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Crime Prevention in the 21st Century

Speech by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty APM

Australian National Security Summit, Sydney Convention Centre

14 November 2006

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Attorney General, the Hon Phillip Ruddock
Shadow Minister for Homeland Security – the Hon Arch Bevis 

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Thank you and I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land – the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, acknowledge their Elders both past and present and their connections with this land.

This topic of Crime Prevention in the 21^st Century and how the AFP is working to safeguard the community requires anticipation and respond before something occurs rather than post the event and this is one of the challenges facing modern policing.

The art of being proactive, defined as vision + action, requires a vastly different set of skills and mind processes if people want to think into the future and vision is an important part of preparing for the future.

It’s already more then five years since September 11 and much has happened since then and we also need to think about, for example, the failed attempt to blow up the planes at Heathrow en route to the US. Had that been a successful attack our whole discussion at this meeting and our whole discussion over the past two months, would be entirely different and we seemed to have moved on very quickly from that event albeit it was a good example of proactive policing and a good example of stopping something before it occurs. What we are trying to do is to continue to look into the future to see where the next possible threat is coming from.

We are dealing with complexities and attitudes many of us are unfamiliar and uncomfortable with and, as a consequence, we need to embrace a different set of paradigms in order to move into new phases of thinking.

The use of legislation, more sophisticated technology and tougher security will bring some measure of surety but I believe there are deeper issues and components to our present state of affairs and yet, the examples of the areas we have to go into aren’t necessarily tied into funding or legislation.

They requires us to think in a new intellectual space we probably haven’t been in before and so I’d like to talk about some of the work the AFP is doing, both on an operational front and also in the intellectual space we’re now trying to reach out to.

Being cognisant of this, the AFP prioritises the development of our human capacities by identifying and building appropriate platforms of capability. Our strategic plan is explicit in the quest to constantly increase the capabilities of not only our own organisation but also other organisations with whom we work. We’ve been working hard in the last couple of years building relationships with not only other government departments at Commonwealth and State levels, but also with the private sector and with various groups within the wider Australian community.

Some of our operational activities are dealing with new types of crime. We’ve created the Australian High Tech Crime Centre working with private sector, banks and financial institutions. If you talk to this group, this has been quite a success - police working with the business sector to prevent crimes before they happen, particularly with the advent of internet banking. It’s enabled us to work across globe with virtual global taskforce in the US and UK walking the internet beat 24/7

And, as well as physical critical infrastructure, our country is dependant on Information Infrastructure, namely the information networks of essential national services such as telecommunications, banking and finance, transport and distribution, energy and utilities, information services and others such as defence and emergency management. These are concerns being addressed jointly by both Commonwealth and state governments and is also very much a partnership with the private sector as it owns a substantial part of the built environment and national infrastructure.

So, our operational activities are constantly being refined and applied to, I think, different aspects of understanding what the infrastructure is, and one of the best demonstrations of that is the formation has been the Unified Policing Model which has now been implemented in most of Australia’s Counter Terrorism First Response airports.

Working through the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Council of Australian Governments, we’ve now been able to demonstrate uniformity in airports that wasn’t there before and this becomes obvious as you travel around Australia. Some states have been in a fortunate position to provide resources almost immediately , a significant contribution with the remainder nearing completion.

The uniformed policing model was opened at the Melbourne Airport last week. Adelaide has had it in place for some months now and we’re still working through with Sydney and airports in the Gold Coast, Brisbane, and Cairns. On Thursday this week, in Adelaide at the inter-governmental committee on Australian Crime Commission will present the ACC’s intelligence report on criminality at airports. The Wheeler report recognised the vulnerabilities of our airports and this model is addressing them and improving security at this entry point, with maritime security also on the high priority list.

Next year, Australia will be a focal point while representatives of the 21 member economies of APEC visit for a range of meetings from January through until September culminating with the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Sydney. There are meetings in seven locations, totalling 100 days of ministerial, officials-level meetings and business-group gatherings, and the AFP, state policing agencies and the Protective Security Co-ordination Centre have been working together preparing for these world-focus events. Again, there are multiple agencies collaborating to ensure a safe and productive outcome.

It is important that we understand part of the security problem we’re addressing is a by-product of globalisation and that means that we can’t, as a single agency or as a single country, address all the issues and solve the problems that we’re now confronted with. This is a constantly changing and emerging security environment and we’re deliberately engaging other countries in this quest. Indonesia is obviously a major focus for us and we’ve seen in recent days, a new security pack signed between the Australian Government and Indonesian Government.

The Jakarta Centre Law Enforcement Co-operation was conceived after the first Bali bombings back in 2002 and the idea was then brought to fruition between Australian & Indonesian governments over the course of the next 18 months. Now the centre is a critical learning centre for law enforcement in our region, which is a good example of contributing something constructive and tangible in order for us to move forward to face challenges that invade our region in counter terrorism

We’ve had something like 1400 students go through the centre which is based in Semorine, East of Jakarta and just recently we held a work shop entitled Terrorism Prevention Law Enforcement and relation sharing. That event attracted participants from 23 jurisdictions right around the world which is an enormous step forward.

Predicting the Future

I’ll now turn to the development of AFP intellectual infrastructure and capabilities which enable us to anticipate the challenges on the horizon and guide our responses to deal with them.

One of the most important and effective methods to predict and therefore prevent crime in the 21^st Century is through our working relationships with similarly motivated organisations, namely other law enforcement agencies; there are natural partners and natural pairings. Sharing ideas and knowledge with our international counter-parts has proven to be a most beneficial endeavour and the AFP partnerships with MetPol, Scotland Yard in the UK, the FBI in the USA, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the New Zealand Police fall into the category of the more traditional partnerships, as our cultures, cultural expectations and criminal justice systems are very similar.

In many ways, especially with these organisations, we are operating in our comfort zones as Australia has had long-term relationships – whether through trading, immigration programs or being a member of the Commonwealth – so intimate knowledge has been accumulated over many years which leads to trust and anticipated confidence.

But, the dynamics of the world are constantly changing through globalisation, technology, the literal movement of people, information and money and the power of multi-national corporations.

However, dealing with an event – or an idea – that hasn’t actually occurred, requires prescient abilities. I find Einstein’s wisdom invaluable when he said ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’. So, in order to prevent crime, we have to imagine –

• What are the crimes?
• Who are the criminals?
• What is deemed most valuable?
• What are the tools of crime?
• The impetus for the crimes.

Predicting 20 years ahead in an age where technology becomes obsolete within 12 months is demanding and requires a different-head space than the logical, rational and reasonable modus operandi our prevailing environment prefers.If you think about how quickly terrorism has moved, from bombings using significant amounts of explosives to suicide bombings, and how their communications have moved very quickly from analogue mobile phones to digital, then to satellite and now to the internet. With the speed at which they’re running means that we have to, be significantly ahead in our thinking.

Social Elements of Law Enforcement

Greater recognition and credence is being given to the social elements of law enforcement and the AFP has been building intellectual infrastructure over the past five years in the quest to predict and prevent crimes. We practice this through the process of asking ‘What is it to be human?” and relating those universal qualities that reinforce there is more to unite than divide us no matter our backgrounds, localities or cultures. Although not often connected with policing, engaging with and through hearts and minds, as well as enforcement is a deliberate strategy of the AFP’s in our quest to prevent crimes.

Over the past three years, we’ve made enormous inroads into building relationships with the Islamic community and I personally speak on radio here in Sydney, and have attended the Eid festivals in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. We have developed the relationship to the point where, should we have an operational activity we will, almost without exception, go to the community to explain what the operational activity is about and, this interaction is helping us gain a better understanding of their community and, conversely, allowing their community to gain a better understanding of ourselves.

As the 2006 report Mapping the Global Future[1] notes, apart from China and India being regarded as the up-and-coming powerhouses of the global economy, the authors also recognise Brazil and Indonesia as strongly emerging economic forces.

In fact, the AFP has members and representatives in 26 countries and 31 destinations in both formal and informal structures to develop, establish and maintain personal relationships with people so deeper respect and understandings are gained. A By-product is building our intellectual infrastructure through as many avenues as possible, especially through the engagement of hearts and minds and, by the direct and indirect provision of safety and security, we play an active role in improving the standards of living for millions of people around the world.

So, the point I’m making is that, while we can do some things domestically within our own community arrangements, we actually have to understand what’s coming around the corner. We have built our international network based on relationships trying to understand where the next piece of information is likely to come from, If it is an entity with which we haven’t had connections, we will establish and develop them. Within this context is the learning about their cultures and what’s driving some of the difficulties they are facing.

Our international operatives continue to expand as our first Indian office opens in in January next year, we’ve opened an office in Bangladesh and we’re conducting a major operative exercise with the Ministry of Public Security in China.

Referring back to my original questions to ascertain how we will prevent crime in the 21^st Century, we need to imagine what the crimes are, who are the criminals, what are their tools and very importantly – what is of value that would provide the impetus for a crime to be committed?

To answer this last question requires a huge mind-shift for a Westerner living in a democracy with a lifestyle that includes electricity, running water and sewerage systems, internet connections, mandatory education and at least one car per family as standard. However, for most of the world’s people, this is not the case and, in order to gain a true perspective of reality for the majority, using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs[2] is helpful to gain some of that perspective which is applicable over all societies and cultures.

This hierarchy of needs is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency needs associated with physiological needs, namely the need to breathe, regulate homeostasis[3] the need to eat, dispose of bodily wastes, and reproduce. According to the 2006 State of the Food Insecurity in the World[4] report, there are more hungry people in the developing countries today – 820 million – than there were in 1996………….in spite of the ratified UN World Food Summit declaration to reduce starvation in the world.

Once physiological needs have been met, the desire for a range of safety needs dictate focus. These include physical security - safety from violence, delinquency and external aggressors; security of employment; security of revenues and resources; moral and psychological security; familial security; security of health and security of personal property against crime – a situation most Australians are very used to.

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer is social. This involves emotionally-based relationships such as friendship, sexual intimacy and having a supportive and communicative family. Humans generally need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether from a large social group such as clubs, religious groups, sports teams or gangs, or small social connections which include family members, intimate partners, mentors, close friends and confidants. We all need to belong and in the absence of these experiences, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and depression.

Continuing to apply Maslow’s model, all humans have a need to be respected, have self-respect, and to respect others. How this manifests is different for each of us.

People need to engage with others in order to gain recognition, and have an activity or activities that give each person a sense of contribution and self-value. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem, inferiority complexes, and/or an inflated sense of self-importance.

So, using this information to create a picture of future crimes, and especially what may be identified as the impetus for committing them, the connections between poverty, the dispossessed, marginalised and disenfranchised must be factored into our thinking.

My counterpart in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Guiliana Zaccardelli, characterises terrorism as a phenomenon that sits somewhere between warfare and crime and usually driven by ideology. Almost every ideology reflects deeply held and legitimate views (whether we agree with them or not) and usually connected to religious beliefs and a deep desire for a perceived justice.

The 1605 Gunpowder Plot in London is such an example when Guy Fawkes and his compatriots almost succeeded in blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening to kill King James 1, all the parliamentarians and the King’s family. The driving force behind this plot was to revolutionise the political structure of England and allow the Catholic faith to again be recognised.

So, in one sense whilst in 1605 they would never have predicted that in 2006 what we’re trying to do, it is instructive to understand that because of human behaviour, what’s happening is not necessarily very new to us but, we need to step aside and make some time to understand, otherwise we’ll continually chase our tails trying to develop a more secure environment for ourselves.

Since the 11^th September, the question has been asked by millions of people ‘Why is terrorism attractive?” and perhaps some of the answers lie in the explanation of Maslow’s hierarchy. According to a recent article from The Guardian[5] fundamentalists of all kinds only thrive when their communities feel besieged and can channel acute social and political discontent into direct, violent action.

Every identity has its fundamentalists - the gatekeepers of what is and isn't permissible for those who share that identity. As we all have multiple identities – some being race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, profession and class – the fundamentalists usually have their work cut out trying to keep everybody in line. As the guardians of the ideology and the authenticity, their job is to deny complexity and impose uniformity.

In a recent article by Mike Carlton, he wrote “What we do not know, we often fear. What we do not understand, we fear. We often fear people from a different religion and then what we fear becomes a threat. The politics of these issues has bitten deeply into the Australian psyche and will take many years to remove”. Similarly, philosopher Bertrand Russell said “Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity towards those who are not regarded as members of the herd.”

And I think it’s useful for us to step aside and understand this, because we can get easily carried away by headlines that suddenly announced the Australian Ashes team was under threat from when they last played in the United Kingdom, which was absolutely rubbish. But, the fear and the anxiety that generates is something worth commenting on. And we won’t understand if we get carried away with the headlines and we won’t understand it if we get carried away with the politics of the situation; I really think we need to step back and if we’re going to talk seriously about security we need to understand what is driving this and what makes a secure environment become insecure.

Referring back to the National Intelligence Council’s report looking towards 2020, the authors maintain there will be a more pervasive sense of insecurity – which may be as much based on psychological perceptions as actual physical threats. “Even as most of the world becomes richer, globalisation will profoundly shake up the status quo generating enormous economic, cultural and consequently, political convulsions”.

In the midst of all this are China and India, with their incredibly rich and diverse cultures, populations, geographies, customs and capabilities. The available well-trained and abundant workforce is mobile and becoming more affluent. Just for the record, there are 1.7 million Ministry of Public Security police in China which gives you a sense of what we’re talking about.

These large complex nations ought not to be seen simply as economic opportunities. I think they need to be seen more as the partners in order to keep security at the forefront of our ability to deal with current situations in terms of the growth of terrorist groups

Australia and China share many mutual concerns that impact upon our respective societys wellbeing, individual safety and national security including the narcotic trade, money laundering, e-crime and people smuggling.

In China, the use of drugs is regarded as a social-health and moral problem with wider implications in the spread of HIV/AIDS and associated costs of mitigating the effects. As in Australia, the use of crystal amphetamines, also known as Ice, is now rivalling heroin in consumption and creating the same challenges for resource allocation.

Why is it important to combine our knowledge and commitment to this issue? It’s important because much of the meth-amphetamine received in Australia actually originates in China so, when that meth-amphetamine reaches our shores, it changes the behaviour of our young Australian people, which can then lead them into a life of crime or any criminal activity they would not normally engage in. Again, then that’s a threat to our security. If this is the new heroin of the 70’s and 80’s, we need to understand what is driving this in order to quell it.

Conclusion

You’ve heard about the national and international activities and realms in which the AFP is involved, and we continue our commitment to fight crime together and win. Our organisation is constantly developing new capabilities to deal with diverse working situations and we’re spending a lot more time trying to understand human behaviour and the cause and effect of terrorism.

Many answers to our security are possibly within ourselves as the greatest fears are those within each of us we then transfer into reality. However, our capital security is only one aspect of our standard of living. It’s our personal psychological and emotional security that provides the quality of life and how that looks is up to each individual.

What we are doing now is part of an inter-generational process and each of us has to be a leader to current and future generations to work through our attitudes and actions. I’d like to finish with a Chinese proverb - One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.

Thank you.