards implementing a modern and flexible remuneration agreement which recognises the professional status and skills of our people, emphasises personal reward for performance, facilitates empowerment and individual decision making;
• developed a budgetary charter, and
• implemented reporting processes which properly link work, people and money.
The real value of our efforts probably only became fully evident to the wider workforce when, on February 17, 1998, the Prime Minister John Howard announced an independent assessment of our resourcing needs.
In making his announcement, he acknowledged Australia needed a Commonwealth law enforcement agency which was second to none in the world, and recognised that a reform process was already well underway to position the AFP, if properly resourced, to become such an agency.
Such government support and commitment is, of course, essential to organisational successes and viability, but it must be earned through a combination of productivity, relevance, value, results and trust — at the end of the day, reputation is about performance. As we came to appreciate, earning this support and commitment — quite properly — is not an easy task.
As a result of this review and other related initiatives, such as the Prime Minister's Tough on Drugs Strategy, the Federal Police, over the period 1998 to 1999 to 2002-2003 will receive new funding in excess of $345 million, including:
• an initial $65 million to commence the reform program announced by the Prime Minister in 1998;
• $103 million for the Tough on Drugs Strategy to fund mobile strike teams, strengthen our overseas liaison network, law enforcement cooperation program and our intelligence and technological support;
• $23 million for Olympic-related preparation; and
• $155 million to implement further fundamental employment reforms as part of a new Certified Agreement.
The government has recognised, by its commitment to fund specific projects and a contemporary remuneration package, that good law enforcement comes at a price. It has also recognised that effective law enforcement is integral to the safety, security and well being of our community.
Despite these initiatives, the AFP and law enforcement generally faces enormous challenges in the future.
Some critics believe policing cannot be effective in the new millennium. There is a view that the emerging environment will be so complex, unstable and volatile, that any attempt to enforce the law, let alone be proactive, is doomed to failure.
While the challenges are complex and difficult, I do not accept this view.
The criminal environment in the 21st century will be, and is already in many instances, very different to what it was like 10 years ago. It bears no resemblance to what it was like in our foundation year:
The Internet and WWW has rendered reliance
on proprietary systems obsolete and has
changed the behaviour patterns of consumers.
• There is now evidence that a number of organised criminal groups are working together — albeit in loose coalitions — for their mutual benefit. We are also aware that these criminal confederations are adopting many of the business practices of successful global corporations to manage and organise their affairs.
• The United Nations estimates that organised crime earns US$1.1 trillion per year.
• There are no figures which estimate what crime costs. How do you place a dollar value on young lives lost, or ruined by drugs? Or on schools, roads and public utilities not built because lawful taxes are not paid? The true negative impact of crime on our communities simply can't be estimated with any accuracy. It seems that the best that analysts can do is to describe the impact of crime on society in superlatives and the economic impact of crime in terms of millions and trillions of dollars.
• The worldwide trade in illicit drugs is known to be worth between US$350 – $400 billion per year. It is second only in value to the trade in arms and exceeds that of global oil trade.
• The United States Drug Enforcement Administration estimated recently that one well known Mexican drug trafficker was earning US$10 billion per year and paying up to US$800 million per year in bribes to prevent prosecution.
• Two recent cases of serious bank fraud illustrate the potential economic impact of criminality — the Barings Bank fraud in Singapore was estimated to have cost US$3 billion. The fraud involving copper futures at Sumitomo Corporation was estimated to have cost between US$1.8 billion and US$2.6 billion.
Technology is changing with ever increasing rapidity. The shelf life of current technology is now estimated to be between six and 18 months. In the opinion of many commentators, the capability and capacity of technology is doubling within the same 18-month period. The Internet and the World Wide Web has rendered reliance on proprietary systems obsolete.
Technology is changing the behaviour patterns of consumers. Internet shopping is growing dramatically, with commerce in the business-to-business market place in the US estimated to be likely to catapult from $US500 million to anywhere between $US62 billion and $US160 billion by the year 2000 (Source: Andersen Consulting's Technology Visions, 1999).
Banks are closing their branches. The ‘new branches' are on the Internet, where people can access products and services 24-hours-a-day and seven days a week. We've seen this here recently, with the Commonwealth Bank's new ‘Ezy Banking' alliance with Woolworths.
In the same way that technology is changing the way that we do business legally, it also has enormous capacity to impact on business illegally. Crime can now be committed at the speed of thought.
White collar crime and frauds are increasingly reliant on technology. It is now possible, through encryption of data and financial records, to make law enforcement exceedingly difficult.
Sophisticated encryption is virtually impossible to crack. For example, it is estimated that a ‘40-bit' key — that is, a number containing 40 characters — takes about three-and-a-half hours to crack using a super computer. A ‘128-bit' key would require all the PCs in the world (currently estimated to be 260 million), working around the clock for approximately 15 billion years to break the code. (Source: US Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre, Glynco, Georgia, 1998).
Steganography — which means to hide a picture within a picture — is a particularly interesting form of encryption. Software has now been developed which allows users to hide a file within a file. If you can imagine a picture of the Swiss Alps with mountains and snow and trees and a lake and a house — in other words, a typical chocolate box picture — it is possible to hide, within that picture, pornography or material used for espionage purposes. The picture hidden within the picture is undetectable and can only be accessed if users have the requisite ‘key'.
This technology is particularly problematic for law enforcement agencies because it is very difficult to obtain search warrants for something you may not be able to describe to the satisfaction of a court. It is for this reason that the US government has made it a criminal offence for anyone to export encryption programs.
Forensic science is playing an increasingly important part in this new world. We are seeing the start of the move in this direction with the Federal Government's CrimTrac initiative. This combines science, through a DNA national database and a national automated fingerprint system, with the power to deliver real time information for investigators.
DNA has revolutionised forensic science — it has been aptly described as the most exciting event to hit law enforcement since the advent of fingerprints. The nature of DNA technology allows scientists to match personal DNA profiles against DNA from unsolved crimes many years after an event and offers new potential to solve outstanding crimes — particularly those involving personal violence, rape and homicide.
Our forensic team is leading the way in developing new technologies to detect fingerprints on difficult surfaces such as polymer bank notes with the use of Vacuum Metal Deposition technology.
The new millennium will see the convergence of traditional forensic sciences with computer and electronic technologies in the digital age. The very real prospect also exists with miniaturisation of analytical techniques of taking more of the science into the field to give investigators real time information about blood at a scene, or from an eye-witness description, interrogate an image bank for an on-the-spot identification.
Worldwide, about 100 million people are seeking to migrate to another country.
Around four million attempt to migrate illegally each year. It is estimated that organised crime earns about $US7 billion on people smuggling (Source: International Migration Office).
While not all illegal migration is the consequence of organised crime, where crime is involved it is sophisticated and intimidatory. Many illegal immigrants are likely to find themselves coerced or encouraged into lifestyles that pose economic and social threats to the country, as well as hardship and other dangers for the individual immigrant.
Frequently, illegal immigrants have been found to be involved not only as prostitutes, drug couriers and low-level dealers, but also in providing significant labour for sweat shops, particularly in the clothing, hospitality and related industries which have the potential to threaten the validity of legitimate industry, lead to widespread tax avoidance and international black market money transfers.
On the open seas, vessels are subject to attack by modern-day pirates. The conditions they endure are often appalling with the inevitability of disease and loss of life. Our Immigration and Customs protocols are intended to stop the transmission of human and animal diseases, protect our agricultural industry, as well as prevent people and drug smuggling and other perhaps more obvious breaches.
The above examples illustrate, I believe, why police, and more importantly governments, must be prepared to not only respond courageously to the challenges identified, but also proactively anticipate the need for legislative and other changes necessary for law enforcement agencies to be effective.
I believe we will need to seriously consider:
• Adopting ‘mutual assistance' type arrangements similar to those presently used for humanitarian and war crimes investigations, for the investigation and prosecution of people involved in multi-national crimes.
• Amending the present jury trial process for certain offences, particularly in the areas of complex electronic commerce fraud and computer-related crime to allow for either the use of expert juries or the availability of expert advice to jury panels.
• Redefining the rules of evidence including, particularly the admissibility of second-hand or hearsay evidence, to better reflect the contemporary levels of exposure, education and experience of jurors.
• Adopting the United Kingdom approach to the right to remain silent which recognises that "the exercise of the right of silence (specifically failure to mention a defence which is relied on at trial) is relevant, and relevant evidence ought to be admissible".
I also believe the future will require a whole of government approach to the provision of the Commonwealth's investigative capacity.
The consultation draft of the Fraud Control Policy of the Commonwealth, released by the Minister for Justice and Customs on June 28, 1999, reinforces agency responsibility to deal with fraud in all its current and emerging forms. A seamless approach to the protection of government revenue will, I believe, provide the best chance for success.
The total reform of the traditional method of obtaining government revenue through the taxation system is occurring against the backdrop of electronic commerce, outsourcing and competitive tendering policies. This should also drive the need for a whole of government approach to the provision of the Commonwealth's investigative capability.
I am now entering the penultimate year of my appointment. In this period, my primary focus will be to ensure that:
• the organisation is properly positioned and resourced to meet the challenges of the next five years and beyond;
• the workforce is properly skilled to meet operational demands and government expectations;
• the organisation is meeting the operational goals set by government; and
• the organisation has a succession plan in place for the next leadership generation.
In 1996, the AFP, for a range of reasons, not all of it its own making, found itself in a position where it lacked operational and financial credibility within government and the bureaucracy and had insufficient budgetary and technical resources and people. As CEO, it is my responsibility, together with my senior management team, to ensure such problems do not occur, or when they do, to convince government they should be rectified.
There is little doubt in my mind that without our self-generated reform process and willing support for a number of external reviews, we were likely to have failed. But, despite the fact that it is an undertaking which I believe should be required by all responsible governments, it is one which almost inevitably brings a CEO into conflict with his own people.
It is a difficult challenge to speed up the evolutionary process of organisations, to separate them from their past, and do it in such a way as to minimise organisational dislocation and upset. It is not easy — it is complex and complicated — but to fail to do so is to abrogate the responsibility of leadership.
The police force I joined 32 years ago looks nothing like the agency which I now lead. Many of the earlier internal changes and legislative reforms occurred in a relatively stable environment. The community now wants more from its police, I believe, than just keeping pace with the criminal environment. It wants us to be ahead of the game.
To do this we need to invest constantly in our people. We need to invest in our intelligence systems, our technology and our research — and we need to do this in an environment where we are working with laws intended for the future — not just the present or the past.
We are at a time when technology, public sector reform, community expectations for rigorous accountability, and the potential for criminal activity is requiring more than accelerated organisational change.
We are in a global environment of such extraordinary change and anything less than comparable internal change will leave us, the Government and the Australian community, in an unacceptably vulnerable position. But budgets and resources alone do not make great organisations. People do.
We must never lose sight of the fact that our most valuable assets walk out of the door every evening. This is why we need to make sure we have the best skilled and trained people in law enforcement, that they work in an environment which embraces conditions reflecting their skills and professionalism and that they are sufficiently empowered to operate to their potential.
We now have many leaders in the Australian Federal Police. Leadership occurs at all levels and a major plank underpinning our cultural transformation strategy has been to recognise and to encourage the professionalism, development and personal accountability of our members.
This willingness and capacity will, I believe, determine the organisations which will not only survive but prosper in the new millennium.
The fight must be for the future, not the past.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUFPPlatypus/1999/28.html