After Dinner Address: Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop Medical Research Foundation Symposium 2006
Speech by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty APM
Friday 17 November 2006, Rendezvous Hotel, Melbourne
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Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is an honour to be invited here to address you tonight and I’d like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land, the Wurundjeri and Boonwurung groups and their elders, past and present.
As Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police I don’t often get the opportunity to address audiences in fields like medicine and science. However, with crime in the 21st century becoming such a complex phenomenon, the AFP is increasingly finding its work entwined in all manner of disciplines, with the area of forensic science being one of the strongest growth areas of our business.
So, I’d like to thank the Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation for inviting me to address the symposium tonight and to enlighten you about the nature of the work we are undertaking on this – and a number of other - fronts.
Weary’s legacy
Although our colleagues at Defence had the privilege of having Weary Dunlop within their ranks, there is much that has inspired police about the man and his contributions to society – especially during times of duress.
His courage, dedication to duty, adventurous spirit, ingenuity, and commitment to his fellow man – irrespective of race or background - are all qualities we admire and that are as pertinent today as at any time in our history.
When we read about the staggering conditions Weary and thousands of other prisoners endured during the Second World War, and the personal accounts of their experiences, we are inspired to think about what we can learn to enhance our own contributions to society. It is inimical to our emerging culture where we have become driven by the desire to have everything now rather than when we really need it.
Weary’s own words ‘I have a conviction that it’s only when you are put at full stretch that you can realise your full potential’ resonate strongly when we consider some of the challenges facing our police today.
For the AFP’s part, our organisation is tackling unprecedented challenges, not only operationally – in areas such as counter terrorism, peacekeeping and regional assistance - but in terms of our growth and expansion of responsibilities.
These challenges continually test us as an organisation and six years into my Commissionership, I am continually amazed by the strength, resilience and innovation shown by many of our members.
This has been demonstrated on a number of fronts.
The Bali bombings in 2002 provided arguably our biggest test as an organisation to date. We had people from our forensics and investigations teams on the scene shortly after the bombs were detonated. Working in conjunction with the Indonesian National Police, they did an amazing job of capturing and preserving crucial evidence that led to the arrest and prosecution of more than 36 people.
These skills and the experience gained from the first Bali bombings, subsequently led to our involvement in many offshore terrorism investigations, including The Philippines, Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and - of course - other bombings in Indonesia such as the Australian Embassy in 2004 and the Jimbaran Bay bombings of 2005.
The Disaster Victim Identification protocols concept we adopted in Bali - developed in conjunction with the Indonesian authorities to adhere to international Interpol standards, while addressing the local needs and conditions - have since been employed by authorities responding to mass casualty incidents – both natural and man-made – around the world.
A case in point was the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, where the AFP provided a specialised team of DVI specialists, family support officers, welfare officers and communication support staff. We worked closely with the Royal Thai Police to develop appropriate standards and record-keeping methods to suit the conditions.
I am hopeful that Weary Dunlop, a man who always maintained absolute professionalism in the face of tragedy - keeping meticulous records of his experiences that have greatly enhanced our understanding of what occurred during World War 2 – would have appreciated these efforts.
During the tsunami response, our Manager Forensic Sciences, Karl Kent, was asked by the Thai authorities and the international DVI contingents based in Phuket, to take on the role as joint Chief of Staff to oversee the international DVI operation.
Up to 30 different countries and 400 people were involved in that operation which sought to identify more than 5300 people – 2000 of them foreign nationals.
Eventually, more than 230 Australian personnel were deployed over a 14-month period to assist with the DVI process. This included police and medical specialists such as ondontologists, pathologists, and mortuary technicians.
I returned to Thailand just before the one year anniversary of the tsunami and I can’t think of a time when I have been more proud of the work our people have done. Many Australians who participated in this response effort did so at their own personal cost. While they always maintained absolute professionalism to get the job done – in incredibly trying circumstances - I know the scale of the disaster had a profound effect on them all.
One extremely experienced forensic expert shared a story with me about an almost spiritual experience of bathing the heads and feet of the victims before taking finger and footprints. After days of repeating this process he looked up to find a colleague in search of a blanket. The blanket was to be laid over the top of a small child. He said that the child looked vulnerable and exposed. So despite the starkness of their gruesome task, they never lost the context of humanity.
When I look back over the experience as a whole, I am inspired by the ingenuity and courage Australians showed from the time they landed in Thailand. With so many lives lost and so much of the local infrastructure completely devastated, the task of collecting the remains and implementing the DVI procedures seemed insurmountable. Unfazed and undeterred, our people focused on working closely with their international counterparts to improvise, developing makeshift mortuaries out of shipping containers. They made temporary temples to enable prayer and reflection and thus never lost sight of the cultural sensitivities that needed to be observed and respected.
Our most recent international DVI experience has led us to Sri Lanka in August this year, where we deployed a DVI team to assist the local police investigating the death of 17 aid workers in Muttur.
Forensic Research & Development
As I mentioned, forensic science has been a rapid growth area for the AFP, with the organisation strongly committed to research and development.
To facilitate this, many strategic partnerships have been forged with industry and academia, both domestically and abroad. These include the Australian National University, the University of Technology in Sydney, Deakin University and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland; as well as the Australian Forensic Drug Laboratory, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.
Our research priorities are focused on developing capabilities in field-portable equipment, explosive residue analysis, DNA profiling, electronic evidence, illicit drug profiling, trace evidence and latent fingerprint detection.
Recently we undertook a number of counter-terrorism related projects, one of which involved investigating various aspects of organic peroxide explosives, for the National Security Science and Technology Unit within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
You will be aware that last year, the Federal Government funded the AFP to establish the CBRN Data Centre to help combat the threat of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats, both domestically and internationally.
This Centre is currently being established and will provide technical advice and intelligence on prevention, preparedness and response issues related to CBRN. It will also support operational, investigative and intelligence activities for the AFP, government and relevant parts of the private sector. In addition, it will provide occupational health and safety advice to first responders, emergency services and forensic investigators.
The Centre is already involved in a number of key projects, including the establishment of the Chemical Warfare Agent Laboratory Network. This network is being built using the existing Defence Science Technology Organisation (or DSTO) capability here in Melbourne to enable forensic laboratories in the States and Territories to analyse chemical warfare agents in a timely manner.
For Biological threats, the centre will establish linkages with the Public Health Laboratory Network as well as Health Departments and Agencies at the Commonwealth and State level.
I want to make an important distinction here; the CBRN Data Centre will conduct analysis and advise on Biological Threats as they pertain to the malicious use of Biological materials or the deliberate spread of disease. It will not advise on epidemics such as SARS or Avian Influenza Pandemics as these are public health issues and there are appropriate structures and procedures in place for such events.
An interesting scenario might be to ask, how would the CBRN Data Centre become aware of a deliberate event?
I suggest that the first response would be a public health one and then the CBRN Data Centre would become involved once there was evidence to suggest malicious or deliberate action to spread disease. The challenge for the CBRN Data Centre, and especially its Biological Team, will be to work with health departments and professional groups to ensure that the triggers for such a scenario are identified and mechanisms to report suspicious events or incidents are in place. The Centre may then be in a position to identify trends and patterns that might indicate something other than natural transmission.
From a Radiological and Nuclear Perspective the Centre will be developing links with the Australian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (or ARPANSA); and, the Australian Nuclear Scientific and Technology Organisation (or ANSTO). As the industry regulator ARPANSA will act as a conduit for the reporting of incidents involving radiological and nuclear materials whilst ANSTO will be a source of scientific and technical advice as well as having the ability to provide highly specialist support in the investigation of nuclear materials or contaminated evidence. In this threat area we envisage that the more likely scenario is a radiological or dirty bomb event as opposed to a nuclear event or the detonation of fissile material in a nuclear device.
A key framework to assist in the reporting and monitoring of CBRN incidents is being provided by the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) Review of Hazardous Material.
Both industry and government need to know what materials are of concern and hence what incidents are to be reported. Without the framework of a Hazardous Materials list of security concern there would essentially be no terms of reference for the CBRN Data Centre. The Director of the Centre has been involved in the Technical Working Groups that assessed the chemicals of security concern for their potential use as explosives or as toxic agents.
CBR threat lists are to be presented to COAG over the coming months for approval. Once endorsed, they then will be hosted by the CBRN Data Centre which will be involved in maintaining these lists; making recommendations on their amendment. Working with industry and government partners, they will receive, collate, analyse and report on incidents involving listed materials.
The Australian CBRN Data Centre has also been providing advice to the National Security Science and Technology unit of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet for the award of research grants in the area of new CBR detectors, decontamination of CBR agents and the modelling of CBR events.
A number of research projects are also being undertaken, including several with Defence Science and Technology Organisations (DSTO). One of these projects involves the modelling of the plume that could form after the release of a chemical or biological agent, or a radiological material, to assess its progression over a populated centre and to help in planning evacuation and the deployment of emergency services.
Another project of interest consists of building libraries of mass-spectrometric fingerprints for toxins that could be used in terrorist attacks in order to facilitate identification of the toxin and to support further forensic investigations. A similar project for the recovery of forensic evidence in radiologically-contaminated areas will be take place collaboratively between DSTO, ANSTO and the AFP.
When I assumed the appointment of Commissioner, I did not envisage that the AFP would be hosting a Centre that is staffed by scientists providing a technical intelligence function for Chemical, Biological Radiological and Nuclear Threats. In hindsight however, building on the experience of the Australian Bomb Data Centre and its role in managing the explosive threat, the creation of the CBRN Data Centre is a logical extension to accommodate this developing area of threat. Whilst we are managing the threat of explosives now, the CBRN Data Centre will position us to help Australia counter the CBRN threats of tomorrow.
Drug Profiling
Turning briefly now to some of the work we have been doing in the field of illicit drugs. As well as investigations, the AFP’s forensics team has also been strongly focused on research and development initiatives to improve our knowledge about detection and distribution methodologies for imported narcotics.
We have been involved in drug profiling since the early 1990s and working with the National Measurements Institute, to profile various types of heroin, and more recently, cocaine and amphetamines. Today the AFP and the NMI have links with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (US-DEA) and have harmonised key profiling methods.
The uniqueness of the AFP’s drug profiling program is that all illicit drug seizures are treated as crime scenes – not just the product – to build up holistic intelligence of origin and manufacturing processes. These physical details, such as packaging and smell are used to provide a holistic picture for investigators.
Internal Couriers
On the drugs front, you may recently have heard media reports about an influx of drug couriers entering Australia with the substances concealed internally. In one recent case, seven such couriers arrived on the one flight from Cambodia.
While it is too early to tell whether this represents a disturbing shift in methodologies being employed by drug traffickers or a series of unrelated, isolated cases, the implications for law enforcement, the medical community and the individuals involved are significant.
Apart from the personal health risks these people take from swallowing foreign objects and substances with the actuality of the containers bursting and then the subsequent overdose, there are far wider implications for public health than simply more illicit drugs on the streets.
The majority of couriers using the internal concealment method are arriving from south-east Asia where there are known cases of Avian flu. When a suspect is taken into custody, the protocols to be followed include transportation to a public hospital.
In the past two months, two couriers have been unconscious on arrival. One suspect was in intensive care for more than four days and underwent surgery to remove 176 pellets from his stomach.
At this juncture, it needs to be noted that a diagnosis of an unconscious patient isn’t always possible at the airport and so precautionary quarantine procedures would not necessarily be invoked to protect the AFP, ambulance or any other staff if there was a case of a highly virulent disease.
Although the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and the State Departments of Health have developed guidelines should an outbreak occur, the wider implications of such an outbreak are significant. At this stage, risk mitigation is the objective yet that would still have huge ramifications for resource allocations, economic activity, essential services and other day-to-day activities.
Future directions
As the field of forensics continues to expand and new technologies and crime types emerge, one of the biggest challenges facing organisations such as the AFP, is the need to be continually expanding our capabilities, technologies and skills sets in response and anticipation.
This presents a number of workforce challenges, one of which includes ensuring we attract skilled staff to undertake the necessary work.
In some areas of our business, such as Intelligence, this is an ongoing focus, however, thankfully we are not encountering the same difficulties in forensics.
On this note, one interesting trends that has developed over recent times is the dramatic increase in the number of females applying for jobs within the forensics team. Today, almost 70 per cent of the scientists we have in forensics are women and reflects the national profile of more girls undertaking science subjects at secondary school.
It is debatable how much of this has to do with the success of prime-time television shows such as CSI and Forensic Investigators. No doubt, some of the new recruits may have been disappointed at times that the on-screen glamour doesn’t translate to the real world but, there is no denying that forensic science is now a highly sought after profession.
From the AFP’s perspective, we like to believe that it might have something to do with our progressive approach to the workforce. Over recent years, with the rapid expansion of our organisation, many new opportunities have opened up which allow people considerable scope to develop across a range of fields and obtain experience in many foreign countries.
In 2004, we also won a prestigious national work and family award presented by the Business Council of Australia, after instituting a number flexible work practices that recognise the importance of work and family balance. Much of this recognition was attributed to initiatives related to the responses to the terrorist bombings in Indonesia.
Conclusion
I’d like to finish by again thanking you for the opportunity to provide the address this evening and to provide you with an insight into some of the work we are doing in the sphere of science at the AFP.
I am proud to lead the men and women of the AFP and hope they, like me, are constantly inspired by Weary Dunlop and his legacy of selflessness and unconditional service to others.
Thank you.