Duffy, Peter --- "London post is 'the jewel in the AFP's crown'" [2000] AUFPPlatypus 28; (2000) 69 Platypus: Journal of the Australian Federal Police, Article 6

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London post is “the jewel in the AFP’s crown”

By Federal Agent Peter Duffy

In 1788 it took the First Fleet six months to sail to Australia; 200 years later it would take less than 24 hours to do the same journey in a Boeing 747. In 1788, the term ‘being thrown in the clink' meant being locked up on a barge moored in the River Thames at the end of Clink Street, awaiting transportation to Australia. In 1988 more than 500,000 Australians flew to London to visit. Today, the number of Australian tourists is even greater and as the AFP's senior liaison officer in London, I felt that I was the envy of each and every one of those Australian visitors.

For nearly 100 years novelists and screenwriters have made legendary the exploits of investigators from the 'Yard'.

Samuel Johnson, the noted 18th century British author once said: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford”, and former AFP Deputy Commissioner, Adrien Whiddett is reputed to have said: “The London post is the jewel in the AFP's crown".

Having spent the past four years in London, I can only agree with both of these men and add from a professional and a personal point of view, I heartily encourage members to take up the challenge and seek an overseas liaison appointment.

To recount the wealth of experiences I have gained through this posting would risk boring readers to tears, so I have taken the opportunity to give a brief and hopefully interesting view of the structure policing in the United Kingdom (UK).

London is a city steeped in a long history, and policing as it is practised today, emerged as a concept here in 1827 after being developed by Sir Robert Peel, who has come to be regarded as the father of modern policing. This new breed of police officers, originally nick-named ‘Peelers', quickly become more popularly named “Bobbies". Sir Robert Peel's concepts on modern policing have spread globally from London since that time.

The UK occupies an area of less than one tenth the size of Australia and it has three times Australia's population. UK policing is divided into 52 police constabularies each of which is autonomous, with separate command hierarchies that can be likened to those found in the Australian State and territory police services. The strength of these constabularies ranges from a modest 680 in the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary to a massive 39,900 in the Metropolitan Police.

The 52 constabularies are funded equally by the Home Office (Central Government) and the Police Authority (a local government structure set up to oversight its local constabulary which is also funded by Central Government). While the UK effectively operates under the one legal system, local differences exist in Scotland and again in Northern Ireland to the laws that apply in England and Wales. Also at variance is the approach to the enforcement of the laws, the acquisition of equipment and the integration of technology. This situation is brought about principally, by the autonomy of each constabulary and the pressures them to respond to the specific needs of the community they serve. This has resulted in a number of constabularies viewing priorities, spending and the use and acquisition of technology differently to each other.

To address this disparity, British authorities are attempting to find a ‘whole of policing' approach to policy and acquisitions through their Association of Chief Police Officers, at which each of the 52 police commissioners have equal status.

Hampering this approach are the very real stresses caused by the differences in the demands on providing a policing service appropriate to both city and rural regions; a problem not unknown in Australian policing.

When speaking of policing in the UK, the exploits of Scotland Yard come quickly to mind. ‘The Yard' has a worldwide reputation as a superior investigative body and carries with it aura that has been enhanced by countless novels, movies and television programs.

This is a reputation began early in the 20th century when Scotland Yard detectives would assist smaller police forces with murder investigations. The authorities realised that, while there was a wealth of uniformed policing experience within the more than 300 borough police forces then in operation, there was very little investigative expertise.

The offer to assist, free of charge, was made with the proviso that the Yard was brought into an investigation within 24 hours of the crime being discovered. This largess on the part of Metropolitan Police has fuelled the reputation of excellence that has grown around members of Scotland Yard (and New Scotland Yard) and provided much grist for the writer's mill.

The name “Scotland Yard” came about when the servants' entrance at the rear of newly created police headquarters, was turned into a police station in 1829. This entrance was in Great Scotland Yard Street and it was soon referred by the name of the little street it faced. In 1890 a new building was built by the Thames and was called “New Scotland Yard”.This was a five-story building and as with the hierarchical nature of policing it was apparently easy to determine the seniority of the occupants – the most senior had ground floor offices and the lower an officer's rank, the greater number of stairs had to be climbed.

New Scotland Yard today retains the reputation of being one of the foremost investigative bodies in the world. This reputation not undeserved, but it is one that is being matched increasingly by the detectives who belong to the other 51 constabularies. New Scotland Yard is no longer the sole repository of investigative expertise here in the UK. In fact, the bulk of its expertise now lies in the investigation of crimes within the metropolis of London and not at the national level.

In the 1990s, the national and international investigative mantel passed to two other British police bodies. The creation of the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad (formally the Regional Crimes Squads) saw a tighter focus on crime committed at the national and international level.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) provides a service to all UK law enforcement agencies and is funded on a proportional basis by those agencies. It collects, collates and analyses data on a national basis in support of the operational needs of UK Law Enforcement Inc and identifies emerging crime trends.

To undertake this task, the NCIS is supported by 27 government agencies through the provision of expertise and knowledge. The NCIS provides valuable operational intelligence to local constabularies, the National Crime Squad and the UK's law enforcement partners. The NCIS is also in a position to provide Government with strategic assessments that assist in policy making.

The AFP has placed one of its three London-based liaison officers with the NCIS. This placement enables the AFP to gain a much better understanding of what intelligence it can lawfully access, how it can be accessed and more particularly the pitfalls and the shortcuts which are not readily known nor offered to an outside agency.

While the NCIS can be characterised as a criminal intelligence agency, the NCS fulfils a role that is similar to that performed by the national side of the AFP. The NCS, like the AFP, has seen international geographic borders, become increasingly meaningless. The NCS, like the NCIS, is investigating or gathering intelligence concerning local crimes that inevitably have international dimensions.

The NCS has a similar charter to the AFP. It investigates national and international organised crime including drugs, money laundering, e-commerce, people smuggling and arms dealing. Increasingly its detectives, who are seconded from any and all of the UK constabularies, are being recognised as a particularly focused and dedicated group. However, they may have to wait until the scriptwriters of Hollywood or Pinewood Studios discover their exploits before they acquire the public recognition traditionally given to members of Scotland Yard.

I can only conclude with the comments I made in the beginning, from my experience, I heartily encourage members to take up the challenge and seek an overseas liaison appointment.