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Editors --- "Looking to the future" [2001] AUFPPlatypus 1; (2001) 70 Platypus: Journal of the Australian Federal Police, Article 1


Looking to the Future

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On Thursday December 7, 2000, 168 federal agents received their Diplomas of Policing in ceremonies conducted simultaneously around the country. In Melbourne, Chris Whyte, General Manager Policy and Commercial, spoke to the new federal agents about the changes undertaken by the AFP in recent years, and the global factors influencing the direction that law enforcement will take in the future.

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Chris Whyte, General Manager Policy and Commercial

Today is an occasion for congratulations to those of you who have received your Diploma of Policing. If we take your initial swearing in after 18 weeks of intensive training at the AFP College to have been a first way station then, after a further period of workplace learning, this is a second way station in a career the extent and success of which is limited only by your individual capacities for application and initiative, by your aspiration to excellence, as federal agents.

This is a particularly exciting time for law enforcement. Its challenges include:

• a rapidly changing and uncertain international environment in social, political, economic, technical and criminal terms; and

• a recognition by Government of the importance of effective law enforcement to the wider social, political and economic stability of Australia and its region, and recognition of the global context within which law enforcement must operate if it is to be effective.

What I would like to suggest to you is that one of the greatest services you can undertake for the AFP, in addition to focusing on your daily operational responsibilities, is to reflect regularly on what the organisation should be like in 10 or 20 years, and actively contribute and work towards that future vision. You, and your peers around Australia attending similar conferral ceremonies today, are part of the human and intellectual capital of the organisation. It is in your individual interests, as much as in the interest of the AFP and of effective national and international law enforcement, that you should progressively acquire additional skills and qualifications and use those not only in your individual roles, but as bases for participation in the development of the organisation.

Before pursuing that theme, let me reflect briefly on the past. When I first became involved in AFP affairs in 1981, it was from the relative distance of the law enforcement policy area of the then Department of the Special Minister of State, performing functions now absorbed into the Attorney-General's Department as the AFP's portfolio agency. To take only three examples from that time, the AFP's voice was not heard in the senior counsels of Commonwealth policy formulation, some 30 per cent of the AFP's strength still provided the static protection services which are now performed by the Australia Protective Service, and promotion in the AFP was to a rank rather than a position. The latter meant that it was difficult to select a horse for a course.

Even six years ago, the AFP retained a paramilitary structure that lacked a standard approach in some critical areas such as the way in which it categorised and thus dealt with referrals, and had relatively primitive technology and planning processes.

Enormous changes have occurred in those six years. These include:

• implementation of the National Teams Model;

• development of the Case Categorisation and Prioritisation Model;

• abandonment of the rank system (other than in the ACT);

• implementation of world standard operational IT systems;

• implementation of a new employment regime and professional salaries structure;

• implementation of new financial systems and devolution of financial management;

• expenditure on operational and technical equipment upgrades;

• a much increased focus on the delivery of quality education programs;

• development of management information and reporting systems; and

• implementation of a sophisticated business planning regime to assist in resource allocation.

While these things have been happening, and with a great deal of effort, the AFP has also been able to achieve a new credibility with Government in relation to financial management, has received quite generous additional resourcing (and is seeking its renewal in next year's Budget), has established itself firmly as a contributor to relevant national policy debates in Canberra, and has established client relationships which have resulted in survey findings in the order of 90 per cent satisfaction with our provision of services. It has also dealt successfully with the outcome of the 1998 Ayers Review, and is at present responding to a Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee Inquiry.

All of the diversionary potential of these things has not prevented the AFP from delivering superb operational results, particularly in the past 12 months.

The past few years have been particularly stressful. But they have laid a firm foundation on the basis of which we can begin to think about other things, with a real capacity to be involved in and to influence them.

As perceived 20 years ago, optimisation of outcomes from the point of view of Commonwealth law enforcement interests required little more than that one do what one was told.

Optimisation of outcomes for the AFP in the new millennium requires that empowered staff with relevant professional skills and qualifications:

• often work alone or in small teams with representatives of other law enforcement agencies, state and overseas, e.g. the National Crime Authority (NCA), Customs, AUSTRAC;

• work with representatives of security organisations;

• work with other Government departments, including regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Investments Commission, environmental and cultural heritage agencies; and

• work with elements of the private sector.

Given the enormous variety of work in which we are involved, there is a view that a successful AFP will need to become, in part, a broker or clearing house for law enforcement problems. Put another way, we can do much of the work ourselves, but need to be prepared and sufficiently skilled and self-confident to refer matters to other, more specialised, practitioners should the situation require. We can't expect to provide all services to all comers. But we can aspire to be the acknowledged authority in arranging and coordinating the provision of services where it is not practical or otherwise appropriate for us to deliver them ourselves.

The AFP's first charters from Government were relatively inflexible, and listed a number of categories of criminal activity on which the organisation was expected to focus. They tended to reflect inputs. You will devote X resources to Y problem. By definition, this is a very rigid model.

The way in which the Government's expectations of law enforcement might be expressed today are significantly different:

• ensure that Australia is seen to be a safe place to invest and to visit;

• ensure confidence in Australia's financial and communications infrastructure; and

• ensure that regulatory frameworks are seen to be effective and that law enforcement personnel are technically and professionally skilled and honest.

In other words, what is sought is a far more broadly conceived and sophisticated outcome, which will necessarily be delivered by a better qualified and more flexible workforce supported with leading edge technology and working closely with a wide range of partners.

There are few respects in which the AFP now is the same as the AFP of 20 years ago. This is most notable in the growing acceptance that individuals at all levels in the organisation can make a difference. They make that contribution in operational areas by being encouraged, increasingly, to accept the initiative and to make judgements and decisions which their predecessors were not empowered or may not have felt trusted to make. They make that contribution in non-operational areas by facilitating delivery of the organisation's services in more effective ways and by ensuring our contribution in policy and other forums.

It is in the interests of the AFP to encourage its people to increase their level of skill and their formal qualifications. Some of you may have seen an article in the December issue of the AFP Journal Platypus by John Murray, the Chief Police Officer in the ACT. In the article, he records the suspicion and animosity with which he was faced as a detective in South Australia in the '70s when he enrolled in an adult education class. An inclination to study was considered indication of an intention to leave and thus of treachery.In the new millennium, the AFP encourages its members to study, and may even encourage them to leave.

Obviously I am not saying that we want to lose people who were selected on the basis that they were quality applicants and in whom the organisation has made and will make a significant investment.What I am suggesting is that in many instances it will be mutually advantageous to have AFP staff carry their professional skills into law enforcement and related roles in other public and private sector agencies, and then to move back after a time, bringing with them increased levels of skill and experience, and a network of contacts.

This is something to be encouraged, not feared or mistrusted. It should be a mark of maturity and confidence in what it has to offer that an agency can say to its staff - be contributors to the future shape and character of this organisation and, at the same time, go out and increase the breadth and level of your experience and skill, because that is an advantage to us collectively as much as it is to you individually. The AFP will not retain the interest of its staff unless it constantly changes and develops such that it is seen as an interesting and rewarding place to work - and much of that change and development has to be driven by those same staff.

It is also important to be realistic. Organisations, even relatively small organisations like the AFP, are not perfect. They, and some of the individuals in them, can be deeply frustrating, even infuriating. Unless you lead charmed lives, that will always be the case. The trick is to try to do something constructive about it. To maintain one's confidence that the progressive majority must, inevitably, prevail in the end. No other outcome is acceptable if the AFP and its people are to achieve their respective potentials, and Australia is to receive the law enforcement services that it requires.

If you are going to contribute to the future of this organisation, you will need to think about what the world, and thus the AFP, will be like in 10 and 20 years, and what that means for the skills you need to develop.

We already know a good deal about some of the influences that will shape those 20 years - globalisation; exponential advances in technology and its off-shoots, including communications and electronic commerce; population pressures and other factors which influence the nature and extent of opportunities for criminal exploitation.And we know some of the answers. Alliances and partnerships with international peers and related agencies, the acquisition of improved technology and intelligence for our own and for joint purposes, the real-time development of legislation and investigative techniques which cater for new criminal activity, the encouragement of initiative and excellence in our people.But we do not know what specific manifestations of, say, technology or commercial practice will create problems and opportunities for us. And when those problems emerge, our response needs to be considered and intelligent.

Let me go back to a couple of examples from the seemingly distant past. When the banks first introduced plastic credit cards, police agencies were quickly besieged by demands that they investigate a myriad of instances of relatively minor fraud. Because that's what police were supposed to do. One answer was to undertake the investigations. A more imaginative and effective answer, and that which prevailed, was to do something systemic. To force banks to accept responsibility for building greater integrity into their cards, to harden them against misuse. It didn't make the problem go away, but it made it very much more difficult than it had originally been to use credit cards fraudulently, and significantly reduced the relative incidence of credit card fraud and thus the load on police services.

In another example from 1985, the AFP sought additional staff to deal with a backlog of Social Welfare frauds - in excess of 60,000 cheques filed as separate matters in AFP premises around Australia and awaiting investigation. Most of the cheques were for amounts in the order of $200 and had been stolen by the simple means of following the postie delivering the fortnightly cheques to beneficiaries. An average investigation cost more than $1000, not including the cost of prosecution. The AFP said at first that it needed 1350 new investigators to deal with this situation - at that time, an increase in the order of 50 per cent in total sworn strength. The answer was again to think a little smarter, to make agencies whose programs were being defrauded accept greater responsibility for hardening the integrity of those programs. There was much greater focus on checking the credentials of applicants for all sorts of benefits. Some of you may remember the Australia Card debate that occurred at that time. But the most effective part of the response was for Government agencies to introduce direct crediting to bank accounts.

Simple. The problem of welfare cheque frauds literally disappeared overnight. There was no need for the 1350 new staff - at least, not for that purpose.

My point is that the AFP will prosper and be seen to serve the Australian community well if, in addition to delivering in its central role, it can continue to assist the delivery of imaginative and effective solutions to emerging problems.The problems of the next 20 years will be quite different. Managing them successfully depends on the AFP being able to field flexible, imaginative and highly skilled staff, of whom you are the most recent manifestation.

There are many ways in which to serve the cause of effective national law enforcement. There is a wide variety of roles, opportunities and challenges in the AFP. There is also a genuine mutual advantage for the organisation and for you as individuals to think about what the future might look like, to use the opportunities offered to equip yourselves with the skills that that future demands, and to contribute vigorously to debate as to what that implies for the way the organisation should be developed. I warmly encourage you to commit to the challenge, and congratulate you on having completed the first stage of your journey.


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