9 September 2011
Mr Simon Corbell MLA
Minister for Police and Emergency Services
ACT Legislative Assembly
London Circuit
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Mr Corbell
I am pleased to submit ACT Policing’s Annual Report for the financial year 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011.
This report has been prepared in accordance with the Policing Arrangement between the Commonwealth and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) governments for the delivery of policing services to the ACT by the Australian Federal Police.
The report has also been prepared in accordance with the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 and the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 where appropriate.
I hereby certify that the attached Annual Report is an honest and accurate account, that all material information on the operations of ACT Policing during the 2010-11 period has been included and that the report, where possible, complies with the Chief Minister’s Annual Report Directions.
Fraud prevention has been managed in accordance with Public Sector Management Standard 2, Part 2.4 along with Guidelines 1.9 and 2.8 of the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines.
In line with s. 13 of the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004, I understand that the report is to be laid before the Legislative Assembly within three months of the end of the financial year.
Yours sincerely
Roman Quaedvlieg
© Commonwealth of Australia 2011
ISSN 1838-2622
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), ACT Policing.
General inquiries about this report should be directed to:
Coordinator — Media and Marketing ACT Policing
GPO Box 401
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6264 9460
Facsimile: (02) 6264 9466
Email: [email protected]
Written requests for information can be sent to:
Coordinator — Media and Marketing
ACT Policing
GPO Box 401
Canberra City ACT 2601
For general information about the AFP, telephone National Headquarters on (02) 6223 3000.
The hearing impaired can contact the AFP through a telephone typewriter facility on (02) 6256 7700.
For general inquiries regarding the content of this annual report please contact (02) 6256 7460.
For Freedom of Information requests please contact (02) 6131 6131.
Information about ACT Policing can be found at the ACT Policing website, police.act.gov.au, where an electronic version of this report can also be found.
SECTION A.1 — THE ORGANISATION
SECTION A.2 — OVERVIEW
SECTION A.3 — HIGHLIGHTS
SECTION A.4 — OUTLOOK
SECTiON A.5 — MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
SECTION A.6 — FINANCIAL REPORT
SECTION A.7 — STATEMENT OF PERFORMANCE
SECTION A.8 — STRATEGIC INDICATORS
SECTION A.9 — ANALYSIS OF AGENCY PERFORMANCE
SECTION A.10 — TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
SECTION B.1 — COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
SECTION B.2 — INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SCRUTINY
SECTION B.3 – LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE INQUIRIES AND REPORTS
SECTION B.4 — LEGISLATIVE REPORT
SECTION C.1 — RISK MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL AUDIT
SECTION C.2 — FRAUD PREVENTION
SECTION C.3 — PUBLIC INTEREST DISCLOSURE
SECTION C.4 — FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
SECTION C.5 — INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY
SECTION C.6 — HR PERFORMANCE
SECTION C.7 — STAFFING PROFILE
SECTION C.8 — LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
SECTION C.9 — WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
SECTION C.10 — WORKPLACE RELATIONS
SECTION C.11 — STRATEGIC BUSHFIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN
SECTION C.12 — STRATEGIC ASSET MANAGEMENT
SECTION C.13 — CAPITAL WORKS
SECTION C.14 — GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING
SECTION C.15 — COMMUNITY GRANTS/ASSISTANCE/SPONSORSHIP
SECTION C.16 — TERRITORY RECORDS
SECTION C.17 — HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 2004
SECTION C.18 — COMMISSIONER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
SECTION C.19 — ACT MULTICULTURAL STRATEGY
SECTION C.20 — ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER REPORTING
SECTION C.21 — ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SECTION C.22 — ACT WOMEN’S PLAN 2010–2015
SECTION C.23 — MODEL LITIGANT GUIDELINES
SECTION C.24 — ACT STRATEGIC PLAN FOR POSITIVE AGEING 2010–2014
Appendix 1 — An Arrangement between The Minister for Justice and Customs of the Commonwealth And The Australian Capital Territory For The Provision
of Police Services to the Australian Capital Territory
Appendix 2 — 2010-2011 PURCHASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ACT MINISTER FOR POLICE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES, THE COMMISSIONER, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AND THE CHIEF POLICE OFFICER FOR THE ACT FOR THE PROVISION OF POLICING SERVICES TO THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Appendix 3— 2010–2011 Ministerial Direction
Appendix 4 — Financial Statements and Statement of Performance
Appendix 5 — Offences reported or becoming known in the Australian Capital Territory 2010–11
Appendix 6 — Compliance index
Appendix 7 — NON-COMPLIANCE index
Appendix 8 — Glossary of Abbreviations
Appendix 9 — TECHNICAL TERMS
Figure A.1.1 — ACT Policing patrol zone
Figure A.9.1 — Offences against the person by type 2006–07 to 2010–11
Figure A.9.2 — Offences against property by type 2006–07 to 2010–11
Figure A.9.3 — Offences against the person cleared 2006–07 to 2010–11
Figure A.9.4 — Offences against property cleared 2006–07 to 2010–11
Figure A.9.5 — Perception of crime by offence type 2010–11
Figure A.9.6 — Feelings of safety by location and time of day 2010–11
Figure A.9.7 — Satisfaction with police 2010–11
Figure A.9.8 — Community beliefs about police 2010–11
Figure A.9.9 — Fatal collisions per 100 000 population 2006–07 to 2010–11
Figure A.9.10 — Motor vehicle collisions with injury 2006–07 to 2010–11
Figure A.9.11 — Number of breath tests by year 2006–07 to 2010–11
Figure C.5.1 — Professional Standards Tiered Model
Figure C.5.2 — ACT Policing organisational structure
Figure C.7.1 — Employees length of service 2010–11
Figure C.7.2 — Employees Age Profiles 2010–11
Figure C.9.1 — Mechanism of incident 2010–11
Table A.2.1 — ACT Policing subsidiaries, joint ventures and partnerships
Table A.3.1 — Criminal Infringement Notices issued during 2010–11 (incorporating the ACT)
Table A.3.2 — Top 10 SupportLink referrals 2010–11
Table A.7.1 — ACT Policing key performance measures source data
Table A.9.1 — Offences against property by type 2009–10 to 2010–11
Table A.9.2 — Drug offences by type 2009–10 to 2010–11
Table A.10.1 — Triple Bottom Line report 2009–10 to 2010–11
Table C.3.1 — Categories of misconduct
Table C.5.1 — Senior Management Committees
Table C.5.2 — Complaint categories
Table C.5.3 — Submitted complaints 2010–11
Table C.7.1 — FTE and headcount
Table C.7.2 — Classifications
Table C.7.3 — Employment category by gender
Table C.7.4 — Average length of service by age group/gender
Table C.7.5 — Total average length of service by gender
Table C.7.6 — Age profile
Table C.7.7 — Agency profile
Table C.7.8 — Classification profile by gender/sworn
Table C.7.9 — Equity and Workplace Diversity
Table C.8.1 — ACT Policing training and courses undertaken 2010–11
Table C.8.2 — Specialist Response and Security training 2010–11
Table C.8.3 — Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Management 2010–11
Table C.8.4 — In-service investigations training (Learning and Development — AFP College)
Table C.8.5 — Executive development
Table C.8.6 — Study assistance program for 2010–11
Table C.9.1 — Mechanisms and costs of injuries 2010–11
Table C.9.2 — Number of workplace incident reports — Mechanism of injury 2008–09 to 2010–11
Table C.9.3 — Lost time injury rate comparison 2008–09 to 2010–11
Table C.12.1 — Assets managed 2010–11
Table C.12.2 — Number of occupants/area occupied by number of staff
Table C.13.1 — Completed works 2010–11
Table C.13.2 — Works in progress 2010–11
Table C.14.1 — Consultancy costs 2010–11
Table C.14.2 — Contractor costs 2010–11
Table C.20.1 — Number of persons lodged in custody 2010–11
Table C.21.1 — Vehicles by fuel type
Table C.21.2 — Energy use and associated CO2 emissions
The dynamics of community policing are always changing so it is satisfying that through a confluence of proactive and intelligence-led activity, this reporting year has resulted in some excellent operational outcomes for ACT Policing.
From a ‘broad-brush’ perspective and the key performance indicator processes by which we are measured, we have achieved our best results in eight years. We have realised substantial decreases in volume crime, increased our clearance rates, and again exceeded all expectations on police response times.
These outcomes set the bar high for the years to come.
Amid the customary community discussion surrounding the validity of a dedicated police service for the ACT, a new agreement for policing services was signed between the Commonwealth and ACT Governments in June to bring Canberra again under the ‘watch’ of the Australian Federal Police for a further five years.
The relationship has proved a very effective and healthy one over a lengthy period, with the appropriate levels of checks and balances in place to ensure that the ACT receives excellent value for its policing dollar.
I know that our ACT Policing members are immensely proud of the role they provide in protecting and supporting the Canberra community. Furthermore, the AFP bond provides very real and tangible benefits for the ACT, including a ‘surge’ capacity of sworn officers for major events, and unfettered access to a world-class forensic capability.
The reporting period brought many highlights for ACT Policing, including a core function and operational response role in the Mercury 2010 exercise under the auspices of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee.
The exercise was one of the largest conducted in Australia in recent years involving police and emergency services, plus armed forces within the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and New Zealand. The exercise sought to map strategic, operational and tactical outcomes and in Canberra culminated in securing the services of the Australian Defence Force’s Tactical Assault Group (East) in the resolution phase.
It was an important inter-service ‘connect’ for us, and a good round-the-clock test of our capability to respond to a major terrorist-related incident.
From a community policing perspective, our outcomes were first class. Over the reporting period we saw a 32.7 per cent reduction in burglaries, a 37.3 per cent decline in motor vehicle theft — an offence which has long been the Achilles heel of focussed crime reduction in the ACT — and a 21.8 per cent fall in property damage.
We set ourselves tough goals from the previous year, and naturally put some additional investigative resources into the targeted areas to record these achievements. But this does not understate the professionalism and dedication of the officers in those teams which achieved those excellent results.
The identification of excessive alcohol consumption and binge drinking as the major ‘trigger factors’ to anti-social behaviour within Canberra’s entertainment districts led to discussions with the ACT Government on dedicated funding for a targeted team of officers. This initiative gave rise to the Alcohol Crime Targeting Team, which became fully operational for the peak summer period of 2010-11 and, allied with legislative support structures, has led to a marked reduction in alcohol-related incidents and crime.
The ‘softly-softly’ preface to the team’s operational activities, in which the ACT Government’s Office of Regulatory Services and other key stakeholders were fully engaged in the educative process, the industry well-informed of the changes ahead and the enforcement activities following to support it, proved the ideal strategic approach. While we are very pleased that statistically, this type of anti-social activity has shown a decline as a result of our attention, experience shows us that any easing of this focus only erodes all the success from our previous efforts. The same can be said for our efforts in aggressively targeting property and volume crime. As police, we need Canberrans to feel secure and comfortable about visiting the city’s restaurants and nightclubs, and without fear of harassment by alcohol-fuelled individuals.
While a whole-of-government approach to this issue has been a success and clearly points to the potential for harnessing similar processes in the future, we must always be cognisant of how human behaviour adapts to a changed environment. The prevalence of ‘pre-loading’ among drinkers is now rising, and with licensees now under heightened pressure to self-regulate, the intoxicated and irritated are pushed out on the streets where they come to the attention of police. The need for culture change, where drunken, loutish anti-social behaviour is seen as socially unacceptable within the peer group, is imperative.
The benefits of being a relatively small police service allows us the luxury of better knowing the personal skills and capabilities of our people, and deploying those investigative strengths in the best possible way.
This gave us some outstanding outcomes in the crime portfolio, with detectives and specialist units involved in Operation Taransay — the shooting death of a man in Hughes — locating the hidden weapon, and bringing all those allegedly involved before the courts. Similarly, Operation Keys — the alleged murder of a man found in his apartment in Belconnen — saw the arrest of one man and two women.
Operation Laverda, in which offenders mostly in the south of Canberra were targeting outlets and vulnerable victims out on their own, assaulting them and stealing their property — usually minor items, such as mobile phones — was also a focus of investigative activity and as a result, numerous young offenders were apprehended.
On the traffic front, the reporting year saw a 50 per cent decline in road deaths from the previous period. Again, our collaborative and effective working relationship with the ACT Government can be credited in providing an enforcement ‘environment’ where some of the highest risk-takers on our roads — those who do not pay their vehicle registration or Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance, or whose licences have been cancelled or suspended for previous offences — are identified and extracted. This was achieved through the introduction of a dedicated and highly mobile police RAPID (Recognition and Analysis of Plates IDentified) team, which scans vehicle registration plates at the rate of six per second.
During the reporting year, the six-person RAPID team identified and stopped 1772 unregistered vehicles, 780 vehicles without CTP, as well as 474 unlicensed, 57 disqualified, and 148 suspended drivers. Working in cooperation with ACT Roads and Traffic Authority inspectors, the RAPID team also identified 1213 defective vehicles.
And while we have achieved well on this front, which has included a concerted media and integrated communications effort incorporating traditional and new media, reducing trauma on our roads will continue to remain a priority for us.
For ACT Policing, the high standards set by this past reporting year will challenge us to emulate and improve going forward.
Our workforce is becoming more adaptable and our training improving to match the changing dynamics, increasing population and shifting demographics of the ACT. A significant addition to our training regime during the reporting period was the program provided under the Mental Health Community Policing Initiative, in which we have sought to shift the onus away from responding operationally to what is essentially a health issue, complemented by embedded clinicians into our ACT Policing Operations function to provide the most considered outcome for the mental health consumer. Already, we are starting to see the benefits of this integrated approach, on the frontline, and through the support provided to officers in the field by the experienced clinicians.
It is important, too, that our policing ‘footprint’ matches that of the community we serve. As Canberra changes and grows, we as police must plan ahead to fit those needs. While this can be seen as a challenge for us, providing additional responsibility on our services, it also challenges our thinking, and provides an opportunity for police to influence planning such as through ‘crime prevention through environmental design principles’.
Chief Police Officer for the ACT Roman Quaedvlieg at the launch of National Child Protection Week, September 2010.
We moved into our purpose-built Exhibit Management Centre during this reporting period, and centralised all our traffic members, including our Collision Investigation and Reconstruction Team, into one location, the Traffic Operations Centre. The coming year will see the opening of the new Specialist Response and Security building, and the Belconnen Police Station as part of our five-year accommodation strategy.
While we must be agile and responsive to the changing needs of Canberra, determining the best location for policing services within a fast growing community and the ‘type’ of police presence may change the way policing has been traditionally managed. To position ourselves for the future, we need to understand community expectations; in terms of our police/public interface, as well as in the way we conduct our business.
Engagement takes many forms and while the use of social media is not a panacea for policing, it is certainly a tool that law enforcement must exploit.
An enhanced social media presence has provided a publicly recognised boost to the service focus of ACT Policing. Sergeants within the Operations room use a dedicated and well-followed twitter account to advise road users of any traffic delays or collisions. The site has quickly attracted more than 1500 followers, with considerable growth expected. My own twitter account, CPOACT, was also launched during this reporting period, used to distribute corporate information with a personal touch to provide a degree of authenticity. While social media use presents operational and reputational risks, these types of technology platforms play a vital role in enabling ‘two way’ communication with mass audiences, ensuring police messages reach the public in a timely manner, and the proliferation of its use cannot be ignored by police organisations wanting to stay connected with their communities.
Increasing the representation of women, too, will remain a priority for us. We began to examine ways in which flexible and part-time work patterns could be embedded into ACT Policing, particularly for members returning from parental leave. This however, is not without its challenges, in a 24/7 operation, but we are committed to our diversity goals.
Responsiveness, in both an operational sense, and to the broader policing needs of the Canberra community, will always be our priority. This means reviewing the old ways of doing things and looking at greater efficiencies, using new technology such as social media and other communications tools, identifying where potential issues may arise, and sometimes putting engagement as a precursor to enforcement.
As a police service, we look forward to the year ahead and working in partnership with the community to make Canberra an even better place to live.
2 August, 2010
Hi to our colleagues,
At SupportLink we receive almost daily praise for our work and for the efforts of ACT Policing. We often neglect to pass on these comments as it may be perceived as self serving.
This feedback below supports our Police/SupportLink response to suicides. The internal champion to this process was Sgt Rick McQualter. I firmly believe the intervention model/s (referrals making combined with direct intervention for suicides, motor vehicle fatalities and other major tragedies) used by ACT Policing are international best practice. See the letter my colleague Heidi received.
Kind regards
Tony Campbell
Executive Director
SupportLink Australia Ltd
ACT Policing is the community policing arm of the Australian Federal Police (AFP). We are responsible for providing quality policing services to the people of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). We do this in partnership with the community.
More information on our role can be found at Section A.1 — The Organisation.
Our mission is to keep the peace and preserve public safety within the ACT. We work to achieve this by providing quality police services in partnership with the community.
We strive to deliver a professional, innovative and effective policing service in an ever changing environment for all the people of Canberra.
The AFP is a statutory authority established by Federal Parliament under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. It is part of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s portfolio, reporting to the Minister for Home Affairs and Justice.
As the community policing arm of the AFP, we deliver policing services to the ACT under a Policing Arrangement between the Commonwealth and ACT Governments (see Appendix 1).
The Policing Arrangement provides for the establishment of an annual Purchase Agreement between the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Chief Police Officer for the ACT and the Commissioner of the AFP (see Appendix 2). The Purchase Agreement specifies the type and level of services required by the ACT Government at an agreed price.
The Policing Arrangement also enables the Minister for Police and Emergency Services to provide general directions on policy, priorities and goals to the Chief Police Officer through the Ministerial Direction (see Appendix 3).
Our Executive comprises the Chief Police Officer for the ACT, Deputy Chief Police Officer — Response, Deputy Chief Police Officer — Crime and the Director Corporate Services.
More information on our governance can be found at Section A.1 — The Organisation.
Our strategic approach is to continue to create a safer and more secure ACT through:
Officers overseeing the crowd at a Canberra Raiders’ home game.
We pride ourselves in being a values-driven organisation. Our core values of integrity, commitment, excellence, accountability, fairness and trust represent our principles and standards — the values we uphold as part of our personal and professional duties.
More information on our values can be found at Section A.1 — The Organisation.
Our people — men and women, officers and enabling staff — are our greatest asset. We are proud that our 991 people are committed to providing effective policing services to the ACT; often going above and beyond core duties to ensure the safety of our community.
More information about our people can be found at Section C.7 — Staffing Profile.
Our operating expenditure budget for this reporting period was $146 214 000.
Under the Policing Arrangement between the Commonwealth and ACT Government, funds to deliver community policing services to the ACT are provided by the ACT Government to the AFP.
More information on our budget and expenditure can be found in Section A.6 — Financial Report.
Among other key operational outcomes, our major achievements during this reporting period were the significant decrease in volume and property crime recorded, and a 50 per cent reduction in road deaths in the ACT.
More specifically, our major highlights for the reporting period were:
More information about our highlights can be found in Section A.3 — Highlights.
Our major challenges faced during the reporting period and into the future are largely in relation to:
More information about our challenges can be found in Section A.4 — Outlook.
Our performance is measured by a framework of one major outcome and a series of outputs and performance measures articulated in the annual Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2).
The major outcome of the Purchase Agreement is to ‘work in partnership with the community to create a safer and more secure Australian Capital Territory through the provision of quality police services’.
This is achieved through delivery of four key areas of focus: Crime and Safety Management; Traffic Law Enforcement and Road Safety; Prosecution and Judicial Support; and Crime Prevention.
Each output is measured by a number of key performance indicators (KPIs). We achieved or exceeded 29 out of the 34 KPIs for this reporting period — the best result we have achieved in eight years since the existing reporting framework was established in 2002–03.
KPIs not achieved predominantly related to perceptions of crime and self reporting in relation to traffic offences. One specific target — number of offences against the person reported or becoming known per 100 000 of the population — was an aspirational ‘stretch’ target set by ACT Policing for this reporting period, which, if measured against last year’s target, would have been exceeded.
More information about our performance can be found at Section A.9 — Analysis of Agency Performance.
OUR STORY
Our story is our people and our performance — protecting the community 365 days a year — 24 hours a day.
Our people are dedicated, committed and professional — often going above and beyond the ‘call of duty’. What they are faced with on a daily basis while rewarding, can be confronting.
Our mission is simple: to preserve public safety. Our performance speaks for itself.
Our Annual Report illustrates our story. While much of our work goes unnoticed, as it should, it does not go unrecognised.
We thank those members of the community who take the time to thank our exceptional police officers. These letters of appreciation and thank you ‘tweets’ not only showcase the diversity of ACT Policing and our duties, they are greatly appreciated by receiving members.
[Letters of appreciation have been left unedited.]
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is a statutory authority established by Federal Parliament under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. It is part of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s portfolio, reporting to the Minister for Home Affairs.
ACT Policing is the community policing arm of the AFP and our role is to deliver quality police services to the ACT.
These services are provided in accordance with An Arrangement between the Minister for Justice and Customs of the Commonwealth and the Australian Capital Territory for the Provision of Police Services to the Australian Capital Territory (the Policing Arrangement), signed for a further five years on 24 June 2011 (see Appendix 1).
The Policing Arrangement provides for the establishment of an annual Purchase Agreement between the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Commissioner of the AFP and the Chief Police Officer for the ACT (see Appendix 2). The Purchase Agreement specifies the type and level of services required by the ACT Government from ACT Policing on an annual basis and the agreed price of those services.
The Policing Arrangement enables the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services to provide general directions on policy, priorities and goals to the Chief Police Officer in the form of a Ministerial Direction (see Appendix 3).
We achieve our outcome — ‘in partnership with the community, create a safer and more secure Australian Capital Territory through the provision of quality police services’ — through four key pillars:
Members from City Police Station on night patrol, responding to an incident through ACT Policing Operations.
ACT Policing’s mission is to keep the peace and preserve public safety within the ACT. We work to achieve this mission by providing quality police services in partnership with the community.
In line with the AFP, we pride ourselves as being a values-driven organisation. The core values of integrity, commitment, excellence, accountability, fairness and trust represent our principles and standards — the values we uphold as part of our personal and professional duties.
Integrity is displayed on an individual level through soundness of moral principle, honesty and sincerity.
Integrity is demonstrated through:
Our commitment is characterised by our dedication, application, perseverance and a belief in the ability of individuals to achieve and add value.
We display commitment by:
We believe there is always room for improvement — and that the never-ending search for improvement leads to excellence. We aim for excellence in everything we do.
To promote excellence in our organisation we:
Accountability is achieved through having ownership of our work and/or results, and being answerable for our outcomes. This means we:
We are committed to being fair; meaning that we are impartial and equitable. This means we:
We believe in trust, having faith and confidence, and being able to rely and depend on others. This means we:
Our Executive comprises a Chief Police Officer, Deputy Chief Police Officer — Response, Deputy Chief Police Officer — Crime and the Director Corporate Services.
The Chief Police Officer is responsible to the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services for the achievement of outcomes and key performance indicators (KPIs) as determined by the Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2) and for the areas of focus described in the Ministerial Direction (see Appendix 3). The Chief Police Officer is also responsible for general management, workforce planning and management of resources used to provide quality police services to the ACT community.
As an Assistant Commissioner of the AFP, the Chief Police Officer also reports to the Commissioner of the AFP. The Chief Police Officer is supported by the three functional streams of Crime, Response, and Corporate Services.
The Deputy Chief Police Officer — Response is responsible for the management of North and South District General Duties; Traffic Operations; Specialist Response and Security (SRS); Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Management (CT&EM) and the Exhibit Management Centre (and ACT Firearms Registry).
The Deputy Chief Police Officer — Crime is responsible for the management of specialised policing services including Criminal Investigations, ACT Policing Operations, ACT Policing Intelligence, Judicial Support (and ACT Watch House) and Crime Prevention.
The Director Corporate Services is responsible for the portfolios that deliver enabling services to support frontline policing services to the ACT community. These include Policy, Performance and Planning; Finance and Logistics; Human Resources; and Media and Marketing.
Our organisational structure can be found at Figure C.5.2.
Deputy Chief Police Officer — Crime David McLean, Chief Police Officer for the ACT Roman Quaedvlieg, Director Corporate Services Judith Kendrick, Deputy Chief Police Officer — Response Bruce Hill.
The CT&EM team is made up of three key areas:
Each of the three areas work towards increasing the preparedness and response capabilities of the ACT to events and major incidents including terrorism related occurrences, natural disasters, health pandemics and the coordination of recovery operations.
The Exhibit Management Centre (EMC) provides shop front service to the ACT community and administers the approvals for ACT firearm licenses and registrations, ensuring compliance with the ACT Firearms legislation.
The EMC primarily provides a secure storage facility for the preservation and management of exhibits and property seized and held by ACT Policing, ensuring the continuity and integrity of items is evidence and property.
The EMC moved to a purpose-built facility during the reporting period.
More information about the EMC can be found at Section A.3 — Highlights.
ACT’s five police stations — Belconnen, City (Civic), Gungahlin, Woden and Tuggeranong — work together to respond to requests for police assistance across Canberra.
North district patrols (Belconnen, City and Gungahlin) service the geographical areas of Canberra north of Lake Burley Griffin including the City Central business district, Inner North, Belconnen and Gungahlin. South district patrols (Woden and Tuggeranong) service the geographical area south of Lake Burley Griffin including Kingston, Manuka, Fyshwick, Woden, Weston and Tuggeranong. South District also operates a two-member Rural Patrol team from the Tuggeranong Police Station which services the ACT’s rural population with the support of other ACT Policing teams as required.
A map of Canberra and patrol zones can be found at Figure A.1.1.
As at 30 June 2011, ACT Policing was reviewing its patrol zones to determine even workload distribution for all five stations. More information can be found at Section A.2 — Overview.
Districts share responsibility for responding to incidents, undertaking patrols and detecting and investigating crime. The five stations also provide a 24 hour a day, seven days a week general enquiry and face-to-face reporting service for the community.
@ACTPol_Traffic it’s night’s like these all Canberrans should remember great work our local Emergency Service Workers all do. #respect
@ACTPol_Traffic thanks so much for the great work you’re doing btw! So good to know what’s going on travelling to and from work.
@ACTPol_Traffic Thx for the Vernon Circle info, I saw it just before my commute home from Fyshwick to Inner North & went home via Limestone.
I love @ACTPol_Traffic. One of the reasons why Twitter just works, dammit. Absolute godsend during the floods last year. Good humored, too.
SRS is a multi-disciplined, specialist policing portfolio providing capability to prepare for, manage and respond to major incidents.
Services provided by SRS include:
As at 30 June 2011 the SRS structure was under review in conjunction with the AFP’s Organisational Response Group, with a view to identifying synergies and operational efficiencies.
Traffic Operations (or TOps as we like to call it) is responsible for enforcing traffic laws and promoting safer driving on ACT roads. Traffic Operations works closely with the ACT Office of Road Safety to develop and implement strategies relating to education, deterrence and enforcement of traffic matters.
Services provided by Traffic Operations include:
ACT Policing Intelligence provides an intelligence capability to support police activities and inform criminal investigations within the ACT.
Services provided by ACT Policing Intelligence include:
ACT Policing Operations provides centralised command, control, communications and coordination services for ACT Policing.
Services provided by ACT Policing Operations include:
During the reporting period ACT Policing Operations handled 125 458 calls for police assistance (not including general switchboard calls), including 28 843 Triple Zero (000) calls, 91 034 non-emergency calls to 131 444 (police), and 5 581 calls to Crime Stoppers. Police were dispatched to 109 483 incidents.
ACT Policing Operations members were able to resolve 9539 incidents without police attendance being required — the balances of calls were either duplicate calls or callers were referred to an internal or external contact who could provide the optimum response to their inquiry. In addition to these calls, ACT Policing Operations was actively involved in several trials including the National Kids Helpline and the Lifeline Online Chat room.
Crime Prevention aims to increase confidence in police through interaction and engagement with the community. A key element in achieving this is working with key stakeholders across government and the community sector.
Crime Prevention supports and coordinates a broad range of community engagement programs, including:
Members of Crime Prevention are also involved in the research and project management of initiatives that stimulate public focus on specific crime types or security issues through community events such as White Ribbon Day, the ActewAGL Royal Canberra Show, the Multicultural Festival, Canberra ‘Eid al-Fitr’ festival and other festivals.
In December 2010 Crime Prevention also launched the Alcohol Crime Targeting Team (ACTT), a 10 person team formed to strengthen the enforcement of the new
ACT Government liquor laws as well as addressing issues associated with the sale and supply of alcohol through engagement, education and enforcement.
Criminal Investigations is the primary function responsible for investigating serious and major crime in the ACT.
Criminal Investigations members are involved in the investigation of:
Judicial Operations provides regulatory and legal support to ACT Policing including:
Finance and Logistics facilitates our management of finances, assets, fleet, facilities management, uniform services, procurement and contract support.
Services provided by Finance and Logistics include:
Human Resources (HR) manages our most important asset — our people. HR works to align people management policies and practices with business objectives to best support ACT Policing through:
During this reporting period our volunteers in policing provided 12 000 hours of service — averaging more than 1000 hours per month over a 12-month period — undertaking a range of duties including role playing for recruit training, front office support at police stations, letterbox drops and assistance at community events. Twelve new volunteers were introduced into ACT Policing in April 2011.
Media and Marketing support the operational outcomes of ACT Policing through building cooperative relationships between the media and police, distributing public information and profiling the work of our organisation and people through campaigns and programs in the local community.
Services provided by Media and Marketing include:
Superintendent Kylie Flower at a Skyfire press conference.
Policy, Performance and Planning (PP&P) provides advice to our Executive, ACT Government agencies and the Minister for Police and Emergency Services on law enforcement matters.
Services provided by PP&P include:
Our primary client is the community in which we serve and protect. In doing this, we work in close partnership with the community to ensure the delivery of quality policing services to the ACT.
Our primary stakeholder is the ACT Government. In line with the Policing Arrangement and annual Purchase Agreement (see Appendices 1 and 2), our role is to keep the peace and preserve public safety within the ACT. We are responsible for reporting quarterly and annually on our outcomes and KPIs to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services.
Building partnerships with the community lies at the core of effective community policing. Working with community stakeholders is an essential part of our role in facilitating access and interaction with the community. We strive to maintain these relationships for our benefit and that of the community.
To fulfil our role to the best of our ability, we also work with a number of agencies; government, non-government and not-for-profit organisations.
Some of our primary clients and stakeholders include:
More information about our partnerships can be found in Section A.2 — Overview.
An ACT Policing officer working alongside the ACT Fire Brigade.
In line with the 2010–2011 Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2), our performance is measured against four key outputs:
Each output is assessed at a whole-of-service level against seven specific areas of focus:
These specific areas of focus are broken down into 34 key performance indicators (KPIs).
ACT Policing achieved or exceeded 29 out of its 34 KPIs during this reporting period, the highest since the introduction of our current performance reporting framework since 2002–03.
While we met a record 29 of our performance measures, and have achieved some notable accomplishments — particularly in the sizeable reduction of property and volume crime, and road safety — there are some measures against which we did not meet the performance target, namely around perceptions of crime and self-reporting. One however was an aspirational ‘stretch’ target set by ACT Policing for this reporting period in an attempt to improve the measure relating to offences against the person.
@YayForBJ Thanks. This is pretty much a normal volume & types of incidents but we’re being more active about telling the community about it.
@CPOACT Praying for everyone involved in the shooting, it’s sad it ended how it did, but they did what they had to. Hope the officers are OK.
@CPOACT Hope the members involved are doing OK. Tragic for all concerned
@CPOACT: Police have shot dead a man who attacked them with an edged weapon after they responded to a (cont) http://tl.gd/8pvq9q
While some of these performance measures are outside of our direct control, we use performance results against KPIs as one of the means of ensuring our policing efforts are directed in the right areas.
ACT Policing achieved against three of the four measures relating to levels of crime, including both measures relating to the number of offences against the person and the number of offences against the person cleared.
Specifically, we exceeded the number of offences against property, recording a decrease of 26.1 per cent from the previous reporting period. We also achieved measure 3 — percentage of offences against the person cleared — by 14.4 per cent — the highest proportion of offences cleared for more than 10 years.
The clear up rate for offences against property cleared was exceeded by 5 per cent.
The only targets not achieved — measure 1, the number of offences against the person, reported or becoming known per 100 000 population — was an aspirational ‘stretch’ target set by ACT Policing during this reporting period, outside of target by 3.5 per cent, which if measured against last year’s target, would have been exceeded.
We achieved against the majority of measures aimed at determining the public’s perception of crime. All six of these KPIs are measured by the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing, conducted by an independent research company commissioned by the Australia and New Zealand Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) in which there are 2400 residents of the ACT and 28 507 people nationally participating in the survey.
Of note, 61.4 per cent of people surveyed were concerned about becoming a victim of housebreaking, and while there is a community perception of being prone to motor vehicle theft, this is contrary to the significant results recorded in both these two categories.
We achieved against all KPIs measuring police responsiveness during this reporting period, with police attendance to Priority 1 (critical incidents) recording 87.7 per cent within eight minutes of receiving a call and 97.4 per cent achieved within twelve minutes.
The response priority system was reassessed during the reporting period to place the highest possible imperative on priority one incidents, combining the former categories of three and four, and allowing for a distinction between police attendance versus police attention. Response times for lower level incidents (now Priority 3) where police attendance/attention is required increased from 24 to 48 hours to enable ACT Policing to better manage resources and triage more serious incidents. This provides a flexible response to lower level incidents and in turn, improving police response times. We far exceeded the Priority 3 incidents, recording 99.9 per cent response within 48 hours.
ACT Policing exceeded targets of most KPIs measuring public confidence in our activities. In most areas, ACT respondents indicated a greater level of confidence in police than was recorded nationally, as measured by the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing.
ACT Policing narrowly failed to meet measure 15, persons satisfied with their most recent contact with police — the national average was 82.2 per cent, and ACT Policing achieved 80.4 per cent. However, the survey showed that the community believe that ACT police officers are ‘fair’ and ‘professional’ in the performance of their duties.
We recorded 10 collisions resulting in 10 deaths during this reporting period. While this is a significant decrease from the previous year, where 17 collisions claimed the lives of 20 people — a 50 per cent decrease — ACT Policing remains strongly committed to reducing the road toll to single digits.
Collisions with injuries also reduced during this reporting period, down 4.9 per cent from the previous reporting period.
We did not achieve against measure 22 relating to the public’s self-reporting of driving 10km per hour or more over the speed limit. It is noted that ACT Policing has no direct influence over motorist’s behaviours and attitudes.
ACT Policing achieved against all its KPIs in supporting the judicial process, in particular, recording 79.9 per cent of briefs delivered to the DPP within the given timeframe (target of 75 per cent). This is an improvement from 2009–10, where ACT Policing recorded a result of 72 per cent.
ACT Policing achieved all eight KPIs relating to crime prevention, including specific quality of life issues such as speeding cars, dangerous or noisy driving; louts and gangs; graffiti and vandalism; and drunken/disorderly behaviour.
We particularly achieved against our referral targets (31, 32 and 34), where we are required to refer or divert identified people to support programs.
During this reporting period the target for this measure was 55 or more young people referred to diversionary programs. ACT Policing achieved the target with 95 referrals to diversionary programs (restorative justice), exceeding the target by 72.7 per cent.
Our target for measure 32 was 5100 or more people referred to community support agencies. We achieved the target with 6004 referrals to SupportLink.
Measure 34 — number of referrals to drug diversion programs — was exceeded by 63.1 per cent, an increase of 20.5 per cent compared with the previous reporting period.
Victims of Crime training was included for the first time during this reporting period, with 90 per cent of sworn officers required to complete the course within 12 months. As at 30 June 2011, 83.7 per cent of sworn members had completed the training, well on track to meet the target.
More information about our performance can be found at Section A.9 — Analysis of Agency Performance.
The AFP is a Commonwealth Statutory Authority established under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. ACT Policing is the community policing arm of the AFP responsible for the delivery of police services to the ACT.
These services are delivered in accordance with the Policing Arrangement (Appendix 1); the Purchase Agreement (Appendix 2); and Ministerial Directions (Appendix 3) — our three principal direction setting mechanisms that drive our planning frameworks.
Our mission of keeping the peace and preserving public safety within the ACT is further supported by a robust internal governance framework.
The five-year Policing Arrangement between the Commonwealth and ACT Governments and the Commissioner of the AFP (see Appendix 1) provides the enabling framework by which the AFP (ACT Policing) provides policing services to the ACT.
The Policing Arrangement defines the overarching powers and relationships between all parties involved, the objectives of which are:
The Policing Arrangement was re-signed for a further five years during this reporting period. On Friday 24 June 2011 Minister for Home Affairs and Justice the Honourable Brendan O’Connor, Minister for Police and Emergency Services Simon Corbell and AFP Commissioner Tony Negus signed the 2011–2016 Policing Arrangement at a ceremony at the Edmund Barton Building — AFP Headquarters, Canberra.
The Policing Arrangement provides for the establishment of an annual Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2) between the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Commissioner of the AFP and the Chief Police Officer for the ACT.
The Purchase Agreement specifies the type and level of services required by the ACT Government from ACT Policing as well as the agreed price of those services. It details the policing outcomes, outputs, performance measures, targets and facilities to be provided and the powers and obligations of the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Chief Police Officer for ACT, and associated administrative arrangements.
ACT Policing is directly accountable to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services for the achievement and delivery of the outcomes defined in the Purchase Agreement. The Chief Police Officer for the ACT is required to report on outcomes to the Minister within one calendar month at the end of each quarter, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.
The Purchase Agreement is the key mechanism by which we plan our activities, and articulates the 34 KPIs in which we are measured against.
We align our workforce and strategic priorities in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the Purchase Agreement by allocating resources and specialist capabilities to service each output.
The Purchase Agreement is re-negotiated annually prior to the commencement of each financial year (1 July). The 2011–2012 Purchase Agreement was signed by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services Simon Corbell, Commissioner Tony Negus and Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg at a ceremony at the Edmund Barton Building — AFP Headquarters, Canberra on Friday 24 June 2011.
Clause 6 of the Policing Arrangement allows the Minister for Police and Emergency Services to provide general directions to ACT Policing (in writing) through a Ministerial Direction (see Appendix 3). The Ministerial Direction is updated annually, in line with the Purchase Agreement, and provides guidance on specific areas of focus relating to policy, priorities and goals for the provision of police services, without issuing directions on operational matters.
The 2010–2011 Ministerial Direction identified the following areas of special focus:
The 2011–2012 Ministerial Direction was signed by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services Simon Corbell at a ceremony at the Edmund Barton Building — AFP Headquarters, Canberra on Friday 24 June 2011.
Our governance arrangements enable effective operational and organisational planning. A range of internal committees provide support to the Chief Police Officer in the management of ACT Policing. These committees include the Executive Committee, the Executive Steering Committee, Workforce Management Committee, the Operations Committee and the newly established Business Committee.
A strategic workforce plan, which is approved by the Executive Committee, exists to ensure that sufficiently skilled staff are appropriately distributed across the agency in accordance with key priorities.
More information about our internal governance can be found at Section C.5 — Internal Accountability.
The ACT represents the smallest policing jurisdiction in Australia with the lowest number of police as well as police per capita. This is sustainable at present due to Canberra’s population which is densely concentrated and mainly located in low to medium density suburbs, interspersed with considerable open spaces (some of which are subject to in-filling developments for new suburbs) and surrounded by significant tracts of bushland and grazing properties.
Our footprint — in terms of our interface with the public and our policing presence — will change and adapt as Canberra continues to grow and develop.
Emerging suburbs such as Lawson, Wright and Coombs, and the developing suburbs of Crace, Casey, Bonner and Beard, place an additional responsibility on our services and continually challenges our thinking.
South district general duties on bicycle patrol.
As the seat of Commonwealth Government, the ACT features a high number of Commonwealth assets and interests, including national icons which require unique policing solutions, and a high number of visiting dignitaries which ACT Policing is responsible for managing and escorting securely.
Similarly, on a per capita basis, Canberra hosts a significant
number of foreign embassies and delegations. Those premises, their occupants, and frequent visitors, are entitled to special levels of protection and immunity under international conventions.
The Territory is also located entirely as an enclave within the state of New South Wales and this geographical proximity means that there are significant cross-border impacts affecting the services that we provide. From a policing perspective, these impacts include cross-border organised and volume crime and road safety issues including pursuits and road trauma.
The Territory is also unique in terms of the way it accesses its policing services through the Policing Arrangement and the Purchase Agreement (see Appendices 1 and 2
respectively). As a contracted police service to the ACT Government, we are required to deliver a policing capability across the suite of community policing responsibilities under the Commonwealth (Australian Federal Police) function.
As a key agency within the Territory’s criminal justice system, ACT Policing works closely with a wide range of other ACT agencies to protect the community. These agencies include the Department Justice and Community Safety (DJaCS), the courts and the DPP.
We also collaborate with the DJaCS on matters applying to legislative reform and on matters of common interest such as liquor licensing enforcement, victim liaison and emergency management (including critical infrastructure protection).
Our agency further works with the:
We also draw on information and expertise from the wider AFP in the areas of forensic services, information technology, technical operations, professional standards, commercial support, policy and learning and development. The ACT is fortunate to be able to purchase world-class services in all of these disciplines at an economical price from the AFP, and further rely on a cost-free surge capacity of sworn and unsworn staff from AFP National operations in times of emergency or need.
As part of the wider AFP, we also provide opportunities for our members and support our colleagues through offshore deployments such as assisting with disturbances at the Christmas Island detention centre, or providing additional policing capability to New Zealand after the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch.
ACT Policing also engages with other police jurisdictions and Commonwealth agencies and is represented on national and international law enforcement forums including:
The Chief Police Officer is a member of the ANZPAA Board of Management.
The Chief Police Officer is a member of the CrimTrac Board of Management.
The Chief Police Officer is a member of the ACC Board of Management.
The Chief Police Officer is a member of the MCPEM-P and its Senior Officers Group.
The Deputy Chief Police Officer — Crime, is a member of the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy.
The Chief Police Officer is Australia’s representative for Pearls in Policing, and its Program Manager.
There have been a number of organisational and administrative changes during the reporting period that reflect a greater focus on the frontline — where our critical mass of resources is focused.
ACT Policing re-focused its patrol zones during this reporting period to ensure our general duties officers are effectively distributed across the Territory.
The growing population and emerging suburbs in Canberra along with a desire to sustain the low volume crime rates we’ve contributed to were catalysts for the patrol zones review.
When comparing incident rates — the number of incidents attended to by General Duties in 2010 per patrol-based full-time equivalent (FTE) — it became apparent that members of the Woden patrol zone were overstretched and responded to more incidents in 2010 than the other patrol zones of Belconnen, Gungahlin, City and Tuggeranong. The day-shifts of Woden, Belconnen, and Gungahlin patrols were required to respond to more incidents than the day-shifts of other patrols. On the other hand, the night-shifts of City and Tuggeranong patrols were required to respond to more incidents than the night-shifts of other patrols.
Average distances travelled by Woden and Tuggeranong patrols to attend incidents requiring a rapid response (priority categories 1 and 2) were higher than the ACT average of 2.94 km with these members travelling on average more than 3.6 km.
As a result, Gungahlin will have the additional responsibilities for the suburbs of Giralang, Kaleen, Downer and Dickson, the latter of which involves increased night patrols.
City Police Station will patrol the additional suburbs of Yarralumla, Parkes, Barton, Fyshwick, Beard, Oaks Estate and Capital Hall — all previously Woden patrol responsibilities.
Woden will patrol the additional suburb of Hume, as well as maintaining the remainder of its existing patrol zone.
These changes — which are in effect from 1 July 2011 — take into account incident rates by suburb, staffing and distance travelled by general duties members.
ACT Policing re-structured its functions during this reporting period to maximise resources on the frontline and create greater synergies between ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Crime Prevention’.
The re-structured ACT Policing is part of a broader strategy to ensure we are best positioned to deliver on our KPIs, and takes into account future financial implications, ensuring first and foremost that the frontline is resourced appropriately.
The re-structure includes the amalgamation of Crime Prevention with ACT Policing Intelligence, and Traffic Operations and Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Management with ACT Policing Operations.
The amalgamation of Crime Prevention with ACT Policing Intelligence recognises the need for intelligence-led crime prevention, and the need to integrate crime prevention activities into the broader ACT Policing. The primary intent of this amalgamation is to ensure that the diverse utility, skills, and extensive community network established by Crime Prevention can be surgically deployed through directive intelligence, and incorporated into any facet of ACT Policing.
Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg, Minister for Police and Emergency Services Simon Corbell, Minister for Home Affairs and Justice Brendan O’Connor and AFP Commissioner Tony Negus at the signing of the Policing Arrangement, June 2011.
The expanded ACT Policing Operations function will align with the Response portfolio and reflects the close link between operational planning and coordination of frontline resources.
These changes — which are in effect from 1 July 2011 — will also see an executive team reduction comprising eight Superintendents (formerly 10) and three corporate Coordinators. Deputy Chief Police Officers Bruce Hill and David McLean change portfolios under this restructure to ensure cross-pollination between Response and Crime.
The Organised Crime and Counter-Terrorism Investigations Team was introduced within the Criminal Investigations function, expanding the drug investigation capacity during this reporting period.
The aim of this change is to build drug investigations from the street-level supply of drugs through a proactive approach to long-term investigations of organised criminal entities impacting upon the ACT Community.
The broad mandate within the team includes a proactive approach to seizure of criminal assets using the Crime Act 2002 (ACT).
A trial of Court Attendance Notices (CANs) began in May 2010 to expedite minor matters through the judicial system and reduce the burden of service of subpoenas on ACT Policing.
CANs are issued on-the-spot — similar to traffic and criminal infringement notices (TINs and CINs) — to provide officers with the ability to serve a court attendance notice on an individual at the time of the offence, as opposed to lodging information back at the station and then sending a notice through the mail.
The initial trial of CANs focused on ‘prescribed content of alcohol’ matters, that is, drink driving offences. A review was conducted during this reporting period to determine the viability of the system as an ongoing option available to our officers for placing matters before the court. The evaluation concluded that the use of CANs was a more efficient way of placing matters before the court for both ACT Policing and the broader judicial system.
CANs have now been expanded and are used for any offence able to be progressed by summons such as minor theft and common assault. More than 20 CANs were issued during this reporting period.
The redevelopment of the Police Operations Centre (POC) began during this reporting period.
The refurbishment of the POC includes the construction of a theatrette style room, and enhanced infrastructure to meet the demand of a dynamic work environment when responding to major events or critical incidents. When not in use for emergency management purposes, the POC will be used as a multi-purpose training room.
The workstation configuration will offer an increase of 130 per cent in capacity. Technology enhancements will support the command and control function of the POC, which includes additional inputs such as CCTV and MeshNet video streams to further enhance investigations.
The catalyst for the POC redevelopment was a review of the existing infrastructure which identified the need for improvement to reflect current methodologies in response to emergency management.
The proposed works are scheduled for completion in the latter part of 2011.
In July 2010 Judicial Operations initiated reform of the policy, practices and procedures of our brief management process. The reforms were aimed at improving ACT Policing’s performance in supporting the judicial process, establishing a whole-of-brief management system, identifying and implementing strategies to reduce court costs, and further developing the relationships with the DPP and the ACT courts through engagement and the exchange of information and ideas.
The reforms were introduced progressively throughout the year and included the restructure of the Brief Management Team to incorporate the post-prosecution review and analysis of briefs of evidence. This has improved brief preparation, adjudication, performance at court, and analysis of outcomes.
The Australian Capital Territory Self Government Act 1988 provides that the ACT Executive has the responsibility of governing the ACT with respect to matters of law and order. The ACT Legislative Assembly, however, has no power to make laws with respect to the provision by the AFP of police services in the ACT. As such there is no ‘police Act’ or similar legislation in the ACT, with the AFP being responsible for providing policing services to the ACT under s. 8 of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (the Act).
Under ss. 8(1)(a) of the Act, the Minister for Home Affairs and Justice, and the ACT, have agreed to enter into arrangements for the provision of police services in relation to the ACT that are in respect of ACT functions as defined by s. 3 of the Australian Capital Territory Self Government (Consequential Provisions) Act 1988.
The Act provides that, in addition to any other powers and duties, a member of the AFP has, when performing functions in the ACT, the powers and duties conferred or imposed on a constable or on an officer of police by, or under any law (including the common law), of the ACT.
Police powers and duties are outlined in s. 9 of the Act, and include the prevention of crime; protection of persons from injury or death and protection of property from damage, whether arising from criminal acts or otherwise; and the preservation of peace and good order.
@CPOACT Tough job. Phenomenal men and women in ACT Policing. Takes a special kind of person. Thank you. Via web in reply to CPOACT.
@CPOACT The term “domestic disturbance” stretches far and wide doesn’t it? Officers never know what they’re gonna get when attending a job. Via web in reply to CPOACT.
@CPOACT just wanted to thank ACT Policing for their assistance with the #Equallove rally in Civic on Saturday. They did a fantastic job!
Our powers are derived from both ACT and Commonwealth legislation.
Commonwealth legislation:
ACT legislation:
To effectively police Canberra, we are involved in a number of joint ventures and partnerships with the community, government and non-government stakeholders as well as private and federal bodies.
These partnerships enable us to work collaboratively with other agencies to enhance service delivery and to gain valuable perspective from these agencies.
Details of these ventures and partnerships are detailed in Table A.2.1.
| Agency name | Type | Nature of involvement |
|---|---|---|
| ACT Corrective Services | MoU | Detention arrangement (Terrorism Act 2006), working relationship. |
| ACT Crime Stoppers Ltd | MoU/partnership | Working relationship. Crime Stoppers — a partnership between the AFP and other corporate sponsors — operates nationally and has become an integral part of policing. Crime Stoppers gathers information supplied by the community, which is vitally important to crime fighting and prevention. Crime Stoppers and ACT Policing work together to keep our community safe. |
| ACT Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services | MoU | Sexual assault of children and young people, working relationship. |
| ACT Director of Public Prosecutions | MoU | Prosecution support, case management hearings and committals. Victim support. Prosecution policy and guidelines. |
| ACT Environment Management Authority | MoU | Control of noise pollution in the ACT. |
| ACT Fire Brigade an ACT Rural Fire Service | MoU | Fire investigations and search and rescues in ACT. |
| ACT Forests (Department of Urban Services) | MoU | Emergency disposal site. |
| ACT Health | MoU | Diversion programs, cooperation in drug, alcohol, poison and other substance matters. Mental health intervention partnership. |
| ACT Internal Omnibus Network (ACTION) | MoU | Establishment of the Security Transport Monitoring Centre. |
| ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety | MoU | Restorative Justice Unit, CCTV systems, case management systems access. |
| ACT Office of Road Safety | MoU | We work with the Office of Road Safety to coordinate community road safety messages. Government resources, such as speed camera vans and Road Transport Authority Vehicle Inspectors, are also included in coordinated traffic operations where appropriate. |
| ACT RSPCA | MoU | Investigations into animal welfare matters. |
| ACT WorkCover | MoU | Working arrangements for workplace incidents/investigations. |
| Australian Crime Commission | The ACC is a Commonwealth statutory body working nationally with other Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies to counter serious and organised crime | The ACC Board consists of Commissioners from all State and Territory police forces (including the Chief Police Officer), Secretary of the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department, Chief Executive Officer Customs, the Director-General of Security and the Chairperson of Australian Securities and Investments Commission. |
| Canberra Cabs | MoU | Incident reporting. |
| Canberra Hospital | MoU | Working relationship — forensic and medical sexual assault care. |
| Canberra Multicultural Community Forum | MoU | Working arrangements. |
| Canberra Rape Crisis Centre | MoU | Working arrangements, victims of crime support. |
| Commonwealth Attorney-General and all State/Territory Attorney-Generals | MoU | Seizing and transfer of evidence. |
| CrimTrac | An inter-Governmental agreement signed by all Australian Police Ministers, including the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, to develop and host the technology required to give police across Australia ready access to information needed to solve crimes | The MCPEM–P defines the agency’s strategic directions and key policies, sets initiatives and appoints CrimTrac Board of Management members. The Director Corporate Services is a member of CrimTrac’s Strategic Issues Group, providing guidance to the Board and Chief Executive of CrimTrac on critical projects. The Chief Police Officer is a member of the CrimTrac Board. |
| CrimTrac — DNA database | MoU | National Criminal Investigation DNA Database — input and cooperation of data matching. |
| Department of Defence | MoU | Bomb incidents in the ACT. |
| Department of Environment Land and Planning, ACT Planning Authority, ACT Attorney-General | MoU | Provision of crime data. |
| Domestic Violence Crisis Service | MoU | Working relationship, cooperative arrangements and victim support. |
| ACT Department of Education and Training | MoU | Working arrangement between ACT Policing and School Education Division. |
| Emergency Services Australia | MoU | Working relationship — fire, search and rescues, ambulance, triple zero. |
| Lifeline Canberra | MoU | Personal support line. |
| Mental Health ACT, Calvary Health Care ACT, Canberra Hospital, ACT Ambulance Service | MoU | Working relationship. |
| Neighbourhood Watch | MoU | Working relationship, crime statistics, crime prevention. |
| NSW Police Force | MoU | Liaison during national campaigns and on an ad hoc basis. We also conduct joint operations with NSW Police including criminal investigations and traffic operations. |
| Pharmaceutical Guild Association | Partnership | Project STOP is a joint policing and proactive strategy that assists in identifying inappropriate patterns of sales/use in pseudoephedrine which may be diverted for the purpose of manufacturing illicit drugs. |
| Police and Community Youth Club | Partnership | Working relationship, crime prevention. Assistance in staffing PCYCs, joint activities and programs directed at young people. |
| SupportLink | Commercial relationship | Our members refer victims of crime and those in crises to Supportlink for counselling and support services. |
Crime and safety management was a particular focus during this reporting period. Emphasis was placed on volume and property crime with intelligence-led policing facilitating the targeting of recidivism and criminality. The efforts expended by ACT Policing resulted in a significant reduction in burglaries (down 32.7 per cent), and decreases of 37.3 per cent and 21.8 per cent in stolen motor vehicles and property damage respectively.
Prior to this reporting period, the last sustained murder conviction in the ACT was in 1998. In 2008 Operations Fortis and Adana respectively resulted in the arrests of a man for the murder of a man and woman in Downer; and the arrest of a woman for the murder of another woman in Charnwood. On 25 March 2011 and 3 May 2011 respectively, the ACT Supreme Court found both parties guilty, the latter involved a jury. These were significant investigative highlights for ACT Policing, particularly for the investigators who worked tirelessly, some for years, on bringing these matters to justice, and achieving the ACT’s first murder conviction in 13 years.
In July 2010 a volume crime reduction strategy was developed to address an increase in burglaries and stolen motor vehicles across the ACT.
ACT Policing established an intelligence-led model to identify emerging volume crime trends, and target individuals/groups through the execution of search warrants, a pro-arrest approach and aggressive bail compliance activity.
During the reporting period the ACT recorded significant decreases in most reported crimes compared with the previous financial year. Burglaries declined by 32.7 per cent, motor vehicle thefts by 37.3 per cent, with property damage down 21.8 per cent.
While many factors can contribute to these significant decreases, particularly in property crimes such as motor vehicle theft and burglary, we believe several ACT Policing initiatives contributed to these significant downward trends. These include: the establishment of a dedicated property crime team with an aggressive crime-targeting strategy; a revitalised intelligence collection and analysis effort against volume property crime; targeting known recidivist offenders; and enforcing bail conditions on known property crime offenders.
More information about our crime statistics can be found at Section A.9 — Analysis of Agency Performance.
Operation Laverda — investigation into a number of aggravated robberies committed over the preceding years on clubs and ACTTAB outlets — involved offenders entering business premises armed with firearms and escaping with substantial sums of money.
Two men were identified as suspects and were subsequently targeted.
In January 2011 the two men — both aged 33 — were arrested, allegedly on the way to committing an armed robbery on a supermarket in Kambah. One of the men has since entered a guilty plea to this offence, and a firearm has been recovered through investigations. The other was later charged with a range of serious and violent robbery offences dating back to December 2008. Among the 19 charges were six counts of aggravated robbery, four of theft, and two of aggravated burglary, as well as attempted aggravated robbery, take motor vehicle without consent, money laundering, possessing a prohibited firearm and damage to property. The man also faced arson charges resulting from an attempt to blow open an ATM in March 2009.
Operation Laverda also included investigations into a number of aggravated robberies on fast-food restaurants and similar ‘soft’ targets in the ACT over the 2009–10 period. These offences involved up to three people entering premises armed with knives and/or a firearms. Several teenagers were identified as suspects and have been subsequently charged during this reporting period with either aggravated robbery or receiving stolen property.
Operation Laverda encompassed assistance from many areas of ACT Policing and the broader AFP, including Criminal Investigation and Crime Targeting teams, General Duties, ACT Police Intelligence, Specialist Response and Security (SRS), AFP Forensics, Traffic Operations, Judicial Operations, Crime Prevention’s Victim Liaison Officers and a number of other specialist teams.
ACT Policing’s Criminal Investigations function continued to investigate the alleged murders in Hughes and Belconnen, both of which occurred in May 2010.
The 2009–10 Annual Report reported the arrest of one man in relation to Operation Taransay — the shooting death of a man while in a car in Hughes. In August 2010, two additional men were arrested and charged with their involvement in this murder.
The three men have been committed to the ACT Supreme Court for trial. One of the men has been committed on the charge of murder, and the remaining two for aiding and abetting, and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
A man and two women were also arrested in relation to Operation Keys — the suspicious death of a man found in his apartment in Belconnen. This matter is before the court (as at 30 June 2011). Charges include murder and accessory after the fact.
The investigation and subsequent arrest of alleged offenders during this period is a significant policing achievement involving complex homicide investigations.
Project Anzio is an intelligence-led, targeted approach to the sampling of eligible offenders under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000. The forensic sampling includes DNA and fingerprints from people convicted of an offence in the past five years that carry a penalty of more than 12 months imprisonment. The data obtained from the sampling is retained against a person’s profile and entered on the National Criminal Investigation DNA Database (NCIDD).
During the reporting period ACT Policing Intelligence managed 191 DNA samples and provided support to frontline policing through the preparation of 64 photo boards, undertaking 70 facial recognition probes, responding to interstate forensic inquiries on behalf of investigators, and through the development and enhancement of ACT Policing liaison with relevant national and international bodies regarding facial recognition and biometrics.
In addition, 917 forensic referrals (DNA and/or fingerprint matches to crime scenes) were managed and referred to investigators. Facial recognition training was also delivered to ACT Policing in conjunction with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
ACT Policing, with the Chief Minister for the ACT Katy Gallagher, launched its Mental Health Community Policing Initiative in June 2011 following an extensive review into how we recognise, relate and respond to people in our community experiencing a mental illness when they come to police attention. This was a significant step forward for us, and our partnership with ACT Health.
Police are often the first responders to incidents involving an individual living with a mental illness. Through an analysis of our reporting system in 2010, it was estimated that 10 per cent of all cases responded to by police had a mental health element, and that approximately 80 minutes was spent on each mental health job.
The formal launch of the initiative followed a pilot study commissioned by Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg in July 2010. The pilot study identified the NSW Police Force Mental Health Intervention Team model and associated training as best practice within the Australian context, and recommended the establishment of a team within ACT Policing to oversee and implement a number of reforms:
The training package was purchased from NSW Police Force during this reporting period and tailored to the ACT environment. The inaugural training program took place in June 2011. Representatives from various government and non-government agencies participated in the training which also involved discussions with mental health patients.
Mental health clinicians began working in ACT Policing Operations in March 2011 during peak periods, Thursday through to Sunday, 12 – 11.30 pm. Clinicians provide support to police through the provision of expert advice, and can arrange for specialist support to police in the field. By having access to the ACT Health database they can also evaluate a mental health patient’s history and can provide advice on how to best approach a crisis situation, meaning police are better informed about individual circumstances.
As well as providing specialist advice in the development of best practice guidelines and policy, the psychologist also delivers components of the mental health training package.
These reforms are aimed at improving our response to people in the community living with a mental illness and improving interoperability between agencies to enhance a whole-of-government approach.
The mental health reforms is a result of an agreement between Mental Health ACT, Calvary Health Care ACT, The Canberra Hospital, ACT Ambulance Service and ACT Policing.
On 1 July 2010 the full RAPID (Recognition and Analysis of Plates IDentified) capability — including three vehicles specially fitted with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology and the introduction of six dedicated officers — was launched.
RAPID was trialled by ACT Policing in 2009 to detect unregistered and unlicensed drivers by scanning the number plates of Canberra motorists. It was found that approximately one-third of fatal collisions in the ACT involved unregistered/uninsured or unlicensed drivers, posing a significant risk on our roads.
In the 2009–10 financial year, 20 fatalities were recorded on ACT roads, seven of which involved an unlicensed driver or an unregistered vehicle. Ten fatalities were recorded on ACT roads during this reporting period, of which only one involved an unlicensed driver in an unregistered vehicle (a quad bike).
During the reporting period the six-person team identified 1772 unregistered vehicles, and 780 vehicles without Compulsory Third Party insurance, as well as 474 unlicensed, 57 disqualified, and 148 suspended drivers. Working in cooperation with ACT Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) inspectors, the RAPID team also identified 1213 defective vehicles.
In total, the RAPID team scanned more 856 743 number plates and issued 4858 Traffic Infringement Notices (TINs) in its first full year of operation.
RAPID has also contributed to general crime reduction in the ACT with a number of stolen motor vehicles recovered as part of RAPID operations during this reporting period. It has also identified a number of people with outstanding warrants for arrest.
While RAPID has proved itself as a first-rate asset to road safety in the ACT by identifying drivers who pose the greatest risk to others, it also provides us with an easily deployable and immediate method of identifying a range of criminality associated with driving unregistered and uninsured vehicles, including the monitoring of movements of registered child sex offenders under the Australian National Child Sex Offenders Register (ANCOR).
The deployment phase of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee’s (NCTC) multi-jurisdictional exercise — Mercury 10 — took place over two days in August 2010 involving more than 300 ACT Policing members.
The three purple RAPID vehicles.
Over the course of a 48-hour period, ACT Policing responded to several simulated attacks, including a staged bombing of an electrical substation, and a hypothetical complex hostage negotiation at the building designated as New Zealand’s High Commission. As a result, the Police Operations Centre, the Territory Crisis Centre and the Public Information Coordination Centre were stood up to provide an operational response and a coordinated whole-of-government approach to information flow (through the media to the ACT community). Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg took control of the Territory (as Territory Controller).
ACT Policing responds to Mercury 10 in the Police Operations Centre.
ACT Policing worked closely with both ACT and Commonwealth Government agencies including the Australia Defence Force to resolve the staged ‘terrorist attacks’.
The purpose of Mercury 10 — the largest multi-jurisdictional exercise to date — was to provide government agencies and emergency services with an opportunity to put their counter-terrorism response training into practice and review existing processes and responses to such incidents. It also allows us to build on cooperative and integrated working relationships that we enjoy with other State, Territory and national law enforcement partners.
A comprehensive outcomes report on the exercise has provided focus for improving arrangements in the ACT. These recommendations are being implemented.
The You’d make a great cop campaign was launched in September 2010 to support, for the first time, a local recruitment effort. The campaign was a new approach to recruiting for ACT Policing, providing an opportunity to attract a diverse range of people from Canberra and the surrounding region.
ACT Policing focused on targeting candidates interested in a ‘community policing career’ in the ACT. The goal was to find and secure 100 recruits seeking a career challenge, both physical and mental. People who wanted to contribute to the community and understood the importance of community relationships, and above all who possess empathy and integrity.
The eight week campaign — comprising media and advertisements appearing in print, online, television and radio — profiled nine of our existing ‘great cops’ from a range of functions including SRS, victim liaison, criminal investigations, intelligence, general duties and traffic.
Four information sessions — involving several senior police officers — were held at the AFP College to provide potential recruits with a realistic view of life at the AFP College, the selection process, and more importantly, what it’s like working on the frontline of policing.
At the conclusion of the campaign, 1355 applications were received. Twenty-five per cent were women. More than 70 per cent were aged 30 years or under and 76 per cent of applicants were from the ACT and NSW. Of those who applied, 20 per cent indicated that they were from a cultural group other than Oceania.
After successfully completing several gateways, some 270 applicants took part in assessment centre workshops during March and April 2011, taking part in scenario based group activities to test their capacity for teamwork and problem solving. They also underwent literacy and cognitive verification testing. Again, senior members were involved in assessing potential recruits to determine the quality of the candidates and their ability to adapt what they know into scenarios.
After a rigorous three month process, 111 applicants successfully completed the selection gateways.
The culmination of the campaign was the arrival of 13 women and 12 men at the AFP College in Barton on 6 June 2011 for the commencement of the inaugural ACT Policing Federal Police Development Program 3/2011.
Our first recruits — ranging in age from 24 to 52 — have a diverse range of backgrounds with their collective employment history encompassing existing AFP unsworn members, the Australian Defence Force, and an insurance broker; personal trainer, newspaper art director and supermarket cashier.
In September 2010 Canberra’s inaugural Eid al-Fitr festival was held at the John Dunmore Lang Park in the Parliamentary Triangle. ACT Policing played a lead role in planning, managing and funding this event as part of its community engagement approach.
An estimated 4000 people from the Muslim and Canberra community attended the festival with more than 3500 amusement ride tickets sold.
The day started with a traditional ‘Welcome to Country’ by Ngunnawal Elder ‘Aunty Agnus’ followed by a Wiradjuri performance. At midday members of the Muslim community joined in prayer, after which a Qu’ranic recitation was given by young members of the community. A range of attractions including the Ottoman Military Band, Chinese Lion Dancing, amusement rides and various food stalls were on display.
The festival received a significant amount of positive feedback.
The Eid al-Fitr is an annual holy day in the Islamic calendar to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
The purpose-built Exhibit Management Centre (EMC) — situated in Vicars Street, Mitchell — was officially opened for business in November 2010.
The previous exhibit management facility — the Belconnen Property Office — was typical of the era in which it was built and became increasingly overcrowded, and unable to sustain the exhibit requirements of a modern police service.
The contemporary new facility is more than 3500 square metres in size and contains more than 3000 square metres of storage room — space required to accommodate the hundreds and thousands of items held for criminal investigations along with lost/stolen property.
The EMC also has the capacity to hold more than 90 vehicles on hoists, 342 medium storage containers and approximately 570 pallets. It also provides an office space and amenities for staff who conduct duties relating to the ACT Firearms Registry which checks and issues firearm licences; the ACT Drug Registry which secures and transfers the analysis of all drugs seized by police; and the exhibit registrars who secure, lodge and store all exhibits coming into police possession.
Some of the exhibits housed in the new facility date back to 1966, including items relating to the murder of AFP Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester, the carpet which was used in the unsolved murder of Allen Redston and a 6 foot sword found on an ACTION bus.
It took 25 days to move the 600 000 plus items from the previous facility, the majority of which took place at night to maintain visitor continuity through the day at the ACT Firearms Registry.
Planning for the facility began in 2007 to cater for existing and future needs of ACT Policing.
The 10-person Alcohol Crime Targeting Team (ACTT) commenced operation on 1 December 2010 to coincide with the introduction of the Liquor Act 2010 (ACT), with the aim to enforce the new legislation, and reduce alcohol-related violence and crime through education and engagement.
The Play up, Pay up campaign — launched in March 2011 in the lead up to Skyfire — comprised 30 second television and radio advertisements, and online search advertising in support of our law enforcement efforts, and in particular, the introduction of on-the-spot fines as a result of the liquor reforms.
As part of our sponsorship of Skyfire — to reduce alcohol-related violence and drink driving at the event — advertisements also played on big screens at Regatta Point, Lake Burley Griffin during this major event.
Exhibits housed at the new Exhibit Management Centre.
During the reporting period the ACTT conducted 476 inspections on licensed premises, issued 38 cautions, 90 Criminal Infringement Notices (CINs), and 10 matters are under investigation with a view to prosecute or refer to Office of Regulatory Services (ORS) for occupational discipline.
The ACTT has been proactively targeting anti-social behaviour through standard tactical plans, analysing historical breaches of the Act, and licensed premises that are continually coming to police attention for irresponsible service of alcohol and crowd control issues.
The ACTT was also active at a number of key events during the reporting period including Operation Unite (December 2010 and May 2011), New Years Eve 2010, Summernats, Prime Minister’s XI, Australia Day festivities, National Multicultural Festival, the ActewAGL Royal Canberra Show, Skyfire and Groovin’ the Moo (University of Canberra).
Since the formal implementation of the ACTT on 1 December (until 30 June 2011), there were 620 people lodged into protective custody for intoxication, a decrease of 21.6 per cent (from 791 people) compared to the same seven month period the previous year (1 December 2009 to 30 June 2010). When comparing financial years, the decrease is 6.4 per cent.
A key element of the success of the ACTT has been the close working relationship established with the ORS. We worked with the ORS to deliver presentations to more than 400 licensees in the lead up to the reforms. Since then, our collaborative working relationship has improved and maintained through regular meetings to discuss issues that may impact on our ability to enforce the Act, investigations and emerging trends.
ACT Policing joined Australian and New Zealand police services to present a united stand against alcohol misuse, violence and anti-social behaviour during the reporting period as part of Operation Unite. The operation — a weekend of action — is based on a highly visible police presence on the streets to target alcohol-related violence and crime.
Three targeted operations took place during the reporting period — September and December 2010, May 2011 — all of which experienced reduced number of arrests and liquor license breaches compared with previous operations.
Targeted operations such Operation Unite have proven to have an effect on behaviour, albeit short-term. The issue of alcohol-related violence is one of the most pressing social challenges of our times and is an Australia-wide problem — one which requires a long-term, multi-faceted and multi-sector approach of which Operation Unite is just one part.
The introduction of the new liquor reforms in the ACT in December 2010 was another step in the process to encourage responsible alcohol consumption by the community with the second Operation Unite taking place two weeks after the reforms came into effect.
ACT Policing will continue to support Operation Unite to emphasise Australia’s united policing front and our efforts to minimise the adverse effects of alcohol-related violence in public places.
During this reporting period SRS enhanced its bomb response and counter-terrorism capability through the receipt of two key pieces of equipment — two bomb response trucks and the Armoured Rescue Vehicle (also known as the Bearcat).
ACT Policing introduced its two (new) specialist bomb response trucks in February 2011 to enhance our capability to respond to serious explosive related situations.
The state-of-the-art trucks include custom-made improvised explosive device defeat (IEDD) pods which are the first its kind in Australia, and carry catalytic converters to ensure environmentally friendly operation. The trucks enable the quick deployment of the SRS Bomb Response Team when the need arises, carrying all the equipment required — including robotic vehicles — to attend explosive incidents and situations involving chemical, biological and radiological hazards.
SRS also took possession of the Bearcat in May 2011 — a United States built vehicle designed to help police deal with dangerous situations such as hostage incidents, or the unlikely event of a terrorist situation, where officers, and the public, need to be protected from gunfire and explosives.
Bearcat — purchased by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s NCTC to build on the operational capacity of our SRS Tactical Response function — is one of three in Australia and cost approximately $400 000. Weighing nine tonnes, the 10 man tactical vehicle is regarded as one of the world’s most effective armoured vehicles and boasts .50 Calibre armour protection, 360 degree cameras, and bullet resistant casing and tyres.
The reporting period resulted in significant decreases across several crime types including burglaries (down 32.7 per cent), and stolen motor vehicles and property damage (down 37.3 per cent and 21.8 per cent).
Historically it has been demonstrated that within a short period of time — sometimes as little as weeks — volume crime levels will rise if there is a reduction in the commitment to meeting this priority. Volume and property crime will not go away — it needs to be harnessed through proactive policing strategies, and not a reactive response to an increase in crime type.
Further to this, unforseen events, pressures in the external environment and cyclical crime patterns can all affect our performance and property crime results. This is coupled with increased demands on police to respond to an array of incidents, along with additional and associated administrative pressures.
While we must take advantage of the significant gains made in reducing the incidence of volume crime, and maintain the pressure on recidivist offenders, we must do this while balancing the needs of ACT Policing and the community, and ensuring our other key performance indicators (KPIs) are being met. Volume and property crime, while significant, is only one element of our crime targeting and policing function.
The challenge will be to sustain this commitment over the long-term — particularly when statistics may indicate that the issue is under control or trending down towards the national average — translating to a view that the problem has been addressed and therefore resources attached to this priority can be reduced — and without affecting our performance in other areas of policing.
While clandestine laboratories have not been a prevalent feature in our environment, we continue to gather vital information around emerging trends, such as pseudoephedrine shopping and prescription theft, increased incidents of methamphetamine-related offences, ranging from property crimes, such as burglary, to increased mental health issues within the community as a result of methamphetamine use. The experiences of other policing jurisdictions are of immense importance in helping us in our investigations into the production of methamphetamine and other amphetamine type stimulants in the ACT.
The most significant change in methamphetamine production in Australia, over the past 10 to 15 years, is the extent to which amateurs are becoming involved — almost universal access to methamphetamine production recipes on the internet have, unfortunately, made this possible. The discovery of methamphetamine laboratories run by individuals with no criminal history, and limited expertise in methamphetamine production, is occurring more frequently and the illicit production processes can be highly dangerous for the criminals involved, investigating police and for unsuspecting members of the public. The clandestine laboratories have a high risk of fire and/or explosion and produce toxic by-products which can render the premises uninhabitable.
Researchers at an Advance Clandestine Laboratory course in New Zealand, indicate that there is no specific demographic for methamphetamine use; it crosses all social and economic boundaries.
It is recognised that better communication between police jurisdictions and non-policing organisations — for example, pharmacies — will provide information that will help police provide a better response to the establishment of clandestine laboratories.
During this reporting period Crime Stoppers, in collaboration with every police jurisdiction, launched Operation Unification — a national campaign encouraging the public to ‘phone in’ and contact Crime Stoppers with any information that could link to clandestine laboratories in their neighbourhoods. ACT Policing participated in this campaign and we will continue to provide appropriate training to our members on this issue.
During this reporting period we began to examine ways in which flexible and part–time work patterns could be embedded into ACT Policing, particularly for members returning from parental leave.
Embedding flexible work options within an operational environment is not without considerable challenges. Policing, by its very nature, is a reactive environment providing service and response 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A certain number of frontline police are required each shift to effectively police Canberra, and to conform to our Enterprise Agreement. Such challenges has meant that traditionally, officers returning from extended leave unable to work full-time have been employed in non-operational roles on their return. This does not always take into account the individual needs of the returning members, nor maximises the return on investment from the experienced staff within this pool.
Constables of Police graduating from the Federal Police Development Program.
The working group identified several barriers to implementing flexible working options, some of which are not solely ACT Policing related. For example, there is an intersection with external issues such as the availability of child care that impacts on women particularly.
Patrol rostering patterns are being examined to explore more effective ways to meet the requirement of a 24/7 response capability, and to retain experience in frontline roles by looking at ways in which rosters can balance the work/life needs of members. This will need to be informed by the new Enterprise Agreement currently being negotiated.
The scope of work has included many of ACT Policing’s operational functions including general duties and investigations, which have historically presented more challenges in accommodating flexible working patterns.
We will continue to work towards examining opportunities and recommendations, particularly in respect with increasing the representation of women in policing.
The use of reasonable force underpins all AFP conflict management strategies and our use-of-force model, which defines reasonable force as being the minimum force reasonably necessary in the circumstances of any particular case.
All operational members receive use-of-force training, during which the principles of negotiation and conflict de-escalation are always emphasised as alternatives to the use of physical force.
While is it widely acknowledged that the ACT is a safe place to live, the potential for unpredicted serious incidents still exists, and take place. The realities of working on the frontline — particularly general duties — often involves preparing for incidents which involve assaults, including the increasing trend of spitting.
During the reporting period, ACT Policing recorded 48 assaults against police and experienced 17 instances of spitting.
While there does not appear to be an upward trend in the instances of the number of assaults against police, the level of violence inherent in those assaults appears to be increasing.
Spitting is of increasing concern to police as an OH&S issue, due to the potential for illness to our members through saliva or blood-borne viruses. Officers exposed to medium-risk events are required to have initial blood tests as well as blood tests three months post-incident. These tests are to detect diseases such as various forms of hepatitis and HIV. Aside from the physical distress this causes, the emotional impact on officers awaiting diagnosis is concerning.
Our officers rely on their training to deliver an appropriate response, while considering the impact of that response on the safety of the public, their colleagues and the person who is subject to the use of force.
During the course of their duties, many officers encounter hostility, verbal and physical abuse, more often during situations where excess alcohol consumption and/or narcotic substances has had detrimental behavioural effect on a person. It is during such incidents that our officers have to make a immediate assessment of the situation and take decisive action to gain control, while avoiding physical harm to themselves and the person involved.
It is generally accepted that wherever there is a group of people observing the interaction in such incidents, it will be recorded on mobile phones and circulated immediately to the various popular social media networks. Unfortunately, the prevalence of these images can create a negative public perception of use-of-force incidents, as the images do not often portray the circumstances that have led to such an outcome.
The balance between use of force and public perceptions will continue to be an ongoing challenge for ACT Policing, however regular review of training practices and tools used to deal with hostile situations will equip our officers with the confidence and skills to deliver an appropriate response in any situation.
@ACTPol_Traffic Police pulled over speeding driver Russell Roadworks. AWESOME!!!!! Great to see.
Wanted to say @CPOACT, owning a ‘hoon’ stereotype car, ACT cops have always been just and fair. Can’t say the same for other states! Thank
@CPOACT thank you for keeping our streets safe!
Alcohol-related violence and crime is an Australia-wide problem that will require long-term behavioural change — an issue which police can not tackle alone.
Since the implementation of the ACTT on 1 December (until 30 June 2011), there were 620 people lodged into protective custody for intoxication, a decrease of 21.6 per cent (from 791 people) compared to the same seven month period the previous year (1 December 2009 to 30 June 2010).
While we experienced a slight decrease in the amount of alcohol-related arrests in the ACT over the period
2010–11 — a 6.4 per cent decrease in arrests compared with the previous year — alcohol-related crime remains a challenge for us, particularly our general duties police.
The introduction of the ACTT in December 2010 to coincide with the Government’s liquor reforms has made significant headway in our efforts to tackle this issue through enforcement, education and engagement.
During the reporting period the ACTT conducted 476 inspections on licensed premises, issued 38 cautions and 90 CINs for offences such as consuming alcohol in a public place and refusing to leave.
In June 2011, as part of the team’s engagement approach, the inaugural liquor accord (liquor industry working group) took place involving stakeholders from the Australian Hotels Association, Clubs ACT, licensees from various outlets in Woden, the ORS and ACT Policing. The aim of the accords is to create dialogue among licensees as well as provide a line of communication between licensees and police, where information affecting involved parties can be tabled. It’s also an opportunity for licensees to exchange best practice methodology among themselves under the new liquor reforms. These meetings will be held quarterly with the aim to continue addressing the long-term sustainable solutions to alcohol-related violence. It is anticipated that industry will begin taking carriage of this working group.
Officers make an arrest as part of Operation Unite, targeting alcohol–related violence.
While the ACTT has provided much needed support to general duties policing by specifically enforcing the liquor legislation and working collaboratively with industry, the issue of alcohol-related violence and crime is not a law enforcement issue alone, and will require long-term behavioural change and concerted efforts across various industries.
Operation Unite — a weekend of action against alcohol-related crime — conducted in collaboration with all Australian and New Zealand police, will continue to take place as part of our efforts. Operation Unite builds on the significant work being undertaken by police and partner agencies, and is part of our long term strategy in dealing with alcohol-related crime.
Road safety remains an area of focus for ACT Policing and a key pillar of our enforcement efforts.
The trauma of a road fatality or serious injury not only affects the immediate parties involved — including those responding to fatal collision such as police, ambulance officers and family — it extends to the wider community.
While the ACT experienced a substantial drop in the total number of people who died on our roads during this reporting period — from 20 in 2009–10 to 10 in
2010–11 — there are a number of factors that can affect the rate of death and serious injuries on our roads, and this remains a major challenge for us.
Traffic enforcement has, and will continue to have, a direct impact on the reduction in fatalities and collisions with injury but there is a body of evidence which shows an increasing incidence of irresponsible driver behaviour that police cannot deal with alone. This requires an integrated effort involving all of the road safety stakeholders: police; government; road, traffic and safety authorities; road and related infrastructure designers, and most importantly the driving community.
As part of our road safety strategy, we participated in a number of targeted operations including Operation RAID — a cross-border operation to remove all impaired drivers — and Operation Crossroads — a campaign targeting the ‘fatal five’ causes of road deaths during key holiday periods (drink driving, speeding, use of seatbelts, driver distraction and fatigue).
We have also started working closely with the Roads Safety Office in respect to targeted media, advertising and enforcement campaigns. An ‘ACT Traffic and Road Safety Calendar’ was developed during this reporting period whereby police and government align messages and road safety measures to ensure the greatest impact. This will be further developed into a communications framework — specifically targeting relevant audiences — with certain agencies responsible for leading segments of road safety in the communications space.
Our road safety measures first and foremost focus on those proven, primary causes of collisions, with drink-driving and speeding factoring highly. Our intelligence-led traffic enforcement schedule and dedicated RAPID team are producing commendable results. The introduction of the Random Roadside Drug Testing program is expected to do the same by helping us remove risk-taking motorists off our roads.
The advent of point-to-point cameras in the ACT in late 2011 should also have some noticeable impact on road safety, particularly in relation to speeding.
In the ACT, where we have self-government over a relatively small geographic area, a good quality, established, road network, and good traffic management infrastructure, we should be able to construct an integrated road safety environment which has the real potential to achieve a ‘vision zero’ state. However this will take continued effort by all agencies and by the people of Canberra.
Our footprint — in terms of our interface with the public and our policing presence — will increasingly become a challenge as Canberra continues to grow and develop.
Emerging suburbs such as Lawson, Wright and Coombs, and the developing suburbs of Crace, Casey, Bonner and Beard, place an additional responsibility on our services and challenges our thinking in this respect.
Ensuring we can meet the needs and expectations of the Canberra community, and continue to provide effective police response to major and minor incidents, will require ACT Policing to grow and adapt with Canberra’s population and the rapidly increasing urban footprint. This, along with increased policing numbers, may include the construction of additional police stations, which will in itself require additional police officers to operate a 24/7 ‘front door’ to the community.
Our patrol zones were revised during this reporting period to address workforce pressures and police response in certain ‘patrol zones’. While this has provided a more equitable distribution of workload across Gungahlin patrol and Woden patrol members for example, as Canberra continues to expand so to must our ability to manage the increasing demands that will be placed upon our officers.
New developments provide opportunities for us in terms of addressing crime prevention through environmental design, however it will be critical for ACT Policing to build and spread our operational capacity to keep pace with the changes and impacts associated with a changing geographical landscape, including high-density housing.
We have been liaising closely with the ACT Government and the Land Development Agency (ACT Planning) for this purpose, and will continue to provide input into Canberra planning documents from a law enforcement perspective.
In line with the 20010–2011 Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2), our performance is measured against four key outputs:
Against each of these specific areas of focus are 34 KPIs.
Our progress against our strategic outputs aligns with these four key pillars.
More information about our progress can be found at Section A.9 — Analysis of Agency Performance.
Operation Taransay
ACT Policing’s Criminal Investigations function continued to investigate the shooting death of a man in Hughes, which occurred in May 2010.
The 2009–10 Annual Report reported the arrest of one man in relation to Operation Taransay. In August 2010, two additional men were arrested and charged with their involvement in the murder.
The three men have been committed to the ACT Supreme Court for trial. One of the men has been committed on the charge of murder, and the remaining two for aiding and abetting, and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Operation Keys
During this reporting period a man and two women were arrested as part of Operation Keys — the suspicious death of a man found in his apartment in Belconnen in May 2010.
This matter is before the court (as at 30 June 2011). Charges include murder and accessory after the fact.
Operations Tondo/Galvanic
In 2009 ACT Policing arrested five people in relation to aggravated robberies on licensed clubs in the ACT. This investigation — Operation Tondo — led to the identification of a number of offenders responsible for an armed robbery on a Chubb Security van at Mawson in 2004 where a security guard was shot.
As of 30 June 2011, two convictions had been recorded for aggravated robbery as part of Operation Galvanic, including a sentencing of a 53-year-old man for his role in the armed robbery and shooting of the security guard. A further three people are awaiting trial.
Operation Laverda
Operation Laverda — investigation into a number of aggravated robberies committed over the preceding years on high profile clubs and ACTTAB outlets — involved offenders entering business premises armed with firearms and escaping with substantial sums of money.
Two men were identified as suspects and were subsequently targeted.
In January 2011 the two men — both aged 33 — were arrested, allegedly on the way to committing an armed robbery on a supermarket in Kambah. One of the men has since entered a guilty plea to this offence, and a firearm has been recovered through continued investigations. The other was later charged with a range of serious and violent offences dating back to December 2008. Among the 19 charges were six counts of aggravated robbery, four of theft, and two of aggravated burglary, as well as attempted aggravated robbery, take motor vehicle without consent, money laundering, possessing a prohibited firearm and damage to property. The man also faced arson charges resulting from an attempt to blow open an ATM in March 2009.
Operation Laverda also conducted investigations into a number of aggravated robberies on fast-food restaurants and similar ‘soft’ targets in the ACT over the 2009–10 period. These offences involved up to three people entering the premises armed with knives and/or a firearms. Several teenagers were identified as suspects and have been subsequently charged during this reporting period with either aggravated robbery or receiving stolen property.
ACT Policing officers investigate a suspicious package.
Controlled operation — drugs
In 2009 legislation was passed allowing the lawful use of controlled operations in the ACT.
During this reporting period we used these powers in a year long investigation into drug supply in ACT night clubs. This investigation resulted in the arrest of six people, and summonses for a further three. Offences included possession and supply of MDMA (ecstasy), Ketamine and cannabis. Throughout the operation approximately 30 authorised purchases were conducted involving substances such as cocaine, MDMA, BZP, TFMPP, Phenylephrine, caffeine and Methylamphetamine.
As of 30 June 2011, three convictions have been recorded and a number of matters were before the courts.
In March 2011 — in conjunction with the AFP’s Sydney Office, Australia Post and Australian Border Protection and Customs Service — we conducted a number of controlled deliveries in relation to the ‘scatter importations’ of more than a kilogram of cocaine into the ACT from south-east Asia, and a large quantity of heroin from Malaysia.
As of 30 June 2011, two men have been charged, with these matters before the court.
Project Anzio involves the forensic sampling of eligible people convicted of an offence in the past five years that carry a penalty of more than 12 months imprisonment. The data obtained from the sampling is retained against a person’s profile and entered on the NCIDD held by CrimTrac
During the reporting period ACT Policing managed 191 DNA samples and provided support to frontline policing through the preparation of 64 photo boards, undertaking 70 facial recognition probes, responding to interstate forensic inquiries on behalf of investigators, and through the development and enhancement of ACT Policing liaison with relevant national and international bodies regarding facial recognition and biometrics.
In addition, 917 forensic referrals (DNA and/or fingerprint matches to crime scenes) were managed and referred to investigators. Facial recognition training was also delivered to ACT Policing in conjunction with DIAC.
The redevelopment of the Police Operations Centre (POC) began during this reporting period.
The refurbishment of the POC includes the construction of a theatrette style room and enhanced infrastructure to meet the demand of a dynamic work environment when responding to major events and critical incidents. When not in use for emergency management purposes, the POC will be used as a multi-purpose training room.
The workstation configuration will offer an increase of 130 per cent in capacity. Technology enhancements will support the command and control function of the POC, which includes additional inputs such as CCTV and MeshNet video streams to further enhance investigations.
The catalyst for the POC redevelopment was a review of the existing infrastructure which identified the need for improvement to reflect current methodologies in response to emergency management.
The proposed works are scheduled for completion in the latter part of 2011.
ACT Policing Operations became the centralised point of dispatch for all command vehicles during this reporting period to enhance the capability of general duties patrols.
Our command vehicle fleet consists of an Operations Communication four-wheel drive, a Mercedes Sprinter (on loan for trial from AFP), and a recently refurbished Mobile Police Station (a reconfigured horse float) comprising two interview rooms and a management area.
The availability of the vehicles for incident response and scheduled public events will provide members with a 24/7 capability enabling greater police visibility and an enhanced ability to manage incidents.
The upgrade of radio frequency capability in the four major ACT shopping malls during this reporting period is aimed at improving communications for our police officers.
The increased radio coverage will ensure members are able to receive timely information while on routine patrol within centres and in car parks. This increased capability will lead to greater safety for the officers, more timely allocation of tasks and provision of requested information which will assist centre patrons.
Although installed to assist ACT Policing, the infrastructure and increased radio frequency capability will also benefit other emergency services and security operating within the malls.
The 10-person ACTT commenced operation on 1 December 2010 to coincide with the introduction of the Liquor Act 2010 (ACT), with the aim to enforce the new legislation, and reduce alcohol-related violence and crime through education and engagement, with the ultimate goal to reduce alcohol-related violence and crime.
During the reporting period the ACTT conducted 476 inspections on licensed premises, issued 38 cautions and 90 CINs for offences such as consuming alcohol in a public place and refusing to leave.
| CINs type | No. |
|---|---|
| Abuse Threaten Intimidate Staff | 2 |
| Consume Liquor at Certain Public Places | 72 |
| Consume Liquor in Public Place | 108 |
| Deface Private Premises | 5 |
| Deface Public Premises | 19 |
| Fail to Cease Noise from Premises | 3 |
| Fail to Keep Incident Register | 0 |
| Fail to Keep Licence or Permit at Premises | 0 |
| Fail to Leave Premises When Directed | 28 |
| Supply Liquor to Intoxicated Person | 2 |
| Supply Liquor to Intoxicated Person – Employee | 0 |
| Urinating in a Public Place | 266 |
| Total | 505 |
The team has been proactively targeting anti-social behaviour through standard tactical plans, analysing historical breaches of the Act, and licensed premises that are continually coming to police attention for irresponsible service of alcohol and crowd control issues.
The ACTT was also active at a number of key events during the reporting period including Operation Unite (December 2010 and May 2011), New Years Eve 2010, Summernats, Prime Minister’s XI, Australia Day festivities, National Multicultural Festival, the ActewAGL Royal Canberra Show, Skyfire and Groovin’ the Moo.
Since the implementation of the ACTT there were 620 people lodged into protective custody for intoxication, a decrease of 21.6 per cent (from 791 people) compared to the same seven month period the previous year (1 December 2009 to 30 June 2010).
The advent of the ACTT in December 2010 to coincide with the government’s liquor reforms has made significant headway in our efforts to tackle this issue through enforcement, education and engagement.
During the reporting period our Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Management team delivered drill style exercises — Incident Command and Control Systems training — involving members from across ACT Policing including response teams, traffic operations, SRS, Intelligence, Criminal Investigations and Media and Marketing. These exercises were delivered as part of the regions NCTC training regime and were aimed at developing counter-terrorism awareness and improving our respective response capabilities.
We have also worked closely with other government agencies on the development of relevant policy and governance, including a review of the ACT Emergency Act, ACT Community Communication and Information Plan, and implementation of recovery and flood planning groups. This has involved working closely with the ACT Government’s Security Emergency Management Branch to improve our preparedness and response to incidents that constitute an act which adversely impact on the functioning of recognised assets of interest in the Territory.
We also took possession of the Bearcat in May 2011 — a United States built vehicle designed to help police deal with dangerous situations such as hostage incidents, or the unlikely event of a terrorist situation, where officers, and the public, need to be protected from gunfire and explosives.
During the reporting period our general duties enhanced its presence over the spring and summer months through increased bicycle patrols at key locations. Bicycle patrols have improved public cooperation in addition to acting as a visible crime deterrent.
Some of the advantages that have been realised through the use of bicycle patrols include increased operability, with the ability to more intimately, thoroughly and efficiently patrol areas which are either inaccessible by vehicle, or are relatively time consuming to cover on foot; and increased effectiveness in patrolling sidewalks, parks, car parks, campus areas, residential areas, businesses, athletic events and other major events.
On 1 July 2010 the full RAPID capability — including three vehicles specially fitted with ANPR technology and the introduction of six dedicated officers — was launched.
RAPID was trialled by ACT Policing in 2009 to detect unregistered and unlicensed drivers by scanning the number plates of Canberra motorists. It was found that approximately one-third of fatal collisions in the ACT involved unregistered/uninsured or unlicensed drivers, posing a significant risk on our roads.
In the 2009–10 financial year, 20 fatalities were recorded on ACT roads. Seven of these fatalities — nearly one third — involved an unlicensed driver or an unregistered vehicle. Ten fatalities were recorded on ACT roads during this reporting period, of which only one involved an unlicensed driver in an unregistered vehicle (a quad bike).
During the reporting period the six-person team identified 1772 unregistered vehicles, and 780 vehicles without Compulsory Third Party insurance, as well as 474 unlicensed, 57 disqualified, and 148 suspended drivers. Working in cooperation with ACT RTA inspectors, the RAPID team also identified 1213 defective vehicles.
A Traffic Operations member undertakes the first random roadside drug test.
In total, the RAPID team scanned more 856 743 number plates and issued 4858 TINs in its first full year of operation.
RAPID has proved itself as a first-rate asset to road safety in the ACT by identifying drivers who pose the greatest risk to others. There are plans to further expand RAPID by providing this technology — cameras and in-car computing — to each police station which can be attached to any number of patrol vehicles.
In May 2011 the former Belconnen Property Office — located in Lathlain Street and now the Exhibit Management Centre in Mitchell — was transformed into the Traffic Operations Centre — a dedicated space to relocate all Traffic Operations members in one area.
The Traffic Operations Centre has brought together all elements of Traffic Operations, including the housing of police vehicles and operational equipment — now protected from inclement weather — and motor vehicles involved in fatal collisions, providing direct examination access to the Crash Investigations and Reconstruction Team.
The Traffic Operations function was formed as a centralised unit in 1999; however its elements — Command, Administration, Intelligence, Mobile Team, Crash Investigations and Reconstruction Team, Roadside Drug Testing Team and RAPID — had not been co-located
for some years. The diverse locations brought about significant command, control and communication issues and made cohesive planning and deployment of resources problematic.
The co-location of functions within this space has already improved operational effectiveness and response.
During this reporting period Traffic Operations launched its high visibility policing campaign on several arterial roads during the morning peak period between 6.30 and 8.30 am, weekdays.
The purpose of this campaign was to use increased visibility of police and Camera Office vans to cause motorists to consider their driving conduct, particularly during busy periods, and reduce collision rates on these roads.
In April and May 2011 the policy targeted arterial roads solely within the Woden area in response to an increase in collisions, which involved Traffic Operations and members from South District General Duties. At the end of May the collision with injury rate in the Woden area had fallen by 30 per cent compared with March 2010.
Legislation to enable random roadside drug testing (RRDT) of motorists on ACT roads came into effect on 1 December 2010. The legislation allows for the use of both blood and oral testing, targeted and random.
The introduction of RRDT was significant for ACT Policing.
Our RRDT capability launched in May 2011 where police began using an oral (saliva swab) to test if a driver has an active ingredient of drugs — cannabis, methamphetamine and/or MDMA (ecstasy) — in their system.
The implementation of RRDT was the first time motorists in the ACT were subjected to random roadside drug testing.
RRDT will be rolled out gradually, with the view to conduct drug testing in similar ways to drink driving operations. ACT Policing has been funded to undertake 2000 tests in the 2011-12 financial year. It is expected to have an impact on road safety through removing drug affected drivers from the roads.
On 1 July 2010 Judicial Operations initiated reform of the policy, practices and procedures of our evidence brief management process. The reforms were aimed at improving ACT Policing’s performance in supporting the judicial process, establishing a whole-of-brief management system, identifying and implementing strategies to reduce court costs, and to further develop the relationship with the DPP and the ACT courts through engagement and the exchange of information and ideas.
The reforms were introduced progressively through the year and included the restructure of the Brief Management Team to incorporate the post-prosecution review and analysis of briefs of evidence. This has improved brief preparation, adjudication, performance at court and analysis of outcomes. As a result, we have exceeded our annual targets against KPIs 27 to 30.
During the reporting period we introduced a whole-of-ACT Policing Local Procedures Program to induct police officers — those transferring from the AFP or officers returning from long-term absences — into the ACT policing environment.
The four-week program provides members with ACT Policing specific training in the areas of police powers, offences against people and property, brief preparation, family violence, traffic law enforcement and ACT legislation.
A trial of court attendance notices (CANs) began in May 2010 to expedite minor matters through the judicial system and reduce the burden of service of subpoenas on ACT Policing.
CANs are issued on-the-spot — similar to TINs and CINs — to provide officers with the ability to serve a court attendance notice on an individual at the time of the offence, as opposed to lodging information back at the station and then sending a notice through the mail.
2 August, 2010
Dear Heidi (SupportLink),
Thank you very much for counselling me and my children after the suicide death of my daughter. It was a great help that you came with the police when they notified me of her death. I was OK because I move in circles where there is a lot of death but the death of one’s child is still a shocking experience.
Thanks for being at the mortuary when I identified her body. It would have been a harrowing experience without you preparing me and my relatives for what we saw. When I viewed … at the funeral parlour she was fine. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was completely normal. She looked as if she was lost in thought and looked beautiful in the clothes I chose for her. It was easier to sit beside her casket in the church knowing she looked very peaceful.
Unfortunately, after the suicide death of my husband there is an increased chance my children would choose the same death. We’ll put your advice into practice that if any of us experience unusual life stress we’ll summon all the resources of the family to help that person.
Thank you again for your counsel at a very difficult time in our lives.
Yours sincerely,
{mother}
The initial trial of CANs focused on ‘prescribed content of alcohol’ matters, that is, drink driving. A review was conducted during this reporting period to determine the viability of the system as an ongoing option available to our officers for placing matters before the court. The evaluation concluded that the use of CANs was a more efficient way of placing matters before the court for both ACT Policing and the broader judicial system.
CANs have now been expanded and are used for any offence able to be progressed by summons such as minor theft and common assault. More than 20 CANs were issued during this reporting period.
The Suburban Policing Strategy (SPS) combines community-oriented policing with new technologies and information from members of the community to create an approach especially tailored to Canberra’s policing needs. Under this program, 22 general duties police officers are assigned responsibility for developing solutions to crime issues within particular suburbs. Police maintain strong relationships with community organisations such as Neighbourhood Watch and Safety House, as well as ensuring ongoing communication with business owners and schools.
These members also engage with community through proactive policing patrols in their allocated suburban areas and seek advice from locals to identify potential issues before they become more serious problems.
Members are trained to identify opportunities where they can develop cooperative community relationships, including attendance at community and business forums and developing collaborative workshops to address causes of crime and threats affecting various community groups.
In this reporting period, ACT Policing undertook
32 779 SPS related activities of which 77.2 per cent were visibility jobs (proactive vehicle patrols), 17.8 per cent accessibility jobs (beat/foot/bicycle patrols) and 5 per cent engagement jobs (such as talking to a school principal/shop owner about a specific issue).
The SPS is a key component of our crime prevention strategies. Ways to modernise and improve the program are being assessed.
As part of the National Binge Drinking Strategy, the Australian Government allocated $19.1 million to the development, implementation and maintenance of an Early Intervention Pilot Program (EIPP) to intervene in the early drinking behaviours of young people. This initiative is administered by the Department of Health and Aging and is expected to operate until 2013.
ACT Policing and ACT Health have partnered in the delivery of this initiative on behalf of the Commonwealth.
The objectives of this program are to provide intervention and education to young people early in their ‘drinking careers’, and to collect data on young people and alcohol, with a view to reducing harm, binge drinking and associated social and health problems in the community.
Where young people are detected committing offences such as possession, consuming, supply, or are significantly intoxicated; or where an offence has a significant alcohol factor, Case Officers contact the parents or guardians of the child (where possible) and take appropriate ‘duty of care’ actions.
Case Officers inform a specifically funded alcohol diversion team within ACT Policing via SupportLink referral processes after which further information is provided to the parent/guardian including the details involving the young person’s alcohol offence or incident; educational material and treatment options associated with underage drinking and alcohol abuse; assessment options; and advice that alternative options in dealing with an alcohol-related offence could involve the initiation of a criminal prosecution against the young person.
During this reporting period, the EIPP recorded 151 alcohol referrals, of which only 11 young people have been non-compliant. Twenty-four education sessions have been delivered to ACT secondary schools with presentations also delivered to police recruits.
The drug diversion program is a part of the EIPP, and is designed to provide early incentives for drug offenders — specifically young people who have had no prior involvement in the courts — to deal with their drug problems.
Drug offenders who qualify for the program have the opportunity of being referred to a variety of education and treatment options.
Eligibility is not set for any age, but is dependant on the amount of drugs seized. To be eligible for diversion, all drugs seized must be for personal use and seized in an incident where violence was not an issue.
During this reporting period, 105 drug diversion referrals were recorded, of which 49 were teenagers. Of the 105 referrals made, only seven offenders have not been compliant with the program.
ACT Policing continues to use the SupportLink e-referral system to make referrals to a range of community organisations and programs, including young people.
SupportLink provides people within the ACT an opportunity to receive early intervention which significantly improves their chances of receiving the appropriate assistance prior to issues becoming more serious. In relation to young people, the implementation of early intervention strategies significantly reduces the likelihood that they will come into contact with the criminal justice system.
Patrol members routinely provide advice to victims of crime and make appropriate referrals to SupportLink for follow up on specific needs. During this reporting period, we made 6004 referrals to SupportLink.
| Issue type | No. referral issues |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Home security information | 1552 |
| 2 | General support | 751 |
| 3 | Parenting youth (12–24 years) | 562 |
| 4 | Victim support counselling | 323 |
| 5 | Security and personal safety — home and personal | 288 |
| 6 | Business security | 288 |
| 7 | Mental health (non-crisis 18+ years) | 250 |
| 8 | Security and personal safety (crime prevention) | 212 |
| 9 | Motor vehicle security | 209 |
| 10 | Abandoned vehicles | 208 |
Operation School Safe took place at the start and end of each school holiday period. During this time, general duties officers conducted increased patrols of schools,
providing a visible police presence in these areas to prevent and disrupt incidents of criminal and anti-social behaviour that often take place during the school holidays.
Through the identification of past incidents and police response, patrols concentrated on schools and related areas where there is traditionally a high volume of criminal and anti-social behaviour.
Operation School Safe, supported by media campaigns prior to each holiday period, resulted in a decrease of 11.1 per cent over the 2010–11 Christmas holiday period alone, compared to the previous Christmas period.
AFP College recruits fit tamper–proof screws as part of Project Safe Plate.
Project Safe Plate — an ACT Policing initiative to reduce registration plate theft — took place at Westfield Woden and the Australian National University campus during this reporting period.
ACT motorists were invited to have standard retaining screws for their vehicle registration plates replaced with tamper-proof screws which are much more difficult for thieves to remove.
The replacement of the screws was conducted free–of-charge by our members and police recruits. Hundreds of Canberrans attended the locations with more than 600 vehicles at each location fitted with the safety screws.
The event was supported by promotion, a sausage sizzle and Neighbourhood Watch and Safety House partners to incorporate further crime prevention messages. A Goodyear technician was also present to discuss tyre safety. At the Westfield Woden event, our ‘Real Decisions, Real Consequences’ crash car was on display to promote road safety messages.
The aim of Project Safe Plate is to minimise the rate of stolen number plates and associated crimes. The theft of a number plate is often a precursor to crime such as petrol drive-offs, burglaries and traffic offences. The anti-theft screws are designed to reduce the prevalence of plate theft and act as a deterrence to offenders.
Project Palma — an intelligence-led crime prevention initiative — was launched in May 2011 to identify ‘hot spots’ within the ACT and improve safety standards as well as the reporting of crime to police.
The pilot began in the West Belconnen area where police attended local shopping centres to speak with residents and identify key issues in their suburbs. This information was then used to identify crime prevention and safety strategies targeting particularly crime types and locations.
The project is being evaluated for its application in other parts of the ACT.
23 September 2010
Sir,
I am writing to express my thanks to a number of your police officers that assisted me at the scene of a motor vehicle collision on Barton Highway on 22 September, 2010.
On arrival at the scene we encountered a single vehicle with one occupant who may have sustained a spinal injury. Sergeant Andrew Mitchell and his team made first contact with the patient and provided positive reassurance. We arrived shortly afterward. Due to the scene situation, it was apparent that more resources were required to safely manage and extricate the patients with the aim to minimise the patient’s discomfort and to prevent movement in order to protect him from further injury.
With the police officers already on scene, I was able to seek their assistance in undertaking this task. When requested, Constable Greg Solomon assisted the ambulance crew inside the wrecked vehicle. Constable Solomon took charged of the spinal care of the patient and helped with the safe extradition of the patient.
I acknowledge that this assisting in a patient’s extradition and management is not something encountered by police on a daily basis and would like to express my gratitude for Constable Greg Solomon and the Belconnen Team 5 led by Sergeant Andrew Mitchell for their willingness to assist us, and also for the professional manner in which they were able to do so.
I am sure I speak also for the patient in acknowledging their efforts.
Yours sincerely,
Suren Deonarain ACT Ambulance Service
The Aboriginal Justice Agreement (AJA) came into effect 1 July 2010 — a partnership agreement between the ACT Government and the ACT Indigenous elected body.
There are 105 action items included in this agreement. As the lead agency, we are committed to supporting the vision of the AJA through the implementation of programs focused on the development and support of the Indigenous community in the ACT.
The AJA has five objectives:
We have implemented a number of programs during this reporting period that directly align with the AJA objectives including ‘Kick Start’, Operation MPower and ‘Pathways’.
ACT Policing is working with ACT government and non-government partners to fulfil our commitments to the AJA and to provide better services and engagement with the Indigenous community in the ACT. These relationships have been strengthened as a result of these efforts which has in turn resulted in greater engagement with families which have become disengaged with community services.
ACT Policing has also approved and trained 15 Indigenous contact officers to create greater awareness among our officers of issues affecting Indigenous people.
More information about our engagement with the Indigenous community can be found at Section C.20 — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Reporting.
Our officers are regularly participating in community engagement activities and education programs to prevent crime within our community.
During the reporting period, additional functions within Crime Prevention were developed to increase community engagement with a specific focus on youth, businesses and the Indigenous and multi-cultural communities.
We regularly receive and respond to requests from the community for station tours, educational talks, guest speakers, attendance at community events and schools.
Some of the community events that ACT Policing has attended and/or supported include the ActewAGL Royal Canberra Show, NAIDOC Week, the Multicultural Festival and this year, the inaugural Eid al-Fitr.
More information can be found at Section B.1 — Community Engagement.
5 October 2010
Dear Assistant Commissioner,
Thank you for the contribution made by the Australian Federal Police to the success of the recent dedication ceremony of the National Service Memorial.
We were very pleased with the attendance, which saw over 4,200 formal national servicemen and family members attend. The support of ACT Policing in monitoring crowd control and supervising additional traffic changes added greatly to the dignified conduct of the activities and was very much appreciated.
Could I specifically mention the efforts of Sergeant Bill Evans from the Counter Terrorism and Emergency Management section. His support and advice provided in the lead up to and on the day was greatly appreciated by both AWM security and the events and ceremonies team.
The support provided on the day added enormously to making the event a success. Many thanks.
Yours sincerely,
S.N. Gower AO AO (Mil)
Director — Australian War Memorial
While mindful of the need to provide immediate policing services to the Canberra community, it is also important that we look to the future in an attempt to predict trends and changes in both criminal activity and in service demand.
Specific priorities or areas of focus for ACT Policing are contained in two principal documents. The first is the annual Ministerial Direction (see Appendix 3) issued by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services; and the second is in the ACT Policing Strategic Plan 2008-2011.
For 2011–12, our areas of specific focus will be to:
The ACT Policing Strategic Plan 2008–2011 lists the following as issues, influences and challenges that are likely to impact on the provision of policing services in Canberra over the life of the plan:
1 October 2010
Dear Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg,
We are writing to you about the matter of the Police v XXX. Our reason for writing is to draw to your attention the exceptional conduct of the two officers we dealt with, Constable Timothy Ryan (the case officer) and Senior Constable David King.
Our problems with XXX have been ongoing for some time. The most significant problem we had with XXX prior to the matter mentioned above also involved police attendance. Whilst we appreciated some of the difficulties in obtaining evidence of a sufficient quality to warrant a matter being referred for prosecution, we were a little disappointed that the police were not able to take some action in that case.
Our dealings with Constable Ryan and Senior Constable King have been instrumental in us overcoming our disappointment in the earlier matter. They were pleasant and professional in all their dealings with us. We are grateful to them and the police force more generally in referring the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions for what was ultimately a successful prosecution.
If the conduct of Constable Ryan and Senior Constable King is representative of that of ACT Policing the citizens of the ACT are in good hands.
Your faithfully,
{name withheld for privacy reasons}
We are in the process of developing a revised strategic plan to cover the period 2012 to 2017. That plan, together with the current ACT Policing 2007-2012 Environmental Scan, will reflect the external influences likely to impact criminality and our organisation.
During this reporting period we had a renewed approach to intelligence-led policing, crime targeting and crime prevention. We will continue along this path, while acknowledging and adapting to the major challenges, risks and future priorities.
Mental Health Clinician working with ACT Policing Operations.
Our future priorities are based on major challenges identified, trends and changes in our operating environment.
Delivery of frontline policing remains the key future priority for ACT Policing. A review of the organisational structure of ACT Policing occurred in the last quarter of the reporting period. The purpose of the review was to ensure we were operating at optimal efficiency through the most appropriate grouping of specialist elements. The results of the review indicated that although we were operating at a high level of efficiency, some minor organisational changes would result in better specialist element fits, providing greater support to the frontline where our critical mass is focused.
The outcomes also reinforced our focus on frontline policing and saw a modification to the patrol zone structure to account for populations changes, particularly in the Gungahlin area.
More information about our organisational restructure can be found at Section A.2 — Overview.
Police are often the first responders to incidents involving an individual living with a mental illness. Through an analysis of our reporting system in 2010, it was estimated that 10 per cent of all cases responded to by police had a mental health element, and that approximately 80 minutes was spent on each job involving a mental health consumer.
During the reporting period we launched a world-first approach in terms of how police recognise, respond and related to people with a mental illness in our community when they come to police attention, which includes embedding mental health clinicians in ACT Policing Operations during peak periods. This trial, the Mental Health Community Policing Initiative in partnership with ACT Health, is a significant step forward for us.
The development and implementation of a training package — adapted from NSW Police Force and its proven Mental Health Intervention Team — to equip frontline police officers with a greater understanding of mental illness, is aimed at ensuring better outcomes for all involved and more effective use of police resources. Training of our general duties officers began during this reporting period, and it is expected that by placing a Mental Health ACT worker within ACT Policing alongside our mental health team it will improve our response to people with mental illness in the community when they intersect with policing activities.
During the reporting period the decision was made to amalgamate our Crime Prevention function with ACT Policing Intelligence as part of our future approach to enhance our intelligence-led crime prevention strategies. Institutionalising intelligence-led principles in crime prevention activities and embedding crime prevention into core policing across all business is instrumental to its long-term efficiency now that the function has developed into a mature, professional capability.
This intelligence-led approach will further enhance crime targeting, particularly in relation to recidivist offenders, our engagement with individuals, group and families identified as ‘at risk’, and directing our Suburban Policing Strategy and general duties officers to identified crime ‘hot spots’.
Crime prevention through environmental design will also be a key future focus, adapting to the changes in our operating environment and the growth of Canberra. This will enable ACT Policing to provide planning input into suburbs and public areas, for example, ensuring appropriate lighting at skate parks and advising on the placement of secure automated teller machines.
ACT Policing plays an important role in preventing and responding to road incidents and has contributed to achieving a relatively good road safety record for the ACT. However, it is identified that complacency in this area will lead to increases in the number and severity of road collisions resulting in deaths and/or injuries.
Traffic enforcement and road safety will remain a key priority for ACT Policing.
Measures to continue ACT Policing’s efforts into the future include the development of an ACT Policing Road and Safety communications strategy to identify new ways of communicating key road safety messages to target audiences. The strategy will address the main five causal factors for road trauma and fatalities including drink/drug driving, speeding, driver distraction, seatbelts and fatigue. ACT Policing will give particular focus to the ongoing issues of driver impairment, which has not seemed to have reduced in number in recent years.
Traffic enforcement has, and will continue to have, a direct impact on the reduction in fatalities and collisions with injury but there is a body of evidence which shows an increasing incidence of irresponsible driver behaviour which police cannot deal with alone. Countering this will require an integrated effort involving all of the road safety stakeholders: police; government, road traffic and safety authorities; road and related infrastructure designs; and most importantly, the driving fraternity.
The Recognition and Analysis of Plates IDentified (RAPID) capability will continue to be a road safety feature in the ACT. There are plans to triple the number of RAPID cameras by supplying this technology to each police station for use in general duties vehicles, thereby expanding the capability and coverage of the existing dedicated team.
By definition, policing is a service to the community. However, the dilemma faced by ACT Policing is that the nature of its service delivery may, at times, involve the resolution of conflict through use of force.
Resolving issues and conflicts, often those in which emotions run high, is an intrinsic part of police training and operations. However, from the moment police attend and make an initial assessment of the task at hand, there is a myriad of branches to the resolution continuum which may involve a variety of resources, some of which are highly innovative, and always primarily focussed on the de-escalation of the conflict.
@CPOACT Good to see you out there with the troops tonight - obviously one of ACTPOL’s more interesting evenings!
@Galileo_Gal thanx, the boys and girls had some good operational results this week. We had a mini crime wave too. I’m calling it a draw!
#Canberra Good work Chief and Co! RT @CPOACT 2 men arrested for trafficking a controlled substance
To be considered as less of a ‘force’ and more of a ‘service’ should be the considered goal of any policing agency. Our priority is to ensure that our officers develop a ‘service culture’ from the time of their graduation into operational duty.
Our ACT Policing Operations function, for example, is steeped in a client-focussed philosophy. Now furnished with a Crime Stoppers information-gathering role in addition to its other activities, Operations took more than 125 458 calls for police assistance and 28 843 Triple Zero (000) calls during the this reporting period. For many in the community, Operations is the first and primary point of engagement with ACT Policing.
Under the innovative Mental Health Community Policing Initiative, the engagement has been broadened further to include the advisory services of mental health clinicians embedded within the response structure of Operations. These experienced clinicians can deliver a timely and expert assessment of the mental health factors involved with the issue, or deal with the issue direct through ACT Health operations.
An enhanced social media presence has provided a publicly recognised boost to the service focus of ACT Policing. Sergeants within the Operations room use a dedicated and well-followed twitter account to advise road users of any traffic delays or collisions. The site has quickly attracted more than 1500 followers, with considerable growth expected. The Chief Police Officer also has an active twitter account launched during this reporting period (CPOACT).
Measure 15 of our key performance indicators (KPIs)is the percentage of people satisfied with their most recent contact with police. We did not quite achieve this measure during this reporting period, missing the target by 1.8 per cent. The most common reason for the ACT community’s recent contact with police in the past 12 months was through random breath testing (RBT) operations (39.9 per cent), followed by ‘to report a crime’ (12.7 per cent). While the public agreed that our police are fair and professional, it is imperative that all members of ACT Policing approach their duties understanding and implementing a client service philosophy, with a view to achieving the benchmark in the next reporting period.
Our corporate services function undertook customer service training during this reporting period, and this will also be rolled-out to all police officers in the coming year.
We will continue to strive towards achieving a more contemporary and citizen-centred service by promoting an open communications philosophy and further enhancing our community and media engagement capabilities.
Our aim to develop increased rapport with the public, our partners and our stakeholders by being proactive in seeking out media opportunities and integrating our communications, directly impacts on our performance, perceptions of crime, confidence in police and ultimately, our service to the community.
Community engagement takes many forms and we are seeking to identify those options which best serve the needs of our clients, and direct appropriate resources to them.
While there is a popular inclination to use social media as a means of community engagement, this tool is not a panacea for policing.
Some of the more vulnerable members of our community are those to whom age, language and culture remain barriers. Some newly-arrived migrants are from cultures where police are not viewed with a high degree of public trust or confidence. To bridge those differences and rebuild that confidence, ACT Policing’s Multicultural Liaison Officers engage with immigration authorities, ACT government agencies and locally-based cultural groups, to seek out opportunities where the role of police, and its duty of care to everyone in the community, can be explained and clarified in a personal and non-confrontational way.
Similarly, senior members of our community require more personalised engagement, such as visits by our Crime Prevention officers to aged care facilities, for officers to explain to residents how to reduce their likelihood of becoming victims of crime.
Technology platforms do have an important role to play in ensuring that police messages reach the public in a timely manner, and the use of social media platforms within our community is growing at an exponential rate daily.
During the reporting period ACT Policing launched two social media platforms using twitter — the ACTPol_Traffic and that of the Chief Police Officer (CPOACT). It is envisaged that a third platform, incorporating twitter and facebook, will be launched as an agency communication tool. While social media also carries reputational and operational risks, it is a tool which police can no longer ignore, and one that has already proven popular, and essential for ACT Policing in conveying public messages.
During the reporting period ACT Policing developed an online survey to assess our website content, accessibility and identify improvements to our online engagement in an attempt to work towards greater community engagement and confidence, and addressing public perceptions of crime.
The ongoing development and upgrading of our website — police.act.gov.au — our media centre, and links to key stakeholder websites such as Crime Stoppers, provides a conduit through which police can communicate directly with its community audience without the ‘filter’ and interpretation applied by external media. Website enhancements also serve as a boon to local media. Professional standard audio-visual material produced by ACT Policing’s Video Operations Team can be posted to a secure intranet site, and accessed by accredited media on an ‘as-needs’ basis.
From the public’s perspective, the growth in online services provided by ACT Policing reduces time and waste. Forms are available online for such needs as collision reporting, firearms registration, criminal history checks and keyholder registration. ACT Policing is investigating further online reporting of crime through Smart Phone applications, and the redevelopment of our crime maps to enhance user experience and provide more information to the community.
ACT Policing operates in a dynamic environment where it is necessary to adapt and evolve to meet the changing demands in service to the community. The program of community policing is well established and the ongoing collaboration between ACT Policing, the community and partner agencies continues to enhance the security and safety of the ACT.
A much greater level of scrutiny exists, from media and self-aware community members, and we recognise the importance of maintaining regular dissemination of accurate and useful information, and conducting ongoing community consultation.
The importance of scanning and interpreting the environment cannot be underestimated; in doing so, we are able to make informed decisions on current and future demand for services and deploy resources appropriately. The continuous cycle of data collection, analysis and dissemination is vital to development and implementation of tactical, operational and strategic plans. While command and control may be viewed as the dominant governing model today in most policing organisations, community expectations require more flexibility in how policing delivers its service and this remains our focus.
A major change in our operating environment is Canberra’s geographic dispersion and the construct of the community in which we serve.
Canberra is undergoing a substantial growth phase with emerging suburbs such as Lawson, Wright and Coombs, and the developing suburbs of Crace, Casey, Bonner and Beard all part of Canberra’s growth plan.
Determining not only the best location for policing services within a fast growing community but also the type of police presence may change the way policing has been traditionally managed. The questions posed include what will the ACT look like in five to 10 years time, and should services continue to be provided through regionally based police stations or smaller, possibly mobile, police stations with supplementing district stations.
While we must be agile and responsive to the changing needs of Canberra, to do this, we need to know our community and position ourselves in the best way possible for the future outlook.
An ongoing and effective working relationship with ACT Planning and Land Authority (ACTPLA) will support any decision in conjunction with crime analysis on the future placement of police facilities. This will also provide us with the opportunity to advise on ‘crime prevention through environmental design’ principles.
During this reporting period we developed a draft strategic accommodation plan aimed at addressing the future policing needs of the growing ACT community. In line with the provisions of paragraph 4.1 of the Policing Arrangement (see Appendix 2), the Department of Justice and Community Safety is responsible for the provision of appropriate infrastructure and facilities for ACT Policing, and is a key part of the strategic accommodation committee established to determine accommodation needs.
We are additionally looking at ways to understand and enhance our public/police interface by conducting research into community expectations and best facilities placement through focus groups and use of existing online forums. Coupled with our planning with ACTPLA, and crime analysis, this should provide a solid foundation for future decisions.
The continued threat of natural disasters, and the requirement that ACT Policing exercises and maintains its preparedness and interoperability with emergency services and other government agencies, remains a significant area of focus.
During this reporting period, our preparedness was tested through several natural disasters and incidents outside of the ACT to which we provided resources to assist recovery efforts.
The balance of policing the community while contributing to recovery efforts and emergency management is an ongoing balance for ACT Policing. The high level of training, rapid-response capability and resourcefulness of our officers signal they are a valued commodity during a crisis. This was amply demonstrated during the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011. In the days following the 7.1 magnitude quake, ACT Policing officers comprised the majority of the AFP uniformed contingent which was deployed to the disaster location to relieve the exhausted and overworked New Zealand police officers at the scene.
Similarly, ACT Policing is called upon to provide personnel support for its broader AFP national and international response activities, such as Operation Pleach (the Northern Territory intervention), the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and activities at the Christmas Island detention centre.
Incident command and control training (ICCS) has been a specific focus of ACT Policing during the reporting period. The enhanced training empowers first response officers at the crisis scene, regardless of their rank or experience level, to assume immediate command and potentially make critical decisions to engage external services and stakeholders, evacuate premises, or order shutdowns of infrastructure.
ICCS can be scaled up quickly and allows for various specialist functions, such as negotiators, tactical, intelligence or public information/media, to append to the response command structure while operating as an independent cell, in which the expert capability of each area is optimised, then called upon as required by the forward command. This training has been instrumental in the support provided by our officers to what has been a sequence of natural disasters and incidents domestically and overseas, and what we are experiencing as a trend in our current operating environment.
ACT Policing and emergency services respond to an incident during a training exercise.
While technology-enabled crime as a concept is no longer a new trend in the operating environment, the prevalence and sophistication of criminals in using technology, has certainly seen a change in the law enforcement arena.
Many forms of technology-enabled crime allow anonymity, and immediate transactions to take place, often with difficult paths to trace. While organised crime syndicates have been using technology for the purposes of crime for some time, more and more lower-end criminals are now using technology as a tool to commit an array of crimes, from sexual exploitation of children to drug supply and trafficking.
It is imperative for police to adapt to emerging technologies and understand the ways in which these tools can be used for law enforcement activity.
Social media for example, while used primarily as a tool to engage with the community, is also now a vital investigative and intelligence gathering tool.
Changing demographic, social and economic conditions are environmental shifts which require a more flexible approach to mitigate risks and issues identified by ACT Policing, some of which include:
We employed an aggressive strategy to target recidivist offenders in the ACT during this reporting period, specifically in relation to volume crime, house burglaries and motor vehicle thefts, with our results in this area demonstrating the positive impact of such activity. This was coupled with proactively enforcing bail conditions on known property offenders and, through a number of crime prevention activities engaged with ‘at risk’ families and young people.
This takes a concerted effort, and repeat offenders, particularly those committing offences while on bail or subject to other judicial conditions, remains an ongoing issue for policing.
As an example, one person was arrested during this reporting period for two aggravated robberies, two burglaries and four thefts. This person has an extensive criminal history (57 entries recorded), predominantly property offences including nine arrests for breaching bail conditions and one charge of breaching a good behaviour bond. Another person has been arrested for three thefts and has 73 recorded entries on our investigations system, including six arrests for breaching bail conditions, and one charge of breaching a good behaviour order.
More information about our crime prevention efforts can be found at Section B.1 — Community Engagement.
We experienced a number of legislative reviews and reforms which required concerted effort to operationalise. During this reporting period this included reforms relating to liquor legislation and the introduction of random roadside drug testing specifically.
These changes are for the benefit of the community and greatly assist police in enforcing the law and preventing crime in many respects. New laws always require the redevelopment of associated training and governance to ensure our officers are current with changes in the legal environment that impact on their daily duties. With the majority of our officers working on the frontline, familiarisation with changes to the law requires maintenance.
Operational preparedness, including development of policies and guidelines to support legislation, is an ongoing challenge in our environment, with some areas of operation and reform being more complex than others. Adaptability will ensure we continue to effectively respond to and enforce these reviews and new legislation reforms.
The ability for ACT Policing to provide input into legislative reforms that impact law and order, or justice and community safety, is also essential. This supports our mission and all key four pillars of our business: Crime and Safety Management; Traffic Law Enforcement and Road Safety; Prosecution and Judicial Support; and Crime Prevention.
More information about legislation reviews can be found at Section B.4 — Legislative Report.
Forensic science, specifically the use of DNA, is often a critical investigative tool in the prosecution of offenders.
Scientific analysis and interpretation of DNA evidence continues to present challenges to the justice system as a whole, including law enforcement.
Recent developments in the European standard of DNA interpretation has resulted in the adoption of a 16 point marker in the Australian system. Recently the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Services — Police, on advice from the Australia New Zealand Police Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) and the Senior Officers Group, agreed to adopt the European 16 point marker standard. A substantial body of work is now being undertaking by ANZPAA — National Institute of Forensic Science, CrimTrac and the Senior Officers Group to implement adoption of the new system.
Community perceptions of crime are an ongoing issue for ACT Policing, as it is for all Australian State and Territories. Out of the six key performance indicators we did not achieve during this reporting period, two specifically related to community perceptions of crime.
While we recorded significant decreases in a majority of crime types — particularly in relation to volume and property crime — community perceptions have not shifted commensurately.
Housebreakings and motor vehicle theft for instance recorded significant decreases for the reporting period however these offence types were among the crimes most perceived by the community as likely to occur. While a lag in time between actual reductions of crime over a sustained period and community perceptions of crime is expected, working towards addressing this issue long-term will require visible policing efforts support by proactive communications in media efforts and community engagement. A sustained effort and reduction is crime should eventuate in improved public perceptions of crime in Canberra.
Our small statistical sample, too, can impact on crime statistics when represented in percentages. Media reporting to the community, can at times be skewed significantly due to a spate of offences/incidents. This information, provided to the community, can raise concerns and undue fears of criminality when incidents are reported as ‘spikes’.
Traditionally, we have also experienced significant under reporting of certain crime types, particularly domestic violence and sexual assaults.
While high crime reporting rates also impact on perceptions of crime, they are also an indication of a healthy democratic community that has confidence in its police to investigate and solve crime. This complex set of interoperable parts that result in negative or positive perceptions of crime needs to be understood and addressed.
It is important to note that while we aim to reduce the level of fear of crime in the community, there are some positive aspects to the community having some level of awareness of crime in their neighbourhood. A level of awareness about crime can reinforce crime prevention behaviours and limit the person’s potential for victimisation.
ACT Policing Intelligence officers analyse persons of interest.
While our fiscal decisions supported a continued strong position during the 2010–11 financial year, there were some externalities which generated a budget overspend of $0.4 million or a variance of 0.3 per cent.
As a contracted police service ACT Policing provides specific services for an agreed cost, as part of the annual Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2), and any additional costs not forecast for that period must be met from the broader AFP budget. The establishment of a pricing model for the delivery of policing services is a multi-faceted process that allows for unexpected budgetary demands but despite the best planning, there can be unforeseen pressures.
It is noted that any overspend is absorbed by the AFP, and not the ACT Government.
During the reporting period, there were three external factors that contributed to the budget overspend. These issues, while not entirely unexpected, had a much higher financial impact than predicted.
There was a considerable increase in court costs awarded against ACT Policing during this reporting period.
While there has been no significant change in the number of cases where costs are awarded against ACT Policing (in the event of a prosecution discontinuing), the basis on which court costs are calculated is changing. The prescriptive model emerging to calculate these costs is manifesting itself in higher costs awarded against us, and has the potential to impact on future budgetary considerations.
The declaration of an additional public holiday to compensate for Christmas Day falling on a Saturday in addition to the standard procedure of granting the next falling work day as a public holiday resulted in substantial additional costs for a full 24 hour shift for ACT Policing. This was not able to be factored into the budget at the commencement of the financial year as the decision was not made until December 2010.
ACT Policing has committed to the temporary administration of criminal and Traffic Infringement Notices (CINs and TINs) until a broad-based municipal infringement notice system is developed by the appropriate Territory directorate(s).
This is both an administrative and financial burden not normally carried by policing agencies however in the interests of maintaining this system ACT Policing has undertaken to temporarily absorb the associated overheads.
Total revenue received by the AFP for the provision of policing services to the ACT was $146.3 million. This represented an increase of $7.7 million or 5.5 per cent compared with the previous financial year (2009–10). The major factors in this increase were funding for an additional 16 police officers (for the Alcohol Crime Targeting Team and the dedicated RAPID capability) and funding for the effects of the 2007–2011 AFP Collective Agreement.
Total expenditure amounted to $146.7 million, which is up $8.2 million or 5.9 per cent. Again, the increase relates to additional staffing and salary costs associated with the 2007–2011 AFP Collective Agreement.
Annual financial statements for the reporting period, accompanied by the Auditor-General’s independent audit report can be found at Appendix 4 — Financial Statements and Statement of Performance.
Annual financial statements for the reporting period, accompanied by the Auditor-General’s independent audit report can be found at Appendix 4 — Financial Statements and Statement of Performance.
Our performance is measured by one main outcome supported by a series of outputs and performance measures as detailed in the Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2).
Our main outcome is to work in partnership with the community to create a safer and more secure ACT through the provision of quality police services. This is support, and achieved, through our four key pillars:
As a contracted police service, our statement of performance — against our performance generally and financially — is assessed against these four key outputs.
Our Statement of Performance for this reporting period, accompanied by the Auditor-General’s independent audit report can be found at Appendix 4 — Financial Statements and Statement of Performance.
More information about our performance can be found at Section A.9 — Analysis of Agency Performance.
In its report on Annual and Financial Reports
2009–2010, the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety recommended that in addition to reporting against key performance indicators (KPIs), further explanation as to how these KPIs are formulated would be beneficial.
Our performance reporting framework was introduced in the 2002–03 financial year and since that time there have been a range of amendments, deletions and additions to the suite of KPIs included in the annual Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2).
The Agreement contains a range of notes to the KPIs which indicate the source of the data. As to the targets set for each KPI, these are based on a range of factors (most of which is shown in Table A.7.1). All targets are included in the notes to the Agreement.
Targets can be generated by annual or three year averages, which means that the actual target changes each year, or it can be a pre-determined number.
Table A.7.1 details how our KPIs are measured.
@CPOACT after spending a week thus far on jury duty, ive a greater appreciation 4 U & yr colleagues. mentally drained after only a week.
@ACTPol_Traffic thanks so much for the great work you’re doing btw! So good to know what’s going on travelling to and from work.
@ACTPol_Traffic Thx for the Vernon Circle info, I saw it just before my commute home from Fyshwick to Inner North & went home via Limestone.
| Measures | Target | Source of data |
|---|---|---|
| Level of Crime | ||
|
800 or less | Arithmetic — sourced from PROMIS with ABS population data |
|
8500 or less | Arithmetic — sourced from PROMIS with ABS population data |
|
67% or more | Arithmetic — sourced from PROMIS with ABS population data |
|
14% or more | Arithmetic — sourced from PROMIS with ABS population data |
| Perceptions of Crime | ||
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or more | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or more | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
| Police Responsiveness | ||
|
60% or more 90% or more |
Arithmetic — sourced from Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system |
|
60% or more 95% or more |
Arithmetic — sourced from Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system |
|
90% or more |
Arithmetic — sourced from Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system |
|
90% or more 98% or more |
Arithmetic — sourced from Telstra Data |
| Public Confidence in Police | ||
|
National Average or more | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or more | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or more | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
72 or below | Arithmetic — sourced from AFP Professional Standards data |
|
15 or below | Arithmetic — sourced from AFP Professional Standards data |
| Road Safety | ||
|
4.2 or less | Arithmetic —sourced from AFP PROMIS data |
|
180 or less | Arithmetic —sourced from Traffic data |
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
National Average or less | Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
| Supporting the Judicial Process | ||
|
75% or more | Arithmetic —Judicial Operations data and ACT Court outcomes data |
|
80% or more | Arithmetic — Judicial Operations data and ACT Court outcomes data |
|
18% or less | Arithmetic — Judicial Operations data and ACT Court outcomes data |
|
5% or less | Arithmetic — Judicial Operations data and ACT Court outcomes data |
| Crime Prevention | ||
|
National Average or less National Average or less National Average or less National Average or less |
Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing conducted by TNS Social Research |
|
55 or more | Arithmetic — data sourced from Restorative Justice Unit, JaCS |
|
5100 | Arithmetic — data sourced from SupportLink |
|
90% concluded within a 12 month period | Arithmetic — data sourced from ACT Policing HR |
|
65 or more | Arithmetic — data sourced from ACT Policing Crime Prevention. |
In accordance with the definition by the Financial Management Act 1996, ACT Policing does not meet the criteria of a department nor that for a public authority, or ‘prescribed’ Territory authority.
The services provided by ACT Policing are on a ‘fee for service’ arrangement and our funding is delivered as part of the budget apportioned to the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJaCS).
The strategic indicators for the AFP and DJaCS are described in their individual annual reports.
More information about our governance can be found at Section A.2 — Overview.
Our performance is measured by one main outcome supported by a series of outputs and performance measures as detailed in our Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2).
Our main outcome is to work in partnership with the community to create a safer and more secure ACT through the provision of quality police services. This is supported, and achieved, through our four key pillars: Crime and Safety Management; Traffic Law Enforcement and Road Safety; Prosecution and Judicial Support; and Crime Prevention.
Against these four key pillars are 34 key performance indicators (KPIs). Analysis against these KPIs is how we measure our performance, and guides our workforce planning and decision making.
We achieved or exceeded 29 out of the 34 KPIs for this reporting period — the best result we have achieved in eight years since the existing reporting framework was established in 2002–03.
KPIs not achieved predominantly related to perceptions of crime and self reporting in relation to traffic offences. One specific target — number of offences against the person reported or becoming known per 100 000 of the population — was an aspirational ‘stretch’ target set by ACT Policing for this reporting period.
Providing a safer and more secure ACT so that members of the community can go about their daily lives without undue fear of crime.
The key measures associated with this output are Level of Crime, Perceptions of Crime, Police Responsiveness and Public Confidence in Police.
The first four measures in the Purchase Agreement relate to levels of crime within the ACT. ACT Policing has met the annual target for this reporting period for measures two, three and four.
Measure one, which sets an upper limit for the number of offences against the person, has not been met. A summary of results against the 2010–2011 Purchase Agreement can be found at Appendix 4.
A full summary of all offences reported or becoming known to police, offences cleared and apprehensions in the ACT for this reporting period can be found at Appendix 5.
Offences against the person include homicide and related offences, assault, sexual offences and other threatening, negligent or dangerous acts towards a person. In this reporting period, offences against the person accounted for 8.2 per cent of all offences reported in the ACT.
In relation to measure one, our target was 800 or less offences per 100 000 of the population. ACT Policing did not achieve this target, with 828 offences being reported per 100 000 population, a variation from the target of 3.5 per cent.
During the reporting period, there were 2916 offences against the person reported to ACT Policing. This is a slight decrease of 0.8 per cent (or 23 offences) when compared to 2009–10. This target was an aspirational ‘stretch’ target set by ACT Policing with the target reduced from 850 offences against the person reported to police per 100 000 population, to 800 offences against the person (a decrease of 6 per cent).
The majority of person offences recorded for 2010–11 decreased with the exception of ‘Other Offences’ against the person (up 16.2 per cent or 19 offences) and ‘Assaults at Home’ (by 5.7 per cent or 52 offences). Offences that have continued to record decreases include ‘Homicide and Related Offences’, ‘Sexual Assaults’ and ‘Other Assaults’. In comparison to the previous reporting period, Homicide and Related Offences had dropped from nine offences in 2009–10 to five in this reporting period where as Sexual Assaults and Other Assaults decreased by 30 offences and 64 offences respectively.
Figure A.9.1 illustrates offences against the person for a period of five years.
ACT Policing recognises there is a strong connection between excessive alcohol consumption and offences against the person. During 2010–11, 31 per cent (904 offences) of all offences against the person were alcohol related.
Source: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
* Other offences against the person include homicide and related offences, kidnapping, dangerous or negligent acts, harassment and threatening behaviour
ACT Policing has developed and implemented several strategies to proactively target the misuse of alcohol to reduce the incidence of harm towards individuals and the Canberra community. For example, within the reporting period, ACT Policing has contributed to the ACT Government’s liquor reforms through the creation of the Alcohol Crime Targeting Team (ACTT) in December 2010 to coincide with the introduction of the Liquor Act 2010 (ACT).
The aim of the ACTT is to encourage safe and responsible drinking practices, reduce the negative community effects of alcohol-related harm and engage with liquor licensees and relevant agencies to achieve an integrated approach to alcohol regulation. The new legislation provided us with increased police powers for issuing on-the-spot infringements for offences such as refusing to leave a licensed premise when requested by staff, supplying alcohol to an intoxicated person, and abusing/arguing with staff when refused service to alcohol.
The introduction of the new liquor reforms was further supported by an ACT Policing driven campaign ‘Play up, Pay up’ with 30-second television and radio advertisements and online search advertising. The objective of the advertising campaign was to promote awareness of the new liquor legislation reforms and the associated on-the-spot infringements enforceable for irresponsible alcohol consumption and service in the ACT.
We also continued to participate in Operation Unite — an Australia and New Zealand weekend of action against alcohol-related crime. Three targeted operations took place during this reporting period in September and December 2010 and May 2011. Operation Unite is an ongoing initiative as part of a longer-term strategy of cultural change to target alcohol-related crime, violence and anti-social behaviour.
As a result of strategies identified, it appears the location of assaults has shifted away from public places to domestic environments. In this reporting period, there was a slight increase (5.7 per cent) of assaults in the home when compared to 2009–10. Of all assaults recorded for 2010–11, 33.8 per cent were related to alcohol consumption.
Offences against property include robbery, burglary, fraud, handling of stolen goods, motor vehicle theft, theft other than a motor vehicle, property damage and environmental offences.
During this reporting period, offences against property accounted for 67.1 per cent of all offences reported or becoming known in the ACT.
The target for this measure was 8500 or less offences against property reported or becoming known to us per 100 000 of the population. ACT Policing achieved this measure by recording a result of 6805.7 offences per 100 000 of the population. When comparing this reporting period to 2009–10 there was a decrease of 26.1 per cent or 8474 offences.
| Offence type | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robbery | 327 | 255 |  22 |
| Armed Robbery | 133 | 143 |  7.5 |
| Other Robbery | 194 | 112 | 42.3 |
| Burglary | 5147 | 3464 | 32.7 |
| Dwelling | 3738 | 2498 | 33.2 |
| Shops | 526 | 348 | 33.8 |
| Other | 883 | 618 | 30 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 2080 | 1304 | 37.3 |
| Property Damage | 9312 | 7285 | 21.8 |
| Other Theft | 14124 | 10999 | 22.1 |
| Other offences against property | 1453 | 662 | 54.4 |
Source: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
Table A.9.1 above shows a significant decrease from 2009–10 to 2010–11 in almost all types of property offences contained within measure two.
During this reporting period, we implemented a proactive strategy aimed at reducing the number of incidents and criminal activity within a residential suburb or defined geographical area of the ACT. Operation Palma involved the targeting of all crimes and incidents responded to by police within an identified area, as opposed to a specific crime or incident type, in order to prevent or disrupt more serious matters occurring. The basis for this targeting is that minor crimes and incidents of public disorder provide an environment for more serious crimes to flourish.
ACT Policing continued to work closely with external agencies to develop strategies to lower the rate of property crime in the ACT. In collaboration with the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJaCS), ACT Policing began working on the ACT Government’s Property Crime Reduction Strategy. The purpose of this strategy is to formulate a whole-of-government approach to reduce the volume of property crime in the ACT. Key objectives include stopping the cycle of offending through justice investment, engaging with the disengaged by early intervention and creating a safer, more secure community. The ACT Property Crime Reduction Strategy will cover the period 2011 to 2014 and specifically target the prevention and reduction of offending rates for offences such as burglary and motor vehicle theft. Figure A.9.2 illustrates offences against property over the past five years.
Offences cleared are offences for which there was an outcome in this reporting period. These outcomes include identification of an offender (through arrest or some other form of proceeding such as a summons or caution), withdrawal of the complaint, insufficient evidence to proceed against an alleged offender or the determination that the offence was unsubstantiated.
The target for measure three required a clear up rate of 67 per cent or more offences for all offences against the person. During this reporting period we achieved the target with a clear up rate of 81.4 per cent (or 2374 offences), exceeding the target by 14.4 per cent. The 2010–11 result for this measure was the highest proportion of offences cleared against the person for more than 10 years. As illustrated in Figure A.9.3, ACT Policing has consistently recorded a clear-up rate of more than 63 per cent since 2006–07.
Source: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
*Other offences against property include robbery, blackmail and extortion, fraud and misappropriation, and handling of stolen goods offences
Source: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
Offences cleared against property are offences for which an outcome of an investigation was recorded as having been complete in this reporting period. The possible outcomes are the same as those for offences against the person as mentioned under measure three.
The annual target for this measure is 14 per cent or more offences against property cleared. We achieved this target with the clear up rate of 19 per cent of total property offences (or 4565 cleared property offences), exceeding the past reporting period’s result by just under 10 per cent.
As illustrated in Figure A.9.4, we have consistently recorded a clear up rate of more than 9 per cent for offences against property in the past five years. The nature of these offences typically means that it is more difficult for us to clear these offences than it is to clear offences against the person.
Source: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
The National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing is a nationwide telephone survey which measures community perceptions on a range of policing-related issues including satisfaction with police services, feelings of safety, concern about potential victimisation and attitudes toward police behaviour. During this reporting period, 2400 residents of the ACT participated in the survey and 28 507 people participated nationally.
The survey monitors community concern about becoming a victim of certain crime types. While this series of questions can elicit a variety of interpretations ranging from an assessment of likelihood of victimisation through to an assessment of how the victim would feel if they were to become a victim, they are the best available indicator of ‘fear’ of crime.
Figure A.9.5 illustrates the percentage of people in the ACT somewhat concerned or very concerned about becoming a victim of certain crime types in the next 12 months compared to the national average.
It is important to note that while we aim to reduce the level of fear of crime in the community, there are some positive aspects to the community having some level of concern/awareness of crime in their neighbourhood. A level of awareness about crime can reinforce crime prevention behaviours and limit the person’s potential for victimisation.
It is important that perceptions of crime results are taken into context against the actuality of crime reported to police. Housebreakings and motor vehicle theft for instance recorded significant decreases for the reporting period however these offence types were among the crime most perceived by the community of being prone to be victimised.
ACT Policing continues to publish crime statistics on the ACT Policing website as a method to reduce the fear and perception of crime. The release of crime data and information on policing activities is used to educate the community about the relatively low risk of becoming a victim of a crime. The increased levels of awareness about crime in the ACT community may still take some time however to have an impact on the heightened perceptions of victimisation, as too will sustained reductions in these crime type offences.
These efforts have been supported by a proactive approach to media, ensuring information is readily provided to the community, and the launch of social media platforms, namely our traffic twitter account and that of Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg. These approaches and avenues have provided an open communications platform providing a greater amount of information that is both timely and transparent to engage directly with the community through already existing platforms.
Source: National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing, July 2011
General Duties officers interview a victim of crime.
The ACT Policing website — launched in April 2010 — has also received a considerable amount of community interest, particularly through our interactive crime maps and media centre.
During the reporting period ACT Policing developed an online survey to assess the website’s content, accessibility and identify improvements to our online engagement in an attempt to work towards addressing perceptions of crime.
The Perception of Crime measures in the Purchase Agreement (measures five to 10) assess the community’s concern about becoming a victim of crime in the next 12 months with regard to physical assault (excluding sexual assault), sexual assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. This section also includes measures that assess the percentage of persons in the ACT who feel safe at home alone during the day and after dark. For these measures, the Purchase Agreement requires that we achieve a result that is equivalent to the national average or less (for measures five to eight) and equivalent to the national average or more for measures nine and 10.
The 2010–11 target for percentage of persons who are concerned about being the victim of physical assault in a public place (excluding sexual assault) in the next 12 months is the ‘national average or less’. In the ACT, 31.6 per cent of persons were concerned about becoming the victim of physical assault compared to a national average of 35.9 per cent.
The target for this measure is the ‘national average or less.’ We achieved against this measure with 10.2 per cent of people in the ACT concerned about being a victim of sexual assault compared to 12.6 per cent nationally.
We continue to record a decline in the number of reported sexual offences, with a decrease in 8.7 per cent (or 30 offences) when compared to 2009–10.
The financial year target for percentage of persons who are concerned about being the victim of housebreaking is the ‘national average or less’. The national average for the reporting period was 55.2 per cent, while the ACT result was 61.4 per cent.
The 2010–11 result for this measure is inconsistent to the rate of the number of burglaries reported to ACT Policing within the 2010–11 reporting period. Compared to 2009–10, the rate of burglaries in the ACT has decreased by a significant 32.7 per cent (or 1683 offences). The inconsistency between recorded crime and community perceptions may be influenced by a number of factors, including, as mentioned above, sustained reductions in crime and the community continually aware of such trends. A lag between actual reductions of crime over a sustained period and perceptions of crime is expected.
More specifically in terms of our efforts in this respect, ACT Policing, particularly through its Crime Prevention function and Media and Marketing unit, disseminate a vast range of information to support perceptions of crime and home safety. An integrated communications approach has been visible during this reporting period, combining community engagement with proactive media relations.
The Home Safety and Security handbook developed by Crime Prevention has been distributed to a number of homes and people in the ACT. More information can be found at Section B.1 — Community Engagement.
Our Suburban Policing Strategy (SPS) provides the high-visibility policing element of our integrated strategy. During this reporting period, ACT Policing conducted 32 779 SPS related activities of which 77.2 per cent were visibility related (proactive vehicle patrols), 17.8 per cent accessibility related (beat/foot/bicycle patrols) and 5 per cent engagement jobs (such as talking to a school principal or shop owner about a specific issue).
The target for percentage of persons who are concerned about being a victim of motor vehicle theft is again the ‘national average or less’. The national average for this reporting period was 43.2 per cent, while the ACT result for the period is at 46.2 per cent.
Similar to measure seven, the result for this measure is inconsistent to the level of motor vehicle theft crime recorded in the ACT. In 2010–11, the number of stolen motor vehicle offences significantly decreased by 37.3 per cent (or 776 offences) when compared to the previous year.
ACT Policing has a number of strategies to increase perceptions of safety and decrease levels of fear in becoming a victim of motor vehicle theft. We actively engage with the community regarding motor vehicle theft by encouraging the community to report suspicious behaviour or vehicles to ACT Policing through online media. This has assisted ACT Policing to identify potential stolen motor vehicles and apprehend offenders for motor vehicle theft. Although the strategy of encouraging the community to report suspicious behaviour might have resulted in a higher sense of uncertainty about crime, the information received by the public is considered to be vital in assisting police with investigations.
ACT Policing is committed to working with partner agencies to sustain the reduction of motor vehicle thefts. In 2010–11 ACT Policing in conjunction with the Department of Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS) and DJaCS promoted the ACT Engine Immobiliser Scheme strategy. This government initiative was established in response to the recognition that the majority of stolen motor vehicles are older and not fitted with immobilisation technology. Owners of such vehicles can apply to have a subsidised vehicle immobiliser fitted to their vehicle by designated and approved licensed installers.
Along with the ACT Property Crime Reduction Strategy, our own approaches to reduce motor vehicle theft include Project Safe Plate — a one day event held twice in this reporting period to reduce registration plate theft. ACT motorists were invited to have their standard retaining screws for their vehicle registration plates replaced with tamper-proof screws which are much more difficult for thieves to remove. The aim of Project Safe Plate is to minimise the rate of stolen number plates and associated crimes. The theft of a number plate is often a precursor to crime such as petrol drive-offs, burglaries and traffic offences.
The introduction of RAPID (Recognition and Analysis of Plates IDentified), and associated campaigns and media coverage, which among other things targets stolen motor vehicles, is further being promoted.
The target for the percentage of persons who feel safe at home alone during the day was ‘national average or more’. The national average for the financial year was 95 per cent. The ACT exceeded the target for this reporting period recording 95.6 per cent.
The target for the percentage of persons who feel safe at home alone after dark was the ‘national average or more’. The national average for the financial year was 87 per cent, while the ACT result for the period was 88.6 per cent.
Source: National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing, July 2011
As illustrated in Figure A.9.6, residents of the ACT feel safer than people nationally at all times of the day regardless of location.
ACT Policing encourages all members of the public to report crime and related incidents to police. All contact the public has with ACT Policing is recorded and while not all reports will result in attendance by our members, those reports form part of the intelligence process that identifies issues and directs the targeting of patrols.
The coordination of efficient and effective responses to calls for assistance from members of the community is the responsibility of ACT Policing Operations — our radio communications and control centre.
The allocation of resources continues to be managed in accordance with the three-level priority response model, introduced during this reporting period. The model ensures that our resources are deployed to the most serious incidents at any given time. The categories for the three level response model (previously four) are:
Measures 11 to 13 gauge ACT Policing’s responsiveness by recording the time to respond to incidents for each priority type, while measure 14 details the urgency in which Triple Zero (000) calls are answered. ACT Policing has the targets for all tiers of all measures within the Police Responsiveness output.
The targeted response times for Priority 1 incidents as set by measure 11 is 60 per cent or more within eight minutes and 90 per cent or more within 12 minutes. Both response times were achieved during this reporting period with 87.7 per cent achieved within eight minutes and 97.4 per cent achieved within twelve minutes.
ACT Policing has consistently met this crucial target.
The target for Priority 2 incidents was 60 per cent within twenty minutes and 95 per cent or more within thirty minutes. We exceeded these targets, recording 93.7 per cent response within twenty minutes and 97.9 per cent within thirty minutes.
The target for Priority 3 incidents is 90 per cent within police attendance or response no later than 48 hours from the initial contact by the complainant or within a time that is determined in consultation with the complainant.
ACT Policing achieved this target with the response time for attendance at Priority 3 incidents a high 99.9 per cent.
The target for Triple Zero (000) calls that were answered on first presentation was 90 per cent or more, and second presentation was 98 per cent or more. We achieved a result of 95.7 per cent for calls answered on first presentation and a high 99.6 per cent for calls answered on second presentation.
If members of the public are satisfied with their most recent contact with our officers, they are more likely to report other incidents (contributing to the gathering of intelligence) and assist us when required.
Issues that are identified by ACT Policing as being of concern to the public are discussed, prioritised and monitored through our internal Operations Committee. In response to these issues, our members are tasked by the Operations Committee to patrol areas of concern such as bus interchanges, business districts, suburban shopping centres and high density residential complexes.
Belconnen patrol member responds to a property offence
The National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing includes a number of questions that monitor public confidence levels in police across Australia. ACT Policing includes the results of three questions in the survey that asks the respondent’s levels of satisfaction with the most recent contact with ACT Policing members, measured against the national average (measures 15 to 18).
Confidence in police can also be affected through visible policing such as targeted traffic operations, the colour of vehicles and our SPS activities — all of which is supported by our efforts in media and marketing.
The target for measure 15 was the ‘national average or more’. The national average during the reporting period was 82.2 per cent. ACT Policing did not achieve this target with 80.4 per cent (outside of target by 1.8 per cent) of survey respondents satisfied with their contact with our members in the past 12 months.
The most common reason for the ACT community’s recent contact with police in the past 12 months was through random breath testing (RBT) operations (39.9 per cent), followed by ‘to report a crime’ (12.7 per cent). The most common reason stated for those satisfied with the most recent contact with police is that police were ‘fair/professional’ (23.2 per cent). This corresponds with the outstanding KPI results for measures 16 and 17, regarding police professionalism and police treating people fairly and equally. The most common reason for dissatisfaction with police during this reporting period was that ‘police didn’t do enough, took no action’ (26.9 per cent).
There is the likelihood that with increased proactive policing there may be a greater number of persons dissatisfied with police as a result of having been subject to greater law enforcement. The National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing results for 2010–11 for all questions relating to police satisfaction are illustrated in Figure A.9.7 (and compared to the national average).
The target for measure 16 was the ‘national average or more’. The national average for this reporting period was 85 per cent. ACT Policing exceeded this target with 87.4 per cent of people in the ACT agreeing that police perform their job professionally.
* Proportion of people who have had contact with police in the last 12 months that were satisfied with that contact
Source: National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing, July 2011
The target for measure 17 was the ‘national average or more’. The target was met with 76.1 per cent of people in the ACT agreeing that we treat people fairly and equally (compared to 73.3 per cent nationally).
Figure A.9.8 compares results in the ACT to the Australian average for community beliefs about police. For all four questions, a greater proportion of ACT residents agreed with statements about police in comparison to the national average. These questions relate to perceived professionalism, fairness and honesty of our members and the confidence respondents have in them. It is important to note that for this reporting period, the ACT was the highest proportion nationally of people who had confidence in police.
During this reporting period the target for the number of established complaints issued against police was ‘72 or below’. The target was achieved with 57 substantiated complaint issues relating to our members recorded.
@ACTPol_Traffic There’s a car abandoned in the left lane heading west over red hill. Sitting just below the peak.
@CPOACT ..Husband told we would be kept informed of the court case….have never heard a thing. Is that normal AFP practice?
@CPOACT Just out of interest. Stolen car being chased by Police crashed into our house 20 mths ago causing us 9 mths of hell….
@ACTPol_Traffic - Gosh you guys are busy. Great job.
It should be noted that measures 18 and 19 only include complaints relating to our members that were found to be substantiated during this reporting period. This differs from the complaints information found in Section C.5 — Internal Accountability. Complaints information in Section C.5 details the total number of complaints that were made during this reporting period, not just those substantiated.
Source: National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing, July 2011
The target for measure 19 for this reporting period was ‘15 or below’. We exceeded this target by recording six established complaint issues relating to persons in custody.
All people who are taken into our custody are processed through the ACT Watch House at City Police Station.
A total of 4215 people were taken into protective custody during this reporting period.
Enforcing traffic laws and promoting safer behaviours on ACT roads to reduce the number of deaths and injuries to members of the community as a result of collisions.
The Traffic Operations function performs the primary traffic enforcement function in our organisation, and are supported by all General Duties officers.
Our traffic law enforcement and road safety strategy has four elements: education, awareness, deterrence, and enforcement.
ACT Policing continues to work closely with a number of agencies to promote, educate, design and enforce the road rules applicable to the ACT. These agencies specifically include Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS) and the ACT Office of Road Safety.
Traffic enforcement has, and will continue to have, a direct impact on the reduction in deaths and collisions with injury on our roads but there is a body of evidence which shows an increasing incidence of irresponsible driver behaviour which police cannot deal with alone. This requires an integrated effort involving all road safety stakeholders: police; government; road, traffic and safety authorities; road and related infrastructure designers; and most importantly the driving community.
ACT Policing continues to focus efforts on the offences of drink driving, speeding, driving while using a hand-held mobile phone, not wearing a seatbelt, unregistered and uninsured vehicles and unlicensed drivers.
During this reporting period we worked closely with TAMS to develop a yearly calendar targeting traffic offences. The purpose of this calendar was to enable targeted law enforcement campaigns, provide a framework whereby ACT Policing and the ACT Government were not disseminating conflicting messages, and align media and advertising to enforcement and education initiatives.
This was the first time a whole-of-government calendar of this type was produced. The calendar also formed part of a suite of measures designed to address road safety on ACT roads. The campaigns (rotated on a rostered 12 month schedule) focused on the four main causes of death and serious injury on ACT roads: Speeding, driver distraction (mobile phones), impaired driving (particularly drink driving), and seatbelts.
In April 2011 ACT Policing introduced new rear windscreen safety stickers for all marked and selected unmarked police vehicles to support campaign messages. Messages included: ‘Pick up a phone, pick up a fine’, ‘No belt. No brains’ — aimed at influencing driver behaviour while on the road.
The RAPID system (which uses a digital video camera to instantaneously identify to the operator whether a vehicle registration is identical to a listed plate contained in a ‘vehicle of interest’ list) has proved itself as a first-rate asset to road safety in the ACT by identifying drivers who pose the greatest risk to others. The in-car computing facility is used in conjunction with the RAPID system to enable members to spend more time on the road rather than in a police station, thereby maximising police visibility and interaction with the community.
RAPID has provided an easily deployable and immediate method of identifying a range of criminality associated with driving unregistered and uninsured vehicles. This includes the monitoring of movements of registered child offenders under the Australian National Child Offenders Register (ANCOR).
Since officially beginning operations in July 2010, the six-person RAPID team has continued to operate in all areas of the ACT. During this reporting period, the high-visibility three-car purple RAPID team scanned 856 743 vehicles and issued 4858 traffic infringement notices (TINs). The majority of TINs were for people driving unregistered vehicles (36.5 per cent). As at 30 June 2011 the financial value of TINs attributed to RAPID was $1.904 million, or $159 000 per month.
ACT Policing also uses variable message boards (road side) and a raft of advertising, including a regular ‘Traffic Talkback’ segment on ABC radio, to communicate road safety messages.
Measure 20 — Number of road crashes resulting in death per 100,000 population
The target for measure 20 was 4.2 or less road crashes resulting in death per 100 000 of the population. ACT Policing achieved this measure by recording 2.8 fatal road collisions per 100 000 during this reporting period.
There were 10 road collisions resulting in 10 deaths during this reporting period, a 50 per cent decrease compared to the 20 deaths from the 17 road collisions recorded in 2009–10.
In August 2010, ACT Policing hosted the ANZPAA (Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency) Road Policing Forum. This forum, involving senior officers from around Australia, was designed to develop a draft
Source: ACT Policing Annual Reports, PROMIS as at 4 July 2011,
Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics – Road Deaths Australia, June 2011 http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/06/Files/RDA_Jun_2011.pdf as at 2 August 2011
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Regional Population Growth, Australia and New Zealand, 2009-2010 (ABS Cat. no. 3218.0)
enforcement program to underpin the National Road Safety Strategy. This collaborative approach to the enforcement strategies behind road safety aims to deliver a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries in Australia by 2020. Compliance through enforcement is seen as vital to the success of the strategy, together with developing safer vehicles, better roads, and ensuring speed limits. The strategy regards as critical the need for people to comply with road laws, and supports strong sanctions and penalties to those who deliberately take risks.
We continue our commitment to reducing the road toll by developing strategies to promote road safety in the ACT.
The target for measure 21 was 180 or less road crashes resulting in injury per 100 000 of the population. During this reporting period, ACT Policing achieved this target with the number of collisions resulting in injury recorded at 175.5.
During this reporting period there were 618 road collisions that had resulted in injury. This is a decrease from 650 in 2009–10 (down 4.9 per cent).
The target for measure 22 was the ‘national average or less’ for people who self report to driving 10km per hour or more over the speed limit. The national average was 23.2 per cent. Our result was over target in this reporting period, with 26.5 per cent of persons self reporting to driving 10km per hour or more over the speed limit.
There were 7984 TINs issued for speeding related offences during this reporting period. This is a 23.3 per cent increase on the number of TINs issued in 2009–10 (6474).
Our result for this measure is directly associated with a traffic enforcement campaign launched in cooperation with ACT Road Safety authorities. The objective of this traffic campaign was to target serious traffic offences that contribute to death and serious injury on our roads. Part of the traffic enforcement campaign included the targeting of speeding motorists during specified months.
ACT Policing, in conjunction with mobile speed camera vans, has continued high-visibility speed reduction operations. This coordinated approach delivers repetitive targeting of nominated high-volume main arterial roads in the ACT. The targeted locations are planned in advance and systematically rotated initially, then delivered in a more random approach. Variable message boards are also used to provide suitable messages to drivers in support of the operations.
Also during this reporting period ACT Policing worked with the ACT Government to coordinate road safety campaigns with road safety advertising as part of a holistic approach to road safety.
Source: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
The target for measure 23 was the ‘national average or less’ for people who self report to driving while not wearing a seatbelt. We achieved this target, as the national average was 2.6 per cent and our result was 1.9 per cent.
We continually target traffic related offences including not wearing a seatbelt in conjunction with other initiatives designed to change driving habits through education as well as enforcement. We are actively working with the media
to remind the community that not wearing a seat belt is a key road safety issue which contributes to our road toll.
The number of TINs issued by ACT Policing for motorist not wearing a seatbelt while driving during this reporting period was 610, an increase of 12.3 per cent in comparison to 2009–10.
The target for measure 24 was the ‘national average or less’ for people who self-report to driving while suspecting they are over the prescribed alcohol limit. The national average for this reporting period was 2 per cent and our final result for this measure was also 2 per cent. Drink driving continues to be a strong focus for ACT Policing. During this reporting period we performed 100 568 RBTs of which 1501 of drivers were identified as over the prescribed limit of alcohol. This resulted in a 1.5 per cent of drivers producing a positive breath test, the same rate of positive tests recorded for 2009–10.
As part of our road safety strategy, ACT Policing participated in a number of targeted operations including Operation RAID — a cross-border operation to remove all impaired drivers — and Operation Crossroads — a campaign targeting the causes of road deaths during key holiday periods. We continue, however, to experience a high amount of motorists drink driving.
Analysis of ACT Policing data indicates that a significant proportion of all drivers apprehended for drink driving have at least one previous conviction or are currently before the court for drink driving offences. In addition, data continues to support that drink drivers are over-represented in serious and fatal collisions. Detecting these types of offences remains a particularly high priority for ACT Policing.
The target for this measure was the ‘national average or less’. The national average was 12.7 per cent, with our result also 12.7 per cent.
The number of TINs issued by ACT Policing for driving while using a mobile phone during this reporting period was 2577, an increase of 36.7 per cent in comparison to 2009–10.
Source: ACT Policing Annual Reports 2009-2010 and ACT Policing Traffic Operations
Maximising the number of successful prosecutions in Court by providing support to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Courts.
Our target for this measure was for delivery of 75 per cent or more of briefs to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) within the designated timeframe. ACT Policing has achieved this target with 79.9 per cent of briefs delivered to the DPP within the given timeframe. This is a significant improvement from 2009–10, where ACT Policing recorded a result of 72 per cent.
ACT Policing has continued implementing and improving its quality control procedures in preparing and delivering briefs of evidence to ensure a thorough and professional brief is presented to the Court. This has been achieved through enhanced vetting and adjudication procedures by both Team Leaders and Operations Support Sergeants.
Direction has been given to ACT Policing members concerning brief submission time frames. This is expected to increase individual accountability and also reduce the number evidence briefs submitted late with no explanatory report.
The recent implementation of a weekly reminder system, managed by ACT Policing Judicial Operations has contributed to achieving the target in 2010–11. ACT Policing has also reviewed and updated its Service Level Agreement with AFP Forensic and Data Centres, which has historically impacted on the timeliness in which briefs of evidence are prepared.
Implementation of the ACT DPP Case Management System also improved information sharing between the two agencies and provides our members with additional information to allow them to better meet obligations.
Our target for measure 27 was to finalise 80 per cent or more cases by offence proved in court. We achieved this target, with 87.5 per cent of cases finalised.
Our target for measure 28 was to finalise 18 per cent or less cases by a not-guilty verdict or otherwise withdrawn. We achieved this target with 11.2 per cent of cases finalised.
Our target for measure 29 was to ensure the percentage of cases resolved other than by offence proved in court or a not-guilty verdict, or otherwise withdrawn, is 5 per cent or less. This measure relates to incidents where defendants are found unfit to plea due to mental health. We achieved our target, recording 1.3 per cent of cases otherwise resolved.
A series of exhibit books held at the Exhibit Management Centre.
Reducing and preventing crime through strategies that incorporate government and community cooperation to address risk factors associated with criminal behaviour and recidivism, and raise awareness of the community’s role in their own safety and security.
Research shows that neighbourhood problems, incivility or perceived problems are commonly linked with perceived levels of crime and general safety. For example, perception of neighbourhood incivility is an indication of a lack of public order in the neighbourhood, that social controls are diminishing and police are unable to deal effectively with neighbourhood problems.
One of the aims of our SPS is to reduce the fear of crime in the community. The combined approach of the SPS in employing increased visibility, foot patrols and engagement with the community has the potential to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and concern about crime, and to increase public confidence in the police.
The target for this measure was the ‘national average or less’ of people who perceive speeding cars, dangerous or noisy driving to be a problem in their neighbourhood. The national average was 72.1 per cent and our result was under this with 71.5 per cent.
The target for the percentage of people who perceive graffiti/vandalism to be a problem in their neighbourhood was ‘national average or less’. The national average for this reporting period was 50.2 per cent, while the ACT result was 49.1 per cent. During this reporting period there was a decrease in the number of overall property damage offences reported to ACT policing (down 21.8 per cent), and a decrease in the reported number of graffiti offences (down 23.2 per cent) in comparison to 2009–10.
The target for this measure was the ‘national average or less’ of people who perceive louts/gangs to be a problem in their neighbourhood. The national average was 30.8 per cent while our result — 23 per cent — under target for this reporting period.
Our target for this measure was the ‘national average or less’ of persons who perceive drunken/disorderly behaviour to be a problem in their neighbourhood. The national average was 38 per cent while our result — 28.4 per cent — under target for the reporting period.
During this reporting period the target for this measure was 55 or more juveniles (young people) referred to diversionary programs. ACT Policing achieved the target with 95 referrals to diversionary programs (restorative justice), achieving the target by a high 72.7 per cent.
Our target for measure 30 was 5100 or more people referred to community support agencies. We achieved the target with 6004 referrals to SupportLink. ACT Policing members use the SupportLink service to provide a crime prevention approach to issues identified during their duties.
The primary issues addressed are victim support counselling, general support, mental health (non crisis), road trauma support and victim support (for court purposes).
The target for this measure is 90 per cent concluded within a 12 month period. The 12 month period begins on the date of the signing of the 2010–2011 Purchase Agreement (signed 14 October 2010) and expires on the date of expiration of the Agreement.
As of 30 June 2011, 83.7 per cent of our officers had completed the training. Based on a pro–rata target our target for measure 33 as at 30 June 2011 was 64 per cent or more.
The awareness package was delivered via e-learning through iAspire, the AFP’s online training system.
The target for measure 34 was 65 or more referrals to drug diversion programs. We achieved the target with 106 people diverted into the early intervention and drug diversion programs during the reporting period — an increase of 20.5 per cent from the previous reporting period.
Our early intervention and diversionary programs provide opportunities for illicit drug offenders to be diverted from the criminal justice system to education and treatment pathways in the health system.
| Offence type | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Possession or use of drugs | 426 | 426 | 0% |
| Deal and traffic in drugs | 61 | 42 | -31% |
| Manufacture and grow drugs | 40 | 32 | -20% |
| Other drug offences | 2 | 0 | -100% |
| Total drug | 529 | 500 | -5% |
Source: PROMIS as at 14 August 2011
Operational planning inside the Police Forward Command Post.
In line with the ACT Government’s commitment to shape the development of a sustainable ACT, Table A.10.1 outlines our economic, environmental and social indicators.
| Indicator | 2010–11 result |
2009–10 result |
% change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECONOMIC | Employee expenses
|
946 $98 m |
956 $92 m |
-1 +6.5 |
Operating statement
|
$146.7 m $0.3 m $146.4 m |
$138.5 m $0.2 m $138.3 m |
+5.9 +50 +5.9 |
|
Economic viability
|
$32.9 m $29.9 m |
$29.5 m $29.4 m |
+11.5 +1.7 |
|
| ENVIRONMENTAL | Transport
|
220 Not available 1383 |
211 Not available 1328 |
+4.2 Not available +4.1 |
Energy use — KwH
|
6799 7.18 0.26 |
6354 6.65 0.28 |
+7 +8 -7.1 |
|
Water consumption
|
15 133 15.99 0.58 |
13 818 14.45 0.61 |
+9.5 +10.6 -4.9 |
|
Resource efficiency and waste
|
No data available |
No data available |
No data available |
|
| SOCIAL | The Diversity of Our Workforce
|
33 0.4 1.2 10.8 |
32 0.2 1.2 8.1 |
+3.1 +50 Nil +33.3 |
Staff health and wellbeing
|
218 70 267 18 |
259 72 215 11 |
-15.8 -2.7 +24.2 +63.6 |
Throughout the reporting period, ACT Policing enhanced its existing community engagement programs to increase our profile within the community and to work with the public to create a safer and more secure ACT.
The ultimate aim of our community engagement is to encourage positive interaction between police and community members, increase community confidence and actively create supportive relationships. The programs range in variety from educational themes, advisory programs and those specifically designed for young persons and senior members of the community.
Some of the community engagement consultation programs conducted during this reporting period are as follows.
| Community consultation 1 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing |
| Project: | 2011 ActewAGL Royal Canberra Show |
| Consultation process: | The 2011 ActewAGL Royal Canberra Show was held at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) between 25 and 27 February 2011. Similar to previous years, we operated a large display area within the popular Budawang Pavilion. The focus for this year’s display was on cyber safety along with drugs and alcohol awareness. By showcasing the tools of policing, by personal contact and introducing technologies, we were able to engage the community in crime prevention strategies — offering an involved ‘show visit’ experience.< The aim of the display was to interact with the community in a positive environment while:
|
| Approximate number consulted: | More than 130 000 people attended the event over the course of the three days. |
| Outcome: | Opinions expressed by members of the public were generally very positive. Members of the public also expressed that they were pleased to see so many ACT Policing members engaging with people throughout the event grounds for example through bicycle patrols. Dr Harry Cooper was present during the event and provided feedback stating that the AFP display was possibly the best overall police display he had seen in his travels. Dr Harry Cooper was particularly impressed with the cyber safety and drug/alcohol awareness components because he felt they were very important messages that the community at large needed know. The ACT Policing display appeared to be the most popular section of the Leisure and Lifestyle Centre (Budawang Pavilion). Approximately 470 children joined the Constable Kenny Koala Star Club at the event. |
| Community consultation 2 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing, Multicultural Liaison Team — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | 2011 National Multicultural Festival |
| Consultation process: | The National Multicultural Festival is an annual celebration led by Canberra’s multicultural community. The 2011 festival focused on the spirit of community engagement by sharing traditions and celebrating Canberra’s cultural diversity. This year the Festival adopted the theme Safer Communities through Neighbourhood Watch and encouraged all people — multicultural or otherwise — to engage their local community through Neighbourhood Watch. In line with this theme, ACT Policing attended the event and engaged with the community through its stall and via roving ambassadors to promote community confidence in police. Members who speak a language other than English also participated in this event. The ACT Policing stall was managed in partnership with the Department of Housing and Community Services (DHCS) and the Neighbourhood Watch. Information was provided to the public in eight different languages for new immigrants and refugees. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | ACT’s multicultural community. |
| Approximate number consulted: | Unknown. |
| Outcome: | The festival included a number of public events as well as multicultural seminars and workshops. ACT Policing uses the Multicultural Festival as an opportunity to promote generic crime prevention messages, however this year the stall went further by promoting our commitment to community engagement. We emphasised our support of multicultural diversity as well as promoted Neighbourhood Watch. Our roving police ambassadors visited and offered assistance to Multicultural Festival stall holders who historically have been from multicultural organisations within the community. It is this engagement that promotes confidence in police within the cultural and linguistic diverse community and assists police to identify gaps in access to emergency services by Canberra’s multicultural community. |
| Community consultation 3 | |
| Members involved: | Multicultural Liaison Team — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | 2010 Canberra ‘Eid Al-Fitr’ Festival |
| Consultation process: | The Eid al-Fitr is an annual holy day and Festival in the Islamic Calendar to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Crime Prevention members attended the 2009 Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne and conceived the idea of the AFP hosting an event for the Canberra Muslim community to share an Islamic festival with the broader community. A committee was formed to oversee the planning of the inaugural 2010 Canberra Eid al-Fitr Festival comprising ACT Policing, the AFP’s Culture and Language Centre, Emergency Services Agency, Muslim Community leaders and community members. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | ACT Policing, AFP Culture and Language Centre, Emergency Services Agency, Muslim Community leaders and community members. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 4000 |
| Outcome: | The inaugural 2010 Canberra Eid al-Fitr Festival was held at John Dunmore Lang Park in the Parliamentary Triangle on Sunday 19 September 2010. A range of attractions including stage performances, food, handicraft, information stalls, animal farm, reptile show, dodgem cars, pony rides, jumping castle and children’s rides were on display. Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg was a guest speaker during the event, with members from ACT Policing, Police Recruits and emergency services personnel and volunteers assisting throughout the festival. More than 3500 amusement ride tickets were sold during the day. Approximately one third of visitors were non-Muslim. The community inclusive festival received a lot of positive feedback as it promoted harmony and understanding. |
| Community consultation 4 | |
| Members involved: | Indigenous Cultural Liaison Team (ICLT) — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Jervis Bay — National Youth Week |
| Consultation process: | Our members went to Jervis Bay as part of National Youth Week activities run by the DHCS during the first week of April 2011. Crime Prevention members and our ICLT engaged community members from the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community to examine ways in which we could provide services to assist the community, with a view to creating a calendar of events through which Crime Prevention members can assist with the provision of crime prevention and intervention type activities. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community from a broad range of ages and educational backgrounds. |
| Approximate number consulted: | Approximately 20 people were directly engaged with as part of our activities, with age group ranging from 16 to 64. The average age of school leavers was Year 9, with only one respondent gaining a tertiary education as a mature aged student. |
| Outcome: | New members deployed to Jervis Bay undergo training in Indigenous cultural and social matters, alerting members that it will take time to build trust with the community. Police members need not give up on engaging the community if they feel the community is disinterested in them. Consultation has demonstrated that the community do want to interact with police in a positive manner, however it will take time to build relationships and trust between new police members deployed and the community. We are evaluating ways in which we can create opportunities for members to engage Wreck Bay community and, if required, gain assistance from other areas of ACT Policing, including Crime Prevention, that may have expertise in working with the Indigenous or marginalised communities, socially and economically disadvantaged people, and recidivist offenders. A calendar of events is being developed around reducing anti-social behaviour based on feedback provided from the community. Some of events will include sports activities, surfing, and blue light discos. Greater engagement, as well as an understanding of current and emerging issues will ensure there is increased trust between police and the community. |
| Community consultation 5 | |
| Members involved: | ICLT, in partnership with Northside Community Services |
| Project: | Kickstart program |
| Consultation process: | The Kickstart (holiday) program was developed to target the most disengaged, vulnerable and criminally recidivist families in the ACT and was run with the following objectives: Engagement
|
| Approximate number consulted: | 300 |
| Outcome: | There have been six Kickstart programs run since its inception. During the reporting period three programs have been delivered. |
| Community consultation 6 | |
| Members involved: | ICLT, in partnership with the Aboriginal Justice Centre (AJC), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and ACT Courts |
| Project: | ‘Front Up’ program |
| Consultation process: | The ‘Front Up’ program is the name given to the Indigenous Person Voluntary Surrender Program. The program provides an efficient and expedient system to allow for Indigenous persons subject to a warrant for their arrest or in breach of their bail conditions, to voluntarily surrender themselves to the courts to avoid the need to be taken into police custody. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Recidivist Indigenous people, AJC, DPP and ACT Courts |
| Approximate number consulted: | N/A |
| Outcome: | To date 33 members of the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander (ATSI) community have used this program resulting in an immediate impact on the number of ATSI people being arrested. ACT Policing continues to work closely with the AJC to increase the number of people using this program which has resulted in the reduction of incarceration rates of Indigenous people in the ACT. |
| Community consultation 7 | |
| Members involved: | ICLT — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Murra Project |
| Consultation process: | The Murra Project emanated from the working group on High Risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families which was established under the auspice of the Chief Minister’s ACT Taskforce on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. The Murra Project emerged after ACT Policing’s partnership project — Kickstart — with Northside Community. The program targets focused on Indigenous families in the ACT in an attempt to address some of the issues that contribute to the rate of Indigenous crime. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | ACT Policing, Chief Minister’s Taskforce, Northside Community Service. |
| Approximate number consulted: | N/A |
| Outcome: | The program is aimed at strengthening Indigenous families’ capacity for participating in the community as well as improving relationships between the community, police and services providers funded to support them. |
| Community consultation 8 | |
| Members involved: | ICLT — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | NAIDOC Week |
| Consultation process: | The National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians. Today, NAIDOC is a celebration of ATSI cultures and an opportunity to recognise the contributions of Indigenous Australians in various fields. Activities take place across the nation during NAIDOC Week in the first full week of July. In July 2010 the ICLT participated in a number of NAIDOC Week activities and events along with more than 400 ATSI and non-ATSI people. ACT Policing also provides funding for some of the NAIDOC Week activities. |
| Approximate number consulted: | More than 400 ATSI and non-ATSI people (direct engagement). |
| Outcome: | ACT Policing has been supporting NAIDOC Week for more than 20 years as part of our community engagement and crime prevention measures. |
| Community consultation 9 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | National Youth Week |
| Consultation process: | Crime Prevention members supported many events during National Youth Week including:
|
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Numerous. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 2000 |
| Outcome: | ACT Policing participated in a number of events in the ACT and Jervis Bay to speak directly with young people about personal and road safety. Crime Prevention members provided information about impaired driving, the consequences of underage drinking and drug awareness. |
| Community consultation 10 | |
| Members involved: | Seniors Liaison Team — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Line Dancing |
| Consultation process: | The aim of this project was to bridge the communication gap between older and young people through a seven week line dancing class. The Line Dancing fostered a positive attitude between the respective groups through improved communication and mutual respect. The young people and seniors built a positive rapport with members of ACT Policing. The group consisted of Canberra College students from a wide range of ethnic background and seniors from the Weston Creek area. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Crime Prevention, members of the seniors’ community in the Weston Creek area and students from the Canberra College. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 50 |
| Outcome: | Several young people are now undertaking regular voluntary work with Miranjani and other retirement homes and there has been interest in undertaking a similar program on the north of Canberra. The students, teachers and the organiser of the Miranjani Wellness Program and seniors who have taken part in the project have been very positive in their comments about how well ACT Policing members interacted with the group, particularly the students from overseas. They believe that it has had a very positive effect on how the students and also seniors view police. Specifically, one student from Africa completed work experience with ACT Policing with a view to joining the AFP as a result of the project. A community register, similar to that used by Victoria and NSW Police, for persons who are living alone and other people who may have a disability, illness and who are isolated will be established. This register will contain details of contact telephone numbers and addresses for their next of kin, basic health status, medication and their medical practitioner. This information will also be recorded by ACT Policing so that all members have access to this information in the event of an emergency. |
| Community consultation 11 | |
| Members involved: | Business Liaison Officers — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Eyes on the Street |
| Consultation process: | The Business Liaison Officers conducted a trial of the ‘Eyes on the Street’ initiative based on the Western Australian program of the same name that has proved successful. The experience from Western Australia demonstrated an increase in not only the reporting of criminal or suspicious behaviour, (around 3 per cent being on average about six to 10 reports per week per agency in a municipal area over a three month period), but an improvement in the quality of the information contained in those reports. ACT Policing’s Eyes on the Street module seeks to develop similar partnerships with local businesses and territory agencies to facilitate the transfer of information. The aims of this program are to:
|
| Groups/individuals consulted: | ACTION Buses, TAMS Rangers and Domestic Animal Services, SNP Security, and businesses from the Civic. |
| Approximate number consulted: | More than 200. As of 30 June 2011, 79 participants from across 12 businesses has signed up to participate in the program. |
| Outcome: | Initial participants took part in one of several training sessions held at the AFP College at Barton. Since that time, Crime Prevention staff have developed the training so that it can be delivered off-site, using business-owned training facilities. Most notable of these is regular training for ACTION bus staff at their Belconnen training facility. A small number of Crime Prevention staff have received training in delivering the ACT Policing Eyes on the Street training package. Training is normally delivered by a lead presenter assisted by one other staff member. Training consists of a one and a half hour training session which includes the use of an activity based multi-media PowerPoint presentation. At the conclusion of the training participants are asked to sign up to the trial and are provided with a range of material including reporting forms. Participants are also encouraged to fill in feedback forms on the training. Feedback from participants regarding the training and the concept has been overwhelmingly positive. A database has been created to manage participant information and to provide participants with additional resources, marketing material and updates. |
| Community consultation 12 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing |
| Project: | White Ribbon Day November 2010 |
| Consultation process: | White Ribbon day is the United Nations international day for elimination of violence against women. White Ribbon day is held on November 25 each year and aims to eliminate violence against women and children through cultural change, particularly led by men. The major strategies to achieve this are a national media campaign as well as education and male leadership programs aimed at men and boys around Australia. All funds raised support the implementation of these strategies. ACT Policing has been a major contributing partner to promoting the day to the Canberra community and again in 2010 ran the Men in Uniform stalls in all five major shopping centres across Canberra — Canberra Centre, Westfield Belconnen and Woden, Gungahlin Marketplace and Tuggeranong Hyperdome. The stalls were attended by a number of ACT Policing members including our Deputy Chief Police Officers Bruce Hill and David McLean, both White Ribbon Day ambassadors. Along with the Men in Uniform stalls — used to educate the community about domestic violence particularly and to sell ‘I Swear’ merchandise to raise funds for White Ribbon Day — ACT Policing hosted a special luncheon hosted by celebrity Andrew O’Keefe. All State and Territory Police Commissioners, as well as those from New Zealand, attended the event with more than 100 people which included school students. Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg also became a White Ribbon Day ambassador during this reporting period. |
| Approximate number consulted: | Unknown. |
| Outcome: | More than $8000 was raised for White Ribbon Day and the luncheon and Men in Uniform stalls received significant media coverage to raise awareness of violence against women. |
| Community consultation 13 | |
| Members involved: | Multicultural Liaison Team, Business Liaison Officers — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Belconnen/Gungahlin festivals |
| Consultation process: | The Belconnen and Gungahlin Community Festivals were held in November and December 2010 respectively. The aim of this community consultation was to engage and provide information to members of the Belconnen and Gungahlin communities in relation to home and personal safety and technology-enabled crime. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Members of the community. |
| Approximate number consulted: | Unknown. |
| Outcome: | Members of the Multicultural Liaison Team and Business Liaison Officers supported these events by holding a stall to engage with community members by providing information on home, personal safety, internet crime, recruiting and general policing information. Crime Prevention members also conducted foot and bicycle patrols during these events to enhance public confidence in police. |
| Community consultation 14 | |
| Members involved: | Multicultural Liaison Team — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Neighbourhood Days |
| Consultation process: | Following community requests three Neighbourhood Days were organised by the Multicultural Liaison Team during this reporting period. Two events were held at Ainslie Avenue and one at Malahide Gardens. Prior to these events the Multicultural Liaison Team completed letterbox drops to approximately 800 residents (with an additional 600 letterbox drops on the second occasion to Ainslie Avenue residents). Residents were delivered home and safety merchandise and information on when and who to call to report an incident, and the correct number for Crime Stoppers. The residents were also invited to a community barbeque as part of the event. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 2000 |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Residents in Ainslie Avenue, Malahide Gardens and associated areas. |
| Outcome: | A number of agencies supported these events including TAMS, Centrelink, Legal Aid, Northside Community Services and ACTION. Approximately 190 residents attended these events. |
| Community consultation 15 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Mother’s Day in the Park |
| Consultation process: | On Sunday 8 May 2011, police attended the first annual Mother’s Day in the Park held at Glebe park in Canberra City. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Community members, families. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 3000 |
| Outcome: | Children of all ages were able to speak with police and were entertained and educated by our Constable Kenny Koala. They were given demonstrations of ‘lights and sirens’ on the high visibility Ford Falcon XR6 police vehicle. AFP frisbees, rulers, pens and Constable Kenny Koala stickers were popular with the children and home security booklets were provided to adults. More than 150 new members signed up to the Constable Kenny Koala Star Club. For many of the children it was their first experience with police and the message was spread that police are friendly and are here to help. |
| Community consultation 16 | |
| Members involved: | Senior Liaison Officers — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Canberra Retirement and Lifestyle Expo 2011 |
| Consultation process: | The three day event targeted retired or soon to be retired members of the community. This provided an opportunity to promote crime prevention information to a large number of older members of the community, a target audience not otherwise reached on such a large scale. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 14 000 |
| Outcome: | Crime Prevention was able to speak directly with thousands of elderly people to communicate issues such as home and personal safety. In turn, this helped to reduce the fear of crime and abuse toward more senior citizens. The expo promoted positive interaction between the general public and ACT Policing members. A member of the Crime Stoppers Board also assisted at the stall to promote this community consultation. |
| Community consultation 17 | |
| Members involved: | ICLT — Crime Prevention |
| Project: | Personal safety and security package for ABS — Census 2011 |
| Consultation process: | In September 2010 ACT Policing Crime Prevention accepted a referral from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to research, develop and deliver a personal safety and security pack. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | ABS |
| Approximate number consulted: | Approximately 500 people |
| Outcome: | The pack was delivered to the ABS Census 2011 Area Supervisors over three sessions outlining planning, precautions and support services for all collectors. The Area Supervisors would, in turn, deliver the presentation to the Census Collectors. The pack was delivered to approximately 500 ABS personnel in the ACT with the potential to be further developed for national roll-out in the future. With the assistance of one Project Officer and the advice from the ABS Census Management Team, a Powerpoint presentation was developed and delivered to a high standard and within timeframes. The development and delivery of this package resulted in positive feedback from the Census Engagement and Operations Team Coordinator. |
| Community consultation 18 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing |
| Project: | Special Kids Christmas Party 2010 |
| Consultation process: | The aim of the Special Children’s Christmas Party is to provide in excess of 1600 children with a day to remember. The children may be terminally ill, intellectually impaired, physically impaired, underprivileged or full time carers of sick parents. Siblings of the special needs kids also attend coming from all over the Canberra region. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Event organisers, community organisations. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 1600 |
| Outcome: | Members from throughout ACT Policing articipated in the event, bringing smiles to the faces of many children. ACT Policing was again a sponsor of the event. |
| Community consultation 19 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing — Traffic Operations |
| Project: | Road Ready |
| Consultation process: | To educate ACT secondary school students (Year 10) in relation to road safety messages; including how collisions occur and the importance of safe driving behaviours. A presentation — Real decisions, Real consequences — on decision making and consequences of poor decision making while driving a vehicle is delivered. The presentation is delivered in conjunction with Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) ‘crash car’ — a car involved in serious collision and death as a result of intoxicated driving. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Members of Traffic Operations attended various secondary schools across the ACT. |
| Approximate number consulted: | Unknown. |
| Outcome: | ACT Policing is liaising with other emergency services to divide schools into zones to ensure all schools receive the same presentation, with consistent messaging. The presentations are received positively. |
| Community consultation 20 | |
| Members involved: | ACT Policing — Media and Marketing, Traffic Operations |
| Project: | Brumbies — Community displays |
| Consultation process: | Traffic Operations provided pre-match entertainment at the Brumbies versus Western Force game on Sunday 17 April. Ten traffic vehicles were on display, including a ‘crash car’ which featured not only the actual vehicle involved in the road death but information relating to the incident presented on pull-up banners. Traffic Operations members were on hand to demonstrate their skills and speak with spectators about road safety, providing an insight into pursuits, stop sticks and RAPID. Superintendent Mark Colbran — Traffic Operations — also undertook a live on-field interview. |
| Groups/individuals consulted: | Brumbies spectators — general public, families. |
| Approximate number consulted: | 2000 directly, 10 000 through on-field interview. |
| Outcome: | The pre-match activity provided an opportunity for Traffic Operations members to liaise directly with the general public (and motorists) about road safety, something that is often achieved only through the media. The public was interested in the vehicles on display, particularly the investigative analysis that accompanied the crash car. Children also had the opportunity to sit inside vehicles and play with police lights and sirens. |
OUCH! Smlie says it all! RT @CPOACT: Giving blood for Op crossroads today @ Red Cross van. Thx tro those who donated. Yfrog.com/h7h1xixj
@ACTPol_Traffic @CPOACT bike cops doing a great job on Canberra roads, well done, love seeing bike cops, sucked in speeders.
@ACTPol_Traffic Wow. Some dangerous speeds. You’ll get him. What a terrible thing putting people in danger, and at school pick-up time too.
The Ottoman Military Band at Canberra’s inaugral Eid al–Fitr festival.
The Suburban Policing Strategy (SPS) is a proactive neighbourhood policing strategy which incorporates the allocation of defined areas to ACT Policing patrols. Each patrol zone has been divided into sectors of which there are 34 in the ACT.
During this reporting period we undertook 32 779 SPS-related community consultation activities of which 77.2 per cent were high visibility jobs (proactive vehicle patrols), 17.8 per cent accessibility jobs (beat/foot/bicycle patrols) and 5.1 per cent engagement jobs such as speaking with schools principles or business owners about specific area issues.
Constable Kenny Koala has been a Canberra institution for more than 35 years. During this reporting period Constable Kenny Koala was promoted to Leading First Constable, and for the first time, was provided with his very own badge number 23 — the badge number worn by a late senior ACT Policing member who was instrumental in the development of Kenny Koala in the early days.
In line with the curriculum, Constable Kenny Koala has three main message streams: traffic and road safety, personal safety and community care.
During the reporting period, Constable Kenny Koala visited a number of schools, presenting safety messages to 1275 classes and in total 23 035 primary aged school students. Constable Kenny Koala also attended all significant community and ACT Policing events.
Constable Kenny Koala delivers safety messages to thousands of children each year.
Aside from direct community engagement, during the reporting period ACT Policing launched several social media applications to enhance our online services and interaction with the community through Government 2.0 strategies.
Particularly popular has been the ACT Policing traffic twitter account and that of Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg, the first ‘top cop’ to use such a tool. Both twitter accounts had more than 1500 followers each as at 30 June 2011, with the ACTPol_Traffic twitter account ‘trending’ three times during the reporting period — once during an incident at Canberra Airport and the other when
motorists were asked to slow down while swans crossed the road in central Canberra. This account has been used specifically in relation to policing operations and road closures as a result of operations, sieges or collisions.
The Chief Police Officer’s account has been used both professionally, to distribute information such as crime reporting, statistics, witnesses sought etc as well as personally to provide a degree of authenticity. This combination has been the key to the success of this account. Chief Police Officer Quaedvlieg is very active on this account and has proven a crucial tool in engaging with the community.
ACT Policing’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/actpolicing, was also launched in support of the You’d make a great cop campaign.
We further enhanced our online presence through police.act.gov.au during this reporting period, expanding the ‘Media Centre’ and developing the ‘Work for Us’ section. Feedback through an online survey undertaken during this reporting period, along with Google Analytics, highlights the Media Centre and Work for Us sections of the website as by far the most popular. Our online crime maps — being redeveloped — are also popular.
Future developments will include Smart Phone applications for crime statistics and maps and for reporting crime. It is envisaged that a general ACT Policing twitter account to disseminate a wide range of information, including information specifically related to emergency situations, will be launched in the coming reporting period.
8 October 2010
Dear Mr Quaedvlieg,
I am writing to pass to you a commendation for an officer’s conduct from parents of a young woman who was a victim of crime.
XXX was the victim of an alleged assault by XXX. The matter has been investigated by Constable Robert Young at City Police Station (formerly from Woden). XXX and her parents commented to their case manager at Victim Support ACT very positively about Constable Young. In their view he has gone above and beyond his normal duties. XXX’s parents advise that Constable Young has kept regular contact with XXX and even gave her a tour of the Children’s Court and provided XXX with a thorough understanding of the process.
XXX’s parents have both been extraordinarily happy and grateful to Constable Young’s assistance during the difficult time for their daughter. XXX’s parents were happy for me to pass this information to you and to Constable Young. XXX herself said to them that she would like to do something nice in return for Constable Young due to all of the support he has shown her.
I would be grateful if you could forward this commendation to Constable Young and with thanks from Victim Support ACT.
Yours sincerely,
Robyn Holder
Victims of Crime Coordinator
ACT Policing is the community policing arm of the AFP and as such the delivery of policing services is provided for in the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. ACT Policing is privy to both ACT and Commonwealth scrutiny matters.
The following was recorded by ACT Policing during this reporting period.
| Significant development 1 | |
| Name of agency: | Office of the Australian Information Commissioner |
| Nature of inquiry/report title: | To assess ACT Policing compliance with the Information Privacy Principles, specifically in relation to the collection of information for RAPID (number plate recognition technology). This was the first audit of its kind for the AFP. |
| Recommendations/outcome of inquiry: | ACT Policing was found to be compliant with the Information Privacy Principles. Two recommendations were made in the nature of suggestions as a way forward to best practice:
|
| Response to the outcome of inquiry: | Our response to the audit is as follows.
|
| Significant development 2 | |
| Name of agency: | ACT Ombudsman |
| Nature of inquiry/report title: | Inspection of ACT Child Sex Offenders Register |
| Recommendations/outcome of inquiry: | Commencing in June 2010, the ACT Ombudsman’s Inspection Team conducted an inspection of the files and databases maintained by the ACT Policing Child Sex Offenders Register. A report prepared by the ACT Ombudsman was released in March 2011, following recommendations made by the Inspection Team. The ACT Ombudsman made two recommendations:
|
| Response to the outcome of inquiry: | ACT Policing has acknowledged these recommendations and is now well advanced in the process of reviewing guidelines, which has included consultation with other jurisdictions and liaison with the Department of Justice and Community Safety to facilitate a coordinated approach. |
| Significant development 3 | |
| Name of agency: | AFP |
| Nature of inquiry/report title: | Security Awareness Course |
| Recommendations/outcome of inquiry: | All current AFP employees are required to complete this training program by February 2011. New appointees are required to complete the program within four weeks of commencing employment with the AFP. As Australia’s national and international law enforcement agency and a key operational agency within the national security community, the AFP has an obligation to meet the security expectations of our stakeholders and partner agencies. |
| Response to the outcome of inquiry: | At the time of preparing this report, 822 ACT Policing sworn and unsworn members appointees had completed the course. |
| Significant development 4 | |
| Name of agency: | AFP |
| Nature of inquiry/report title: | The objective of Internal Audit is to provide the Commissioner with an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve the AFP’s operations and accomplishment of its objectives. These activities are achieved by the delivery of the annual internal audit program through a strategic audit plan, endorsed by the AFP Audit Committee and approved by the Commissioner. The plan is developed in consultation with the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, National Managers and Office Managers. The Internal Audit’s main client is the AFP Audit Committee, which is mandated by the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997. The Manager Internal Audit and Business Analysis is the AFP Chief Audit Executive and has direct access under the Internal Audit Charter to the Commissioner, Chair and other members of the Audit Committee. While Internal Audit works independently, for administrative purposes, it reports to Manager Internal Audit and Business Analysis and through this position, via the National Manager Policy and Governance, to the Chief Operating Officer. Internal Audit has wide authority to access information relevant to its work, produces demonstrably unbiased reports, and provides assistance on governance issues and system changes where it feels it has some expertise or experience to offer. Internal Audit regularly uses a panel of audit service providers to supplement its in-house staff. |
| Recommendations/outcome of inquiry: | N/A |
| Response to the outcome of inquiry: | N/A |
There has been no Legislative Assembly Committee Inquiry or Report directly relating to policing issues during this reporting period, other than specific inquiries as part of the budget estimates or annual report hearing process.
Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety on 23 March 2011 in relation to the Prostitution Act 1992.
While we are a Commonwealth Government agency, and do not administer any ACT legislation, ACT Policing has had significant policy input into various ACT Government legislative reforms during this reporting period which directly impact on policing in the ACT and our core business.
Some of our input has resulted from ACT Government sponsored work, others, such as the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000, has been instigated by ACT Policing in response to identified operational issues.
During the reporting period, we were requested to provide input on a range of key legislative reforms, including:
ACT Policing has also provided, and continues to provide, input into ACT Government strategies, including:
Additionally, ACT Policing has contributed to a number of Commonwealth related initiatives. While not specific to ACT law, there is potential for these reforms to impact on our core business. These included:
AFP warrant cards ready for dissemination to recruits.
ACT Policing’s Risk Management Plan provides the risk management framework for our organisation and incorporates ACT Policing’s security and business continuity plans. Our risk management processes adhere to the Australian/New Zealand Standard (AS/NZ 4360-2004) on risk management. We also conform to all AFP policies and processes that apply to risk management.
Risk management is an essential component of our organisation’s governance framework and is essential to the AFP in meeting its strategic objectives. Risk implications are identified through a rigorous risk assessment process incorporated into all AFP planning and management processes and are integrated into business processes by:
Our organisation maintains a risk register of identifiable risks. The register itemises the risks impacting on our capabilities, strategic focus areas as well as our OH&S obligations. The register is a key planning tool in our functional business planning processes.
The risk register is reviewed and assessed every six months to ensure that current risk treatments are effective and to identify new or emerging risks. The results are reported to the AFP Senior Leadership Group.
Our Business Committee was established during the reporting period to monitor and manage risk in ACT Policing.
AFP internal audit arrangements provide the AFP Commissioner with an independent and objective assurance on the AFP’s risk, control and compliance framework, and its external accountability responsibilities.
Our organisation is represented on the AFP Audit Committee by the Chief Police Officer. Audit Committee meetings are held quarterly, or more frequently if required, and the Chief Police Officer attended five of the seven meetings during the reporting period.
Representatives of the Commonwealth Auditor-General’s Financial Statement Audit and Performance Audit arms have a standing invitation to observe and to contribute as they see fit at all meetings of the Audit Committee.
The Audit Committee operates under a Charter approved by the Commissioner, and is empowered to approve the strategic audit plan and the annual internal audit program of the AFP. Furthermore, the Audit Committee reviews all completed internal audit reports in the first instance. Further information on AFP internal audit arrangements can be found in the AFP Annual Report.
#2CC Drive Show listener Joan, finds missing Belconnen man & alerts @ACTPol_Traffic after hearing the announcement on the show #Canberra
Disappointing that @CPOACT isn’t doing anything about motorbikes riding in the emergency lone Parkes Way city bound
@CPOACT @ACTPol_Traffic great to see the police ute at St.Thomas in charnwood keeping an eye out for speeding cars, well done
@CPOACT, why would a paddy wagon need emergency lights to pull out from Woden Police Station, do a u-turn at lights, go straight
As the community policing arm of the AFP, ACT Policing operates within the AFP Fraud Control and Anti-Corruption Plan 2009–2011. The plan addresses the fraud and corruption risks for the AFP and directs the continual review process of all identified risks, and risk assessments to identify new and emerging risks.
The plan provides the framework for the amelioration of fraud and corruption risk in our organisation and is consistent with the requirements of the Financial Management Accountability Act 1997 and the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines.
The effectiveness of fraud and corruption control in ACT Policing is continually monitored through environmental scanning and complaint/compliance analysis, with emphasis on the identification of emerging organisational fraud and/or corruption trends.
The AFP Fraud Control and Anti-Corruption Plan compliance reviews are conducted on an ongoing basis with the results reported to the Audit Committee every six months. As of July 2011 a similar report, providing detailed information and trends against seven complaint categories will be provided to the ACT Government as part of the annual Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2).
Externally, AFP fraud statistics are reported to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department annually.
Fraud and corruption awareness training is delivered to all new employees and recruits as part of our new employee orientation and recruit training programs. Fraud and corruption control and awareness is further promulgated throughout our organisation through education and leadership programs, performance management strategies and professional standards training.
There were no allegations of fraud recorded against our members during the reporting period.
As a Commonwealth agency, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1994 does not apply to ACT Policing. Our public interest disclosure obligations are managed in accordance with the provisions of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 in addition to other Commonwealth legislation. Procedures maintained by the AFP to receive and handle disclosures however contain substantial linkages to s. 4(2) of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1994.
The professional standards that apply to all AFP appointees, within Australia, its territories and overseas, are determined through the following legislation and governing documents:
While AFP Professional Standards — a dedicated portfolio of the AFP — is the primary mechanism for maintaining integrity and professional standards in the AFP, allegations of improper or corrupt conduct by our members may, depending on the severity of the alleged conduct, be investigated by AFP Professional Standards, the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI).
How a particular conduct issue is dealt with depends on the category to which the issue belongs. Sections 40RK and 40RP of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 deal with the categorisation of such issues, as described in Table C.3.1.
| Category (conduct) | Description |
|---|---|
| Category 1 | Category 1 conduct is inappropriate conduct that:
|
| Category 2 | Category 2 conduct is:
|
| Category 3 | Category 3 conduct is:
|
| Category 4 — corruption | A corruption issue is an issue whether a person who is, or has been, a staff member of a law enforcement agency:
|
AFP conduct issues that belong to categories 1 and 2 are dealt with managerially and may be addressed by training and development action.
AFP conduct issues that belong to Category 3 or are corruption issues (Category 4) are dealt with through more formal investigations and may be addressed by remedial action including termination of employment. The investigation may also give rise to a prosecution for an offence.
More information can be found in Section C.5 — Internal Accountability, and in the AFP’s Annual Report.
Fundamental to compliance with the professional standards of the AFP is a requirement to adhere to the AFP Code of Conduct. The AFP Code of Conduct requires that:
The Professional Reporting and Standards Investigations (PRS) team is primarily based at AFP headquarters in Canberra and provide investigative services to ACT Policing.
Within the professional standards tiered model, PRS investigate Category 3 conduct matters and, in consultation with other agencies, may investigate some corruption matters in support of the ACLEI. Appointees outside of the PRS may also be called upon to conduct investigations on behalf of PRS.
While the Commissioner of the AFP and the Commonwealth Ombudsman may determine what comprises a Category 3 matter, such matters are limited to conduct that does not raise a corruption issue. Potential outcomes that may be applied to an AFP appointee for an established Category 3 matter include training and development and remedial action as described in Category 2; termination action and/or criminal charge.
An investigator of a Category 3 or corruption matter, in addition to normal police powers of investigation, may for the purposes of the investigation use certain powers bestowed on such investigators by Part V of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. These powers include directing appointees to give information, produce documents or answer questions, as well as being able to enter premises occupied by the AFP to inspect certain material.
While PRS is responsible for resolving complaints about the actions of AFP members, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has a role in providing independent oversight of such matters.
If a complainant remains dissatisfied after making a complaint to the AFP, that person can make a complaint/appeal to the Commonwealth Ombudsman under the Ombudsman Act 1976.
The person can complain about the conduct or actions of individual AFP members; or the policies or procedures of the AFP as an organisation.
As of July 2011 ACT Policing will provide detailed quarterly reports to the ACT Government covering the following complaint matters:
More information can be found at Section C5 — Internal Accountability.
Newly appointed Constable of Police during this reporting period.
As a Commonwealth agency, we operate under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and requests for information under the Act are managed by the AFP’s Freedom of Information team.
As an agency within the terms of the Act, the AFP is subject to requests for access to documents in its possession. An applicant may request access to, or a copy of, any document held by the AFP. Requests can include administrative and policy documents or any other documentary information including emails, diaries, notebooks or field books related to an investigation or activity of the AFP.
The AFP Information Access team falls within the Government Relations portfolio of the AFP and is responsible for managing and coordinating requests under the Act.
The Information Access team is also responsible for:
AFP appointees are required to search for all documents falling within the scope of a request and provide advice to the Information Access team about whether the release of the document is likely to either:
The Freedom of Information Act 1982 contains strict timelines for requests to be finalised and the AFP is committed to meeting these legislative requirements as an integral part of its business.
Information regarding freedom of information requests received by the AFP during the 2010–11 reporting period can be found in the AFP’s Annual Report.
On Monday 1 November 2010 the legislative amendments to the Freedom of Information Act came into effect under the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Act 2010. The reforms place a responsibility upon all Commonwealth agencies to adopt and maintain an Information Publication Scheme (IPS) from 1 May 2011. The scheme places an obligation upon agencies to proactively publish certain categories of information to the public. Details of the information categories are outlined in ss.8(2) of the Act.
The key additional information legally required to be published under the IPS includes non-exempt information routinely given out in freedom of information access requests and agency operational information. The rationale behind the adoption of this scheme is to allow the Act to evolve into a legislative framework for granting access to information through agency driven publication as opposed to an approach that is merely reactive to requests for documents.
A new standardised ‘public interest’ test has been introduced to provide a uniform method to determine whether documents or information held by a government agency should be released or not. The reforms recognise there will always be information that should not be disclosed such as information contrary to public interest or documents containing operationally sensitive information. These remain properly exempt under the Act.
The AFP has already published a large proportion of information that must be disclosed under the IPS on its external website afp.gov.au. Additional documents falling within the IPS requirement will be progressively made available through this portal.
Our commitment to implement the IPS is reflected in our publication scheme plan which can be found at police.act.gov.au.
The ACT Policing Executive comprises the Chief Police Officer for the ACT (Assistant Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg), Deputy Chief Police Officer — Crime (Commander David McLean), Deputy Chief Police Officer — Response (Commander Bruce Hill) and the Director Corporate Services (Ms Judith Kendrick).
The Chief Police Officer is subject to the authority of the Commissioner of the AFP and is responsible to the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services for the delivery of policing services against identified outputs and key performance indicators (KPIs) detailed in the annual Purchase Agreement (see Appendix 2). The Chief Police Officer is responsible for the management and control of operational decisions, financials, personnel and resources deployed for the purposes of the Policing Arrangement between the Commonwealth and ACT Governments (see Appendix 1).
Throughout the reporting period, members of the executive have fulfilled the following duties:
A number of committees exist to ensure a professional approach to internal accountability. These committees address governance, performance, conduct of members and importantly for a quality police service, integrity.
See Figure C.5.2 for ACT Policing’s organisational structure.
There are eight primary senior management committees. The Executive Committee is at the peak of the structure and includes the additional committees of Governance and Performance.
During this reporting period, we introduced a Business Committee to oversee and provide the Executive Committee with information relating to our general business such as security awareness and risk management. This committee further monitors the introduction and, where relevant, subsequent implementation of new initiatives such as the Mental Health Community Policing Initiative.
RT @CPOACT: Crowds well behaved at Groovin’ the Moo on sun – only 11 juveniles and 5 adults arrested fro intoxication. @UniCanberra #yam
@ACTPol_Traffic Really appreciate this Twitter feed. Keep up the good work.
@ACTPol_Traffic I hope for your sakes it is too. Thanks for doing the tough job you do. Our roads are safer for it. #touchwoodIdont!
@ACTPol_Traffic thanks for all the updates. The only reason I use Twitter! You enjoy the day too - hopefully a quiet one :)
@ACTPol_Traffic @CPOACT just dropped the kids off at st Thomas in belco and there is gd van pulling people over for speeding - well done
| Committee | Role | Membership |
|---|---|---|
| Executive Committee |
|
Chief Police Officer, Deputy Chief Police Officers, Director Corporate Services. Co-opted: Coordinator — Media and Marketing Coordinator — Finance and Logistics Coordinator — Human Resources |
| Business Committee |
|
Deputy Chief Police Officers, Director Corporate Services. Executive Steering Committee representative. Operations Committee Representative. |
| Executive Steering Committee |
|
All Superintendents and Coordinators. Deputy Chief Police Officers or Director Corporate Services. |
| Operations Committee |
|
All Police Station Officers-in-charge. Functional Operations Managers. |
| Complaint Management Team |
|
Officers-in-Charge of police stations. Operations Managers for key functions. |
| Occupational Health and Safety Committee |
|
OH&S Manager, Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA) representative, Executive representative. |
| Learning and Development Committee |
|
Senior Executive member (reporting directly to Chief Police Officer) Committee members |
| Workforce Management Committee |
|
Coordinator HR (Chair), Deputy Chief Police Officers, all Superintendents and Coordinators, ACT Policing’s Workforce Planner. |
Deputy Chief Police Officer Bruce Hill inspects officers at the graduation of a training course.
The professional standards of the AFP are expressed in Commissioner’s Order 2 and are underpinned by the AFP core values and our Code of Conduct.
Our professional standards tiered model defines complaint issues in relation to the seriousness of the breach of professional standards and matters are allocated to one of four categories. Figure C.5.1 illustrates how complaint categories are defined.
The types of conduct issues that fall within each of these categories has been determined through consultation between the AFP Commissioner and the Commonwealth Ombudsman, however the category can be changed as more information about a conduct issue emerges. See Table C.5.2 for a description of complaint categories.
The AFP Commissioner may determine that no further action be taken in regards to a complaint about the conduct or practices of an AFP employee under s. 40TF of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. Some examples of where this may occur include:
If the complainant does not agree with the decision, an appeal can be lodged with the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
| Category 1 | Category 1 conduct is inappropriate conduct that:
|
Category 1 includes matters that were incorrectly recorded as complaints. |
| Category 2 | Category 2 conduct is:
|
Potential outcomes for an established Category 2 conduct issue involve remedial action which can include counselling, formal warning and recording of an adverse finding. |
| Category 3 | Category 3 conduct is:
|
AFP Professional Standards investigate Category 3 complaints. |
| Category 4 — corruption | A corruption issue is an issue whether a person who is, or has been, a staff member of a law enforcement agency:
|
Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity investigate Category 4 complaints |
The number of complaints decreased during this reporting period when compared with 2009–10 where 354 complaints were submitted containing 735 issues. There were 275 complaints reported during 2010–11, with 20 per cent either self reported or reported by an AFP appointee.
Of the issues relating to the complaints — 513 — there were 63 established complaints out of the 286 finalised, where appropriate action was taken.
| 2010–11 | Issues* | |
|---|---|---|
| Category 1 | 97 | 216 |
| Category 2 | 98 | 161 |
| Category 3 | 75 | 132 |
| Category 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Total | 275 | 513 |
Source: AFP Professional Standards Outcome 2 Annual Complaint Report 2010–11
*Within each submitted complaint there may be one or more complaints made, involving more than one member.
The AFP drug testing program relies on detecting the presence of prohibited drugs, specifically narcotic substances within the meaning of the Customs Act 1901, s. 4 and other drugs declared to be prohibited by the Commissioner (under authority of s. 4 and 4A of the Act).
The AFP recognises the serious effects that drug and alcohol abuse can have on modern society and the importance of law enforcement employees being committed to the highest standards of personal integrity and professionalism. Testing of AFP members for prohibited drugs, pharmaceutical products and alcohol is authorised under Division 8 of the Act, underpinned by Division 2.4B of the Australian Federal Police Regulations 1979.
The key components of our drug testing strategy are:
The Confidant Network is a group of AFP appointees who provide information, options and support to other appointees when dealing with inappropriate or unethical behaviour in the work environment.
There are more than 200 Confidants located throughout Australia and overseas who assist members in a confidential environment. Confidants are employed in most areas within the AFP, including 10 active Confidants within ACT Policing.
The Coordinator Confidant Network is directly accountable to the Manager Human Resource Strategies within the AFP. The Coordinator Confidant Network oversees the Confidant Network Coordination Team, which in turn supports the Confidants.
The Coordinator of the Confidant Network is also a member of the AFP Organisational Health Committee which provides AFP Executive, comprising the Chief Police Officer, with qualitative and quantitative data to develop an integrated workplace health model.
The Confidant Network has been integral in the development of Respectful Workplace Training in partnership with other areas of HR. The Respectful Workplace Training information session has been delivered to a number of workplaces in the AFP and to the majority of ACT Policing staff; at leadership development programs; and AFP induction and recruit training, with the aim to deliver the strategy to all AFP appointees.
During the reporting period, the Confidant Network received 198 referrals. Of these, 15 were attributed to ACT Policing.
In addition to the above, the Confidant Network had 69 recorded approaches for information. These approaches related to requests for Confidants, specific information regarding conditions of employment or similar enquiries.
Our strategic plan — ACT Policing Strategic Plan 2008–2011 — defines our objectives and how they will be achieved over the four years of the plan. This plan forms the basis for the development of our future strategies, set to be reviewed in the coming year.
Our strategic plan is support by individual key output business plans for Traffic Law Enforcement and Road Safety; Crime and Safety Management; Prosecution and Judicial Support; and Crime Prevention. Attached to these business plans are action plans for each and every function of ACT Policing, including corporate services.
Operational plans (also referred to as tactical plans) are also developed for specific policing operations, intelligence purposes and targeted exercises such as Operation Unite. They are developed on an as needs basis.
More information on our planning framework can be found at Section A.2 — Overview.
Our performance reporting, monitoring and review is achieved predominantly through our Operations Committee, Executive Steering Committee and Business Committee, the latter of which was launched during this reporting period. Our governance framework was reviewed during this reporting period and assessed for its effectiveness, particularly in terms of monitoring performance. The review resulted in the creation of the Business Committee, and the redevelopment of the Executive Steering Committee to include performance reporting on a monthly basis, and more detailed reporting on performance and trends on a quarterly basis. The Chief Police Officer attends the quarterly performance extraordinary Executive Steering Committee and this information, along with crime statistics and trend analysis, is provided to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services as part of our commitment to the Policing Arrangement and Purchase Agreement (see Appendices 1 and 2).
As an Assistant Commissioner of the AFP, the Chief Police Officer is also responsible for reporting to the Commissioner of the AFP, in addition to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, for achieving operational outcomes and determining policing priorities, resource allocation and delivering on set KPIs.
The quarterly report to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services details progress against our 34 KPIs, comparative analysis and crime trends, and emerging issues to be considered.
6 January 2011
Dear Roman,
I am writing to offer my commendation to you regarding Senior Constable Tamara Bell of Tuggeranong Patrol.
Senior Constable Bell assisted an elderly lady, Mrs XXX, of XXX with regard to persisting neighbour harassment. Senior Constable Bell advised Mrs XXX to seek a personal protection order against the neighbours. Mrs XXX did not know the names of the neighbours and was unfortunately frustrated in her attempts to find out this information.
Senior Constable Bell undertook the steps of deploying the authority under s18(2) of the Domestic Violence & Protection Orders Act 2008 to apply for the order. In doing so she avoided further distress to Mrs XXX and, hopefully, forestalled possible retaliation from the neighbours. This is not a procedure that is commonly used but was necessary and extremely helpful.
The level of service provided to Mrs XXX by Senior Constable Bell was exemplary and of a high order. She is to be congratulated.
Yours sincerely, Robyn Holder — Victims of Crime Coordinator
ACT Policing has a dedicated HR function that provides support to the frontline and unsworn members on a daily basis. The team manages workforce planning, rostering of staff, OH&S and general HR enquiries.
ACT Policing HR maintains and develops a workforce profile through a workforce planning model that is aligned to the business delivery targets and our key performance indicators (KPIs). The team monitor and maintain workforce numbers through unsworn and sworn recruitment, and the rotation and transfer of staff through AFP National to ensure skills development opportunities.
Workforce planning is a dynamic process that needs to be flexible enough to respond to the sometimes unpredictable pressures placed on operational teams. The model used by our team allows for an effective day-to-day delivery of services, but also is capable of responding to the unpredictable demands of a critical event where deployment of additional resources is essential.
The workforce planning team provide regular, detailed reports to the ACT Policing Executive, which supports their strategic planning and enables them to:
In February 2011, 25 ACT Policing officers were deployed as part of Operation Bede to assist in the New Zealand earthquake disaster, and 16 officers worked with AFP counterparts in Christmas Island in response to disturbances at the immigration detention centre.
ACT Policing has a sworn recruitment process that is managed in conjunction with the AFP. The process involves a well established and rigorous program of testing and selection, based on academic, physical and emotional aptitude, determination and resilience. The candidates are carefully monitored throughout the process and only those who have consistently attained a high standard and pass these gateways reach the final selection stage.
During this reporting period, ACT Policing undertook a new approach to recruitment, calling specifically for community policing officers. This was support by the You’d make a great cop recruitment campaign, providing an opportunity to attract a diverse range of people from Canberra and the surrounding region.
At the conclusion of the campaign, 1355 applications were received. Twenty-five per cent were women. More than 70 per cent were aged 30 years or under and 76 per cent of applicants were from the ACT and NSW. Of those who applied, 20 per cent indicated that they were from a cultural group other than Oceania.
Our HR section directly recruits unsworn staff to deliver corporate services in support of operational teams and to provide high level reporting to the ACT Policing Executive. The range of services provided by unsworn staff includes media and marketing, financial management, procurement and logistics.
A Career Introduction Program has been delivered for several years now, to regional secondary schools to promote career paths available within our organisation and the wider AFP. During the reporting period programs were delivered in September and November 2010, and April and June 2011. Students from colleges, secondary and high schools across Canberra attended a two-day course which included presentations by ACT Policing officers from Criminal Investigations, Specialist Response and Security (SRS), (Water Operations, Bomb Response and Canine teams), Traffic Operations and ACT Policing Operations.
The students involved in the Career Introduction Program visited the International Deployment Group village at Majura and the Water Police facility at Yarralumla, as well as Woden Police Station where they received course completion certificates. Each course has attendance of around 35 students, who engage enthusiastically with the officers and unsworn staff that they meet during the program.
Also during this reporting period ACT Policing accepted three graduates as part of the AFP Graduate Program. These graduates rotate within the AFP and ACT Policing, with the latter incorporating Media and Marketing; Finance and Logistics; Policy, Performance and Planning; Judicial Operations; and Crime Prevention.
More information about the You’d make a great cop campaign can be found at Section A.3 — Highlights.
ACT Policing’s HR portfolio, through a variety of services, supports and develops the adaptability and resilience of our members.
An organisation strengthens its resilience by focusing on a solid, dependable structure, providing safety and confidence in the midst of change and managing any emotional consequences of continuous change. The ability of an organisation to learn, develop and grow determines its success in achieving its targets.
Continually strengthening organisation resilience, particularly the development and support of our people, is critical in delivering policing services on the frontline. The frontline presents many challenges, physical and psychological, which can impact on our members over the long-term. This is negated through programs such as the Team Leaders Development Program and management assisted transfers, where members are rotated to other areas of ACT Policing.
ACT Policing’s HR portfolio also encourages and maintains employee resilience through the provision of relevant and specialist training, management of day-to-day rostering of sworn personnel and the payment of appropriate allowances and entitlements under the auspices of the AFP’s Certified Agreement. This is particularly important for members who are required to work overtime to ensure the safety of the community throughout the day and night. The completion of performance delivery assessments provides regular monitoring of performance identifies training and development needs and encourages members to attain their goals, while ensuring they are supported by OH&S measures, fatigue and counselling if required.
Employee resilience is further strengthened through the continual improvement of flexible working arrangements, and communication programs designed to engage personnel who are on extended absences.
Members from diverse functions profiled as part of ACT Policing’s recruitment campaign.
The OH&S team within HR is responsible for the management of workplace injuries, rehabilitation and graduated return to work arrangements for employees who have been injured in the course of duty. They also provide advice on OH&S policy, practical interventions in the workplace and risk management issues to our Executive, management and staff.
A member of HR provides secretariat services to the quarterly ACT Policing OH&S committee meetings. These meetings consider all aspects of occupation health and safety, relating to both operational and non-operational issues, such as replacement of office chairs, training for fire wardens, selection of appropriate uniform and equipment and OH&S specific training courses. The HR team are regularly consulted by the committee to research a wide range of issues.
The continuing efforts of the team and committee combined, has seen a 12 per cent reduction in incidents during this reporting period.
More recently the OH&S team has had a greater focus on working with members who have experienced a ‘spitting incident’. During the reporting period, ACT Policing recorded 48 assaults against police and experienced 17 instances of spitting.
Spitting is of concern as an OH&S issue, due to the potential for illness to our members. Officers exposed to medium-risk exposure are required to have initial blood tests as well as blood tests three months post-incident. These tests are to detect diseases such as various forms of hepatitis and HIV. Aside from the physical distress this causes, the emotional impact on officers awaiting diagnosis is concerning.
Welfare Services are an essential element in the support of ACT Policing members. Our Welfare Officers and Chaplain are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for all members of ACT Policing including the Executive and management.
The Chaplain also provides for the spiritual welfare and pastoral care of employees and their families.
In the event of a major incident, the Welfare Officers and Chaplain are deployed in support of the frontline and provide counselling if and when required. During long periods of time, such as during an ongoing siege, the Welfare Officers are also responsible for ensuring the officers involved in managing such incidents over many hours are fed to ensure they do not get fatigued or faint. This is done through what is called the ‘Welfare Van’ which contains coffee, water, noodles, and snacks.
The combined years of experience accrued by the Welfare Officers and Chaplain enables them to provide the appropriate support and to deliver a sense of comfort and solidarity to the officers involved in major or traumatic incidents.
The Volunteers in Policing (VIP) program is a unique opportunity for members of our community to use their skills, experience and knowledge to make a positive contribution to their community by supporting the work of the ACT Policing.
The VIP program provides a positive focus to the public perception of police and fosters stronger links between the police and the community.
VIPs undertake a number of roles in support of our functions including:
As of 30 June 2011, the VIP program had 47 volunteers, who contributed over 12 000 voluntary hours during this reporting period. Twelve new volunteers were also introduced into the program during this reporting period (in April 2011).
The contribution made by the VIPs is highly valued. Their assistance enables our operational members to concentrate their efforts on higher priority policing matters consistent with core policing business and our KPIs.
It is essential for ACT Policing to maintain the community’s confidence that we can, and will, continue to deliver quality policing services to support a safer and more secure ACT.
We continue to strive for a workforce which reflects the community in which we serve, evidenced during the reporting period by our targeted sworn recruitment campaign. This campaign specifically targeted people from within the Canberra community (and surrounding regions) from a range of backgrounds. The pre-existing knowledge of people who had grown up in Canberra was viewed as a significant strength when engaging with the community and the level of understanding of local issues.
ACT Policing encourages employees to have an appropriate balance between their work and personal lives and offer part-time, home-based or job-sharing arrangements to meet the needs of individuals while still delivering an effective service. In addition, the opportunities for personal development and training are available to all members — the community’s confidence increases when they see the visible benefits from a well trained, motivated and committed police service.
Aside from HR aspects associated with sustaining community confidence, this has been improved during the reporting period through an increase in media and marketing efforts, establishing an open communications platform and increased visibility of police patrols including Traffic Operations at peak periods.
More information about confidence in police can be found at Section A.9 — Statement of Performance.
Members of our Volunteers in Policing program.
We achieve our outcome to create a safer and more secure ACT in partnership with the community, and many other stakeholders. To do this, we maintain close working relationships with government and non-government counterparts across the areas of law enforcement, justice, community safety, housing, health and youth services.
We maintain strong relationships with NSW Police through the Monaro and Yass Local Area Commands. More than 350 of our officers have attended the NSW Police Force Interstate Recognised Law Enforcement Officers Program and have been sworn in as Special Constables within NSW Police. Similarly, 106 NSW Police officers have been declared as ACT Policing Special Members, an arrangement which enhances the operational capability of NSW and ACT members in response to cross-border operations.
More information about our partnerships can be found at Section A.2 — Overview.
An essential component in the ongoing delivery of quality policing services is professional, experienced and capable leadership, particularly at the Team Leader level, and on the frontline, our Sergeants.
ACT employees have access to a broad range of courses that are conducted by the AFP’s Learning and Development portfolio and external training providers, with additional skills enhancement through practical application in a variety of workplace conditions.
Ongoing development is delivered through a formal role rotation strategy — the Team Leaders Development Program — that exposes leaders to a broader range of policing disciplines. This strategy:
The requirement for our members to deliver a wide range of policing services is well documented. The Australian Federal Police Strategic Plan 2007-2011 requires our members be capable, agile and adaptable. A key objective of the ACT Policing Strategic Plan 2008–2011 is the creation of a workforce that delivers a professional policing service that contributes to AFP capabilities and embraces professional development opportunities.
The AFP has a specific business unit within National HR — Learning and Development — dedicated to supporting the personal and professional development of all members of ACT Policing.
Members of ACT Policing submit Expressions of Interest for courses identified through their Performance Development Agreements as beneficial to them. Members are then prioritised by the Workforce Management Committee comprising HR, all ACT Policing Superintendents and Coordinators. This ensures that all members have an equal opportunity to participate in a variety of training courses to develop skills in mandatory and desirable areas.
Internal courses are also held to establish our ongoing capability and specialist skills.
More information about our approach to enhancing skills and capabilities within our workforce can be found at Section C.8 — Learning and Development.
As at 30 June 2011, approximately 78 per cent of our workforce was sworn members. Of the 740 members, 2 per cent held the rank of Superintendent or higher.
During the reporting period, approximately 24.8 per cent of sworn members in our organisation were female. This figure has increased slightly when compared to the 2009–10 of 23.7 per cent. Of this number, 85.3 per cent are at the Constable level which is a slight increase from 84.2 per cent from the previous reporting period. There are approximately 13.1 per cent women at the Sergeant level, which is a slight decrease from 13.9 per cent in 2009–10.
A total of 62 per cent of our unsworn staff providing services to our organisation are female. Female employees comprised approximately 33 per cent of the total employee number during this reporting period.
A total of 136 new employees began their careers with our organisation during this reporting period. Of these, 99 were police recruits, and 37 were unsworn employees.
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| FTE by gender | 658.8 | 332.3 |
| Headcount by gender | 635 | 311 |
| % of workforce | 67 | 33 |
Figure C.7.1 indicates the breakdown of average length of service of our employees. It can be seen that, in this reporting period, the largest group of employees (52 per cent) have been with ACT Policing for between one and five years.
Note: These figures exclude personnel within Inoperative Pool Unpaid.
| Rank | Headcount Female |
Headcount Male |
% Female |
% Male |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Sworn) Chief Police Officer | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 1 |
| (Sworn) Deputy Chief Police Officer (SES) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100 | 2 |
| (Unsworn) SES | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 1 |
| (Sworn) Superintendent AFP Band 9 | 3 | 6 | 33 | 67 | 9 |
| (Unsworn) Coordinator AFP Band 9 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 67 | 3 |
| (Sworn) Sergeant AFP Band 6-8 | 24 | 118 | 17 | 83 | 142 |
| (Unsworn) AFP Band 6-8 | 19 | 13 | 59 | 41 | 32 |
| (Sworn) Constable AFP Band 2-5 | 157 | 429 | 27 | 73 | 586 |
| (Unsworn) AFP Band 2-5 | 106 | 64 | 62 | 38 | 170 |
| TOTAL | 311 | 635 | 33 | 67 | 946 |
| Employment category | Female headcount |
Male headcount |
Female % |
Male % |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casual | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Permanent full-time | 263 | 619 | 30 | 70 | 828 |
| Permanent part-time | 36 | 2 | 95 | 5 | 38 |
| Temporary full-time | 12 | 14 | 46 | 54 | 26 |
| Temporary part-time | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 311 | 635 | 33 | 67 | 946 |
| 18-24 | 25-29 | 30-34 | 35-39 | 40-44 | 45-49 | 50-54 | 55+ | Total | |||||||||
| Average length of service | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | |
| Less than 1 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50 |
| 1–5 | 21 | 17 | 58 | 101 | 31 | 99 | 17 | 52 | 13 | 25 | 11 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 489 |
| 6–10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 27 | 54 | 16 | 43 | 7 | 18 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 209 |
| 11–15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 62 |
| 16–20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 29 |
| 21-25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 46 |
| 26+ yrs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 23 | 2 | 21 | 0 | 9 | 61 |
| TOTAL | 27 | 21 | 73 | 117 | 63 | 169 | 49 | 120 | 37 | 77 | 29 | 62 | 18 | 39 | 15 | 30 | 946 |
| Gender | Average length of service (years) |
|---|---|
| Male | 8.36 |
| Female | 6.55 |
| TOTAL | 7.76 |
Figure C.7.2 indicates the average breakdown of male/female age profiles. In this reporting period many of our current staff are represented in the 30 to 34 age group.
Note: These figures exclude personnel within Inoperative Pool Unpaid.
| Age Group | Female headcount | Male headcount |
|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | 27 | 21 |
| 25-29 | 73 | 117 |
| 30-34 | 63 | 169 |
| 35-39 | 49 | 120 |
| 40-44 | 37 | 77 |
| 45-49 | 29 | 62 |
| 50-54 | 18 | 39 |
| 55 + | 15 | 30 |
| TOTAL | 311 | 635 |
| Branch | Operational FTE | Non-operational FTE | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive | 0 | 11.31 | 11.31 |
| Operations | 78.67 | 10.18 | 88.85 |
| CT&EM | 6.00 | 0.75 | 6.75 |
| Crime Prevention | 35.66 | 8.62 | 44.28 |
| North District | 184.15 | 5.94 | 190.09 |
| South District | 135.82 | 2.99 | 138.81 |
| Criminal Investigations | 115.19 | 2.86 | 118.05 |
| Intelligence | 57.14 | 1.52 | 58.66 |
| Specialist Response and Security | 51.37 | 2.66 | 54.03 |
| Traffic Operations | 41.55 | 1.85 | 43.40 |
| Judicial Operations | 51.31 | 5.98 | 57.29 |
| Policy, Performance & Planning | 2.64 | 12.16 | 14.80 |
| Financial and Logistics | 0.00 | 14.16 | 14.16 |
| Human Resources | 0.00 | 11.67 | 11.67 |
| Media and Marketing | 10.36 | 0.94 | 11.30 |
| Exhibits Management Centre | 7.70 | 15.21 | 22.91 |
| ACT Inoperative Pool (Paid) | 3.78 | 0.95 | 4.73 |
| Add Enabling Services | 19.50 | 80.50 | 100.00 |
| TOTAL | 800.84 | 190.25 | 991.09 |
Note: Includes enabling FTE (100) and excludes personnel working on Commonwealth matters and unpaid inoperative employees. Numbers are not whole personnel as individuals are attributed on the basis of the percentage of time they spend on ACT Policing activities, recorded as at final pay for the financial year 2010–11. These figures are based on substantive ranks and do not include periods of higher duties.
| Rank | Sworn female |
Sworn male |
Unsworn female |
Unsworn male |
Female % |
Male % |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Police Officer | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 100 | 1.0 |
| Commander/Director | 0.0 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 30 | 70 | 3.2 |
| Superintendent/ Coordinator AFP Band 9 | 2.9 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 13.9 | 29 | 71 | 27.8 |
| Sergeant/AFP Band 6-8 | 21.7 | 122.8 | 26.9 | 25.0 | 25 | 75 | 196.4 |
| Constable/AFP Bands 2-5 | 149.3 | 413.3 | 125.4 | 74.7 | 36 | 64 | 762.7 |
| TOTAL | 173.9 | 544.8 | 158.5 | 113.9 | 34 | 66 | 991.1 |
Note: Includes Enabling FTE (100) and excludes personnel working on Commonwealth matters and unpaid inoperative employees. Numbers are not whole personnel as individuals are attributed on the basis of the percentage of time they spend on ACT Policing activities, recorded as at final pay for the financial year 2010–11. These figures are based on substantive ranks and do not include periods of higher duties.
| A Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Employment |
B Culturally & Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Employment |
C Employment of people with a disability |
Number of employees who identify in any of the Equity & Diversity categories (A, B, C) | Women | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headcount | 11 | 102 | 4 | 117 | 331 |
| % of total staff | 1.11 | 10.31 | 0.4 | 11.82 | 33 |
2 February
Dear Chief,
I am writing the thank you and your officers for your hard and successful work for the recent Australia Day celebrations on 25th and 26th January.
The service provided by your events people in the Counter Terrorism and Emergency Management team was brilliant. Their advice in planning and professional implementation resulted in safer events. I particularly want to mention the good work of Sergeant Steve Cook and Sergeant Bill Evans.
Thank you for your support for the celebrations of Australia Day.
Yours sincerely,
Warren Pearson
CEO — National Australia Day Council
26 February 2011
From Christchurch: Thank you so much for sending your Police Officers to help us. I was at the airport in Christchurch picking up family when they arrived and my eyes filled with tears to see them! They are the most welcome people in the world and if I could feed and house every one of them I would with no hesitation. Thanks to you all!!!
{anonymous}
The delivery of ongoing training and development opportunities is considered an essential element to ACT Policing’s strategic objective in creating a safer and more secure ACT.
There is a wide variety of training necessary to enable our members to deliver policing and support services, and members are encouraged to progress their professional development. The range of courses available is extensive. Table C.8.1 provides details of the courses and the number of participants during the reporting period.
All ACT Policing members have access to the on-line training packages — iAspire — on the AFP intranet, and can select from a wide range of topics, which are described in more detail at the end of this section.
| Training/course | Description | Offered to sworn Y/N | Offered to unsworn Y/N | Number of participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACT Policing Operations | A six week mandatory course to develop the skills necessary to work in the first response environment of ACT Policing Operations. | Y | Y | 40 |
| Advanced Traffic Crash Investigations | Two week program run by an external provider aimed at developing members’ crash investigations skills. | Y | N | 10 |
| Certificate IV in Training and Assessment | Certificate IV in Training and Assessment is a ten day course which delivers the skills required to plan and prepare for delivering training. Modules include adult learning, presentation skills, identifying training needs, group dynamics and evaluating learning. | Y | Y | 16 |
| Close Personal Protection Training | A six week course to provide members with the knowledge and skills to perform protection duties in the fields of VIP Protection and Witness Protection. | Y | N | 4 |
| Constable Development Program | A 13 day course aimed at consolidating and enhancing core policing knowledge and skills to build on leadership skills through practical scenarios, oral presentations and examinations. This training also includes an interviewing vulnerable witness component. | Y | N | 20 |
| Disaster Victim Identification | ACT Policing maintain a DVI team comprising part-time members, drawn from all functional areas of ACT Policing. Each member receives comprehensive training in the five phases of the DVI process. Training during the reporting period included:
|
Y Y Y Y |
N N N Y |
11 12 13 8 |
| Family Violence Liaison Officer Training | This training provides tools to support members to be the contact point for victims of family violence across the ACT. | Y | Y | 8 |
| First aid | It is mandatory for all operational police officers to hold a current Senior First Aid Certificate and to ensure that they complete appropriate refresher training, as required to retain their certification. | Y | Y | 218 |
| Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officer Training | Three day workshop including information sessions and modules to develop strategies to support policing efforts for a safer community. | Y | Y | 6 |
| Human Factors in Traffic Crash Investigations | A one week program run by an external provider aimed at educating members on human factors and reaction times associated with collisions. | Y | N | 10 |
| Human rights | A half-day workshop, developed in consultation with the ACT Human Rights Commission. The workshop ensures that our members are familiar with the ACT Human Rights Act 2004, and the associated human rights considerations when performing their duties in the ACT. |
Y | Y | This training is part of the Recruit Course curriculum. |
| Human Source Handling – Basic | A four week course to give investigators an understanding of Human Source operations and requirements of handling a Human Source in accordance with the AFP National Guideline. | Y | N | 16 |
| Institute of Executive Coaching Leadership Program | The Institute’s leadership training programs support individuals within the AFP as they grow into leaders who are recognised by their peers and others as being expert in their field of endeavour; original and innovative in their thinking and practice; and have a passion and commitment for a better future. | Y | Y | 1 |
| Islamic Awareness Training | Two day course to develop core cultural competencies for members on Islamic culture and religion to enhance capacity for effective engagement and source management. | Y | Y | 7 |
| Law Enforcement Intelligence | This program provides AFP members with an understanding of intelligence concepts, methodologies and their application to the AFP and/or build on existing knowledge to a higher level. The program is delivered through iAspire and, where appropriate, with face-to-face workshops for recruits. | Y | N | 13 |
| Leadership and Management Training | This is a five-day course to give team leaders a greater awareness of the leadership issues facing the organisation and how these issues affect the workforce. The program also provides the participants with skills to develop themselves as leaders. | Y | Y | 9 |
| ACT Local Procedures Program | This program is targeted at police officers who return to operational roles after a period of time in non-operational roles. It is also delivered to Federal Agents who transfer into ACT Policing and certain components are made available to unsworn members who require knowledge of ACT legislation and ACT Policing practices and procedures to perform their roles. |
Y | Y | 12 |
| Media Training and Awareness | A one day training program outlining the importance and role of media in a policing environment. Designed to assist members on building confidence in dealing with the media and representing ACT Policing positively. | Y | N | 43 |
| Motorcycle pursuit | A six week basic training in all aspects of motorcycle riding, escorting VIPs and urgent duty driving. | Y | N | 12 |
| National Strategic Intelligence course | Two week course provided by Charles Sturt University, in conjunction with the AFP, to provide intelligence analysts with experience in the methodologies used to develop sound strategic intelligence products. | Y | Y | 3 |
| Operational Safety Assessment | A mandatory two day course for all AFP employees with police powers. Employees are required to remain current in operational safety by completing the annual Official Operational Safety Assessment. | Y | N | 953 |
| Police Realtime Online Management Information System (PROMIS) | Provides the basic skills in a two day course to all members enabling them to use PROMIS to coordinate and record operational activities. | Y | Y | 6 |
| Recruit training | The Federal Police Development Program and Federal Police Lateral Program deliver training to all new AFP entrants in the skills and knowledge required to operate as a sworn members of ACT Policing. | N | Y | 18 |
| Respectful Workplace Training | A two hour training session delivered to all AFP members which focuses on the importance of respect in the workplace. | Y | Y | 340 |
| Staff Member Induction Program | A two day course for all new appointees to the AFP which embeds the AFP values, increases awareness of the AFP business environment and ensures all staff understand their roles, responsibilities and obligations as members of the AFP. | N | Y | 8 |
| Surveillance | A ten day program for providing members with the knowledge and skills to conduct ad-hoc, low priority surveillance tasks including surveys, photographic and communications tasks. | Y | N | 1 |
| Victims of Crime | A mandatory training course via iAspire. The course ensures members are compliant in accordance with the Victims of Crime Act 1994 and internal governance. |
Y | Y | 675 |
| Training/course | Description | Offered to sworn Y/N |
Offered to unsworn Y/N |
Number of participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRS Skills Revalidation (Search and Rescue, Water Operations, Public Order) | One week re-validation training for all SRS Tactical Response members in their core skills. Components involve training in counter-terrorism, water operations methodology, rural search and rescue operations and all aspects of the AFP Public Order Level 1 and 2 programs. | Y | N | 44 |
| NCTC Dynamic Breaching Course and Advanced Breaching Training | Six SRS Tactical Response members completed their basic program in dynamic (or explosive) breaching methods. This allows SRS Tactical Response to have a full complement of members trained in dynamic breaching. Eight SRS Tactical Response members travelled to a rural location in Victoria to gain Advanced Dynamic Breaching training. This involved the members training in methods to gain entry to various premises through different mediums, including doors, windows and walls (including brick and concrete). |
Y | N | 14 |
| NCTC Police Tactical Group Team Leaders Course and Tactical Commanders Course | This course involves the preparation and delivery of orders for both counter terrorist and domestic incidents. Members are also then required to undertake the resolution of incidents. The NCTC Tactical Commanders Skills Enhancement Course is hosted by QLD Police. The course involves members from all Australian jurisdictions. |
Y | N | 34 |
| SRS Tactical Response Marksman and Advanced Marksman Course | Three SRS Tactical Response members completed the Basic Marksman Course involving training in a number of different firearms and various urban and rural environments. Eight marksmen underwent Advanced Counter-Terrorism Marksman training. This involved training in both the ACT and NSW and includes all aspects of counter-terrorism and counter-sniper training. |
Y | N | 19 |
| Breathing Apparatus Revalidation | Breathing Apparatus training ensures members are still able to operate in all types of environments. This includes low oxygen and clandestine laboratory environments. | Y | N | 15 |
| SRS Basic Course | Thirteen week basic training in all aspects of tactical policing, both domestic and counter-terrorism in addition to training in search and rescue techniques, vertical rescue techniques and all aspects of Public Order Management. | Y | N | 12 |
| Training/course | Description | Offered to sworn Y/N |
Offered to unsworn Y/N |
Number of participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incident Command and Control Systems | This course educates members on essential command/control systems to appropriately manage incident response. | Y | N | 165 |
| Exercises | Desktop exercise with regards to civil unrest in Canberra. | Y | Y | 15 |
| Training/course | Description | Number of participants |
|---|---|---|
| Homicides Investigations Program | Participants develop core knowledge and skills required to successfully investigate offences of homicide. The two week residential program draws on the experiences of subject matter experts to mentor and support members. | 10 |
| Sexual Offences Investigators Program | Two week course designed to develop the skills to conduct and manage investigations of sexual assault and child abuse matters and to collate the evidence and submit documentation to the appropriate authorities. | 20 |
| Training/course | Description | Offered to sworn Y/N |
Offered to unsworn Y/N |
Number of participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Institute of Company Directors Course | The Company Directors Course delivers extensive knowledge and tools, which assist our members to better understand governance expectations and ethical considerations; monitor an organisation’s financial performance and risk management; examine the responsibilities of directors and their fiduciary duties and compliance roles; identify the executive’s contribution to organisational performance and strategy development and execution; review frameworks for executive decision-making. | Y | Y | 3 |
| Police Executive Leadership Program | This course is delivered each year at the Australian Institute of Police Management, over a two-week period and it is considered to be the pinnacle of police executive development in Australia. | Y | Y | 1 |
| Police Management Development Program and Executive Development Program | The major learning outcomes of these programs are to provide participants with the increased knowledge and skills necessary to confidently deliver at a senior level. The courses are designed to be developmental and experientially based on actual events. | Y | Y | 1 |
| Coaching and Mentoring Program | AFP engages two external providers to deliver two programs; one-on-one coaching for both Coordinator and SES level and a mentoring program where selected Coordinators are mentored by a member of the SES. | Y | Y | 2 |
The AFP’s Learning and Development team design, develop and implement all of the e-Learning training packages delivered via the AFP intranet through the iAspire program. The packages provide the opportunity for members to complete self-paced learning and with the tools to learn a new skill or enhance an existing capability.
Some of the courses available include:
As the community policing arm of the AFP, we participated in the AFP’s Graduate Program.
Graduates work in various areas of ACT Policing and the wider AFP over a 12 month period to develop their skills and understanding of the AFP. Graduates integrate into ACT Policing at the end of their year.
This program is an investment in the workforce and skills that the AFP wants over the coming years. ACT Policing had three graduates during this reporting period.
Further, our members participated in the following study assistance programs during this reporting period.
| Study type | Number of participants |
|---|---|
| Business | 6 |
| Information | 2 |
| International | 1 |
| Criminology | 3 |
| Policing | 7 |
| Social Science | 1 |
| Training and Assessment | 1 |
| Law Studies | 2 |
| Terrorism, Safety and Security | 2 |
| Electronics and Communication | 1 |
| Leadership and Management | 2 |
| Forensic Psychology | 1 |
| Science (Human Biology) | 1 |
| Science (applied statistics) | 1 |
We monitor and encourage employee performance and development within the AFP through Performance Development Agreements (PDAs).
The Performance Development Agreement National Guideline has been developed by the AFP National Manager Human Resources using power delegated under s. 37(1) of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 to facilitate effective performance management.
All of our members enter into PDAs on a six month basis and their performance is assessed against critical objectives and development goals set by the member and their Team Leader. Any performance, development or training needs are then identified and addressed through this process on an on-going basis throughout the next PDA period.
At the end of the six months concluding in August 2011(projected), a formal PDA had been completed by 95.45 per cent of ACT Policing members.
ACT Policing has a strong focus on the continued delivery in the learning and development of our members, particularly in the areas of policing and leadership. All AFP appointees are encouraged and supported in the pursuit of any learning opportunities that will progress their self development and broader skills.
From the outset of their policing careers, our officers are given mandatory training across a broad range of disciplines to provide them with the skills and knowledge to perform their duties and to advance their policing careers. At each stage of their careers, there are opportunities for them to advance their knowledge and be competitively placed for advancement consideration.
The courses delivered are regularly reviewed and assessed to ensure they are contemporary and relevant to the needs of the participants and the trainers are recognised as preeminent in their areas of expertise. In addition to the courses delivered at the AFP College, our members have access to a range of online courses delivered through the AFP intranet, and to external course providers for those subjects not delivered at the college.
A key future learning and development area identified by ACT Policing and the AFP Commissioner is that of leadership and decision-making. A reinvigorated leadership program is in the process of being redeveloped by our HR section with Learning and Development.
Officers undertake the Motorcycle Pursuit Course.
As a frontline police service, we take workplace health and safety seriously, and ensure measures are in place to protect both our sworn and unsworn members.
During this reporting period ACT Policing complied with its legal obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. This was achieved through organisational adherence to AFP policies, guidelines and standard operating procedures which are aligned to the requirements of the legislation.
All safety related documentation is easily accessible to employees on the AFP intranet.
A key document for compliance under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 and to promote safety in the workplace is the AFP National Guideline on Health and Safety Management Arrangements 2007–2012 (HSMAs) which was developed in close consultation with staff.
The HSMAs facilitate continuous improvement in safety management systems to reduce the risk and incidence of workplace injury and disease. It identifies safety responsibilities, and our OH&S consultation framework and processes for resolving disputes.
The guideline also identifies the agreed arrangements on the management, promotion and development of measures to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees at work.
Throughout this reporting period, ACT Policing maintained the OH&S structures and systems specified under legislation. These included:
ACT Policing maintains 17 Designated Work Groups, each with a Health and Safety Representative and deputy representative. Representative selections are made by staff and the process is facilitated by management. Four selection exercises were conducted during this reporting period resulting in the appointment of four new representatives and deputies, including a specific Health and Safety Representative at the new Traffic Operations Centre in Belconnen. A five-day training course is provided for representatives by an external Comcare accredited provider.
The ACT Policing Occupational Health and Safety Committee continued its function as a key consultative forum on safety matters with four monthly meetings. The committee includes all Health and Safety Representatives, OH&S Advisors, and senior management representatives from policing operations, finance and human resources. This composition facilitates effective and speedy resolution of safety issues.
During this reporting period a number of OH&S related health monitoring and prevention programs operated to target specific hazards. These included:
Risk management continued to be the most effective tool in safety management. During this reporting period the overarching AFP National Guideline on Risk Management was supplemented with a more OH&S focused AFP National Guideline on Managing Health and Safety Risks.
Our rehabilitation team are committed to providing well managed workplace based occupational rehabilitation services. This is achieved by the employment of two senior rehabilitation case managers who coordinate internal and external rehabilitation services to achieve optimal return to work outcomes for our members who have suffered either compensable or non-compensable injury or illness.
The case managers also have responsibility to inform managers, team leaders and injured or ill members of the compensation and rehabilitation processes and how those processes contribute to recovery and an early return to work.
Comcare accepted liability for 51 new compensation claims for ACT Policing during the reporting period; this compares to 67 claims being processed and accepted in the previous reporting period.
Table C.9.1 and Figure C.9.1 provide details of mechanism of the associated incidents and the average costs (as of 30 June 2011) of the 51 claims.
| Mechanism injury major group | Cost to date ($) | Future cost estimate ($) |
Avg cost to date ($) | Number of claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falls, Trips and Slips | 207 737.14 | 736 414 | 17 311.43 | 12 |
| Hitting Objects with Body | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Being Hit by Moving Objects | 28 810.53 | 75 039.00 | 2 881.05 | 10 |
| Sound and Pressure | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Body Stressing | 125 372.05 | 342 229 | 6 598.53 | 19 |
| Heat, Elec and Other Enviro factor | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Chemicals and other Substances | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Biological factors | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Mental Stress | 7 539.27 | 27 541 | 3 769.64 | 2 |
| Other and Unspecified | 86 727.48 | 48 105 | 10 840.94 | 8 |
| Total | 456 186.47 | 1 229 328 | 8 944.83 | 51 |
Note: When comparing recent periods with previous years data it should be noted that the data on the current period is the least mature and may not give a definite view of related performance.
@CPOACT That’s a really good idea! It’s great to see more attention paid to mental illness!
@CPOACT Sometimes things just can’t be helped and it’s good the Men and Women in Blue are looking out for us THANKYOU!!!!
@CPOACT Roman, great service from the officer on the desk at Gungahlin Police Station today. My first contact with #ACTpolice.
@CPOACT fantastic effort, sincere thanks to the team from a humble Berra resident!!
As of 30 June 2011, there was a total of 116 open compensation claims compared with 110 for the same time last year.
Of the 116 open claims, 67 are being actively managed by ACT Policing’s rehabilitation team; the other 49 claims remain open for outstanding action by Comcare that include incapacity payments and reimbursement of medical and other expenses.
The rehabilitation team has managed a total of 15 non-compensation cases during the reporting period. Of these cases six remain active and are being managed in accordance with the AFP non-compensation policy. Our rehabilitation case managers also liaise with AFP Medical Services to seek advice in managing these cases to successful outcomes.
During this reporting period there were thirty-six incidents notified to Comcare under s. 68 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991. These comprised:
There were no Provisional Improvement Notices (PINs) issued by ACT Policing Health and Safety Representatives and no Comcare initiated investigations into safety incidents in ACT Policing during this reporting period.
Internal incident reporting data for ACT Policing shows a 12 per cent decrease in incident reports during the 2010–11 reporting period, following a slight reduction during the previous year. The majority of incidents — about 70 per cent — continued to occur in the operational policing role. Table C.9.2 identifies all reported safety incidents over a three-year period.
An officer attaches his accoutrements belt.
During the reporting period, ACT Policing recorded 48 assaults against police and experienced 17 instances of spitting. In previous years, the coding of these types of incidents was achieved using a number of different codes for various incidents e.g. being hit by a moving object (i.e. struck by offender), or exposure to biological substances of human origin (i.e. spitting).
In August 2010 a major change in coding for assaults against police members was implemented so that all instances of offenders kicking, punching or spitting on members during normal operational duties are now being coded as ‘being assaulted by a person’. This methodology is consistent with the need to ensure accurate reporting of actual assaults against our members.
The change in coding is reflected in the increase in the number of assaults in comparison with the previous reporting period, and the subsequent reduction in the number of ‘being hit by moving objects’, and ‘exposure to biological substances’.
Training and fitness activities accounted for about 20 per cent of all incidents — predominantly resulting in muscular stress injuries (e.g. sprain/strain). Training and fitness injuries were usually less serious and incurred minimal time off work.
| Mechanism of injury | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Being assaulted by a person | 15 | 25 | 57 |
| Being bitten by an animal | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Being hit by a person accidentally | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Being hit by moving objects | 30 | 25 | 5 |
| Being hit by an animal | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Being hit by falling objects | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Being trapped between stationary and moving | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Contact with hot objects | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Contact-biological substances (human) | 23 | 27 | 7 |
| Explosion | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Expose-workplace or occupational stress | 11 | 3 | 4 |
| Expose – other environmental factors | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Falls from a height | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Fall on same level | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| Hitting stationary object | 28 | 21 | 9 |
| Muscular stress while lifting or handling | 29 | 35 | 24 |
| Muscular stress with no object handled | 19 | 21 | 18 |
| Multiple mechanisms | 18 | 7 | 1 |
| Repetitive movement | 5 | 8 | 5 |
| Single contact with chemical | 10 | 9 | 5 |
| Stepping kneeling or sitting | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| Other & unspecified mechanisms of incident | 9 | 15 | 31 |
| Vehicle accident | 17 | 11 | 10 |
| TOTAL | 252 | 248 | 218 |
Data source: AFP SAP OH&S module as at 8 July 2011.
Table C.9.3 indicates that the number of incidents resulting in lost time of a day/shift has reduced from the precious year, but that the average lost time rate and number of lost working days has increased significantly over 2010–11. This increase is attributed to a smaller numbers of serious injuries which have subsequently resulted in longer periods of time off work.
| Financial Year 2008–09 |
Financial Year 2009–10 |
Financial Year 2010–11 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Lost time incident rate (No. of incidents per 100 workers employed) | 1.94 | 3.17 | 2.76 |
| Average lost time rate (average number of working days lost per incident) | 27.78 | 11.82 | 22.56 |
| Number of lost time incidents | 18 | 28 | 26 |
| Number of lost working days | 500 | 331 | 578 |
Note: Data accurate as at 3 August 2011. A lost-time injury/disease is defined to be an occurrence that results in a fatality, permanent disability or time lost from work of one complete day/shift or more.
The AFP Collective Agreement 2007-2011 is nominally due for expiry on 30 June 2011 and consultation with all parts of the organisation has been ongoing throughout the reporting period in preparation for the new agreement.
Under the AFP Collective Agreement 2007-2011 ACT Policing did not have any members on a Special Employment Agreement.
As a result of the new Fair Work Act 2009, our Collective Agreement will be replaced by an Enterprise Agreement which will be lodged with Fair Work Australia.
Bargaining for the new Enterprise Agreement commenced during this reporting period. The aim for the new agreement is to further consolidate the existing framework to continuously improve and streamline AFP business and emerging business delivery requirements.
Staff have been kept informed of developments throughout the process via regular online communications through email and the Hub (intranet), as well as a series of musters and focus groups.
Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) were undertaken by the AFP for executive members under the Workplace Relations Act 1996. AWAs can no longer be developed or lodged, however AWAs that have been validly lodged continue to operate until terminated or replaced.
There were no members within ACT Policing that were on an AWA as at 30 June 2011. All AWAs were conditionally terminated during this reporting period prior the commencement of the Executive Level Agreement, these employees now fall under the conditions of the AFP Executive Level Agreement 2011.
In place of AWAs the AFP uses a Supplementation Agreement to provide further remuneration in addition to the provisions of the AFP Collective Agreement 2007-2011. There are no current members within ACT Policing on supplementary agreements. These agreements ceased to exist with the commencement of the AFP Executive Level Agreement 2011 from 18 January 2011.
During the reporting period we contributed to the
ACT Strategic Bushfire Management Plan through the ACT Government’s Security and Emergency Management Planning Group.
ACT Policing is not a manager of unleased Territory land — nor an owner — and therefore do not have reporting requirements under the Emergency Act 2004 (s. 85).
We have not been notified of the requirement to prepare a Bushfire Operational Plan by the Emergency Services Agency nor received any directions from the Minister relating to undertaking activities under the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan.
The majority of facilities and infrastructure used by ACT Policing are owned by either the ACT Government or the AFP. Our strategic asset management is the responsibility of the ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJaCS) with the AFP providing input where required.
In this reporting period ACT Policing managed assets with a total value of $13.5 million (as at 30 June 2011). The bulk of these assets are operational equipment and office ($10.5 million).
The AFP has a capital management strategy which includes planning for future capital asset needs and ongoing replacement requirements. Our equipment is included in the wider AFP replacement plan.
During the reporting period ACT Policing undertook major upgrades to property office equipment ($0.4 million), bomb response vehicles ($0.4 million), radio infrastructure ($0.3 million) and automatic vehicle locator technology ($0.6 million).
The main areas of repairs and maintenance for the year were facilities at the ACT Watch House, City Police Station and Winchester Police Centre.
Information about our essential facility upgrades can be found at Section C.13 — Capital Works.
ACT Policing has staff housed within eleven separate facilities, seven of which are owned by the ACT Government.
While the bulk of facilities provide non-office environments the total floor space is approximately 24 000 square metres with an average per employee of 24 square metres.
| Total value of assets managed as at June 30: | $13.5 million |
| No. of built property assets: | Eleven facilities including five police stations. ACT Policing has staff housed within eleven separate facilities, seven of which are owned by the ACT Government. |
| Land: | N/A |
| Infrastructure (no. and km): | N/A |
| Urban parks: | N/A |
| Other: | The majority of our assets are either owned by the AFP or DJaCS and are recorded in their individual Annual Reports. |
14 October 2010
Officer-in-Charge, Woden Station
Dear Sir,
I wish to commend to you Constable Cameron Watts for his diligence and approach to his endeavours investigating a burglary at our home on June 10.
Constable Watts has kept us informed in a friendly and totally professional manner. He did recover a spare key to my car which relieved me to no end. He was extremely patient with me and my family and has given us a great deal of confidence in the work the police do in this area.
Regardless of the outcome, we appreciate Constable Watts continuing efforts to locate the stolen goods. In the grand scheme of life our losses are trivial but we were never made to feel that way.
I think Constable Watts is an exceptional young man and a credit to the force. Please give him a big pat on the back for his work and his people skills.
One appreciative family.
Sincerely,
{name withheld for privacy reasons}
| Building name | No. of staff | Area occupied (m2) | Average area occupied by each employee (m2) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winchester Police Centre | 360 | 5,888 | 16.36 |
| Belconnen Police Station | 70 | 1,983 | 28.33 |
| City Police Station | 143 | 4,243 | 29.67 |
| Gungahlin Police Station | 36 | 226 | 6.28 |
| Tuggeranong Police Station | 72 | 2,648 | 36.78 |
| Woden Police Station | 68 | 2,011 | 29.57 |
| Traffic Operations Centre | 47 | 1,379 | 29.34 |
| Crime Prevention — Braddon | 61 | 1,502 | 24.62 |
| ACT Policing Water Operations — Yarralumla | 4 | 300 | 75.00 |
| AFP Weston Complex — Weston | 61 | 1,610 | 26.39 |
| Exhibit Management Centre — Mitchell | 24 | 4,208 | 175.33 |
Notes: ‘Area occupied’ in each facility is the total floor area of the building. This includes interview rooms, holding cells, the watch house, property rooms, vaults, gun unloading bays, areas for storage of equipment and exhibits and other non-office areas.
Specialist Response and Security’s newest acquisition — the armoured rescue vehicle (Bearcat).
ACT Policing completed several major works during this reporting period, notably the purpose-built Exhibit Management Centre (EMC) and the redevelopment of the Traffic Operations Centre.
The redevelopment of a space in Belconnen also commenced during this reporting period to house our Specialist Response and Security (SRS) team.
The following works were completed during this reporting period.
| Completed project 1 | |
| Project: | Exhibit Management Centre |
| Description: | New Property Office for ACT Policing |
| Business unit: | Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Management (CT&EM) |
| Estimated completion date: | August 2010 |
| Completion date: | November 2010 |
| Original project value: | $2 million |
| Revised project value: | $2 million |
| Prior year expenditure: | Nil |
| Current year expenditure: | $100 000 |
| Financially completed? | Yes |
| Contact details of relevant capital works officer: | Finance and Logistics |
| Comments: | The purpose-built EMC — situated in Vicars Street, Mitchell — was officially opened for business in November 2010. The contemporary new facility is more than 3500 square metres in size and contains more than 3000 square metres of storage room — space required to accommodate the hundreds and thousands of items held for criminal investigations along with lost/stolen property. The centre also has the capacity to hold more than 90 vehicles on hoists, 342 medium storage containers and approximately 570 pallets. It also provides an office space and amenities for staff who conduct duties relating to the ACT Firearms Registry which checks and issues firearm licences; the ACT Drug Registry which secures and transfers the analysis of all drugs seized by police; and the exhibit registrars who secure, lodge and store all exhibits coming into police possession. It houses 600 000 exhibits. |
| Completed project 2 | |
| Project: | Traffic Operations Centre |
| Description: | New accommodation for Traffic Operations |
| Business unit: | Traffic Operations |
| Estimated completion date: | March 2011 |
| Completion date: | May 2011 |
| Original project value: | $300 000 |
| Revised project value: | $250 000 |
| Prior year expenditure: | Nil |
| Current year expenditure: | $250 000 |
| Financially completed? | Yes |
| Contact details of relevant capital works officer: | Finance and Logistics |
| Comments: | In May 2010 the former Belconnen Property Office — located in Lathlain Street and now the Exhibit Management Centre in Mitchell — was transformed into the Traffic Operations Centre — a dedicated space to re-locate all Traffic Operations members in one area. The Traffic Operations Centre has brought together all elements of Traffic Operations, including the housing of police vehicles and operational gear — now protected from inclement weather — and motor vehicles involved in fatal collisions, providing direct access to the Crash Investigations and Reconstruction Team. The Traffic Operations function was formed as a centralised unit in 1999; however its elements — Command, Administration, Intelligence, Mobile Team, Crash Investigations and Reconstruction Team, Roadside Drug Testing Team and RAPID — had not been co-located for some years. The diverse locations brought about significant command, control and communication issues and made cohesive planning and deployment of resources problematic. The co-location of functions within this space has already improved operational effectiveness and response. |
Vehicles stored at the Exhibit Management Centre.
The following works were in progress during this reporting period. Construction of the Belconnen Police Station, managed by Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJaCS) in close consultation with ACT Policing, is the primary capital works project still in progress as at 30 June 2011.
| Work in progress project 1 | |
| Project: | Belconnen Police Station |
| Description: | Construction New Belconnen Police Station |
| Business unit: | North District — General Duties |
| Year of approval: | 2007–08 |
| Estimated completion date: | November 2011 |
| Original project value: | This project is being managed by ACT Procurement Solutions and funded directly by DJaCS. |
| Revised project value: | This project is being managed by ACT Procurement Solutions and funded directly by DJaCS. |
| Prior year expenditure: | This project is being managed by ACT Procurement Solutions and funded directly by DJaCS. |
| Current year expenditure: | This project is being managed by ACT Procurement Solutions and funded directly by DJaCS. |
| Total expenditure to date: | This project is being managed by ACT Procurement Solutions and funded directly by DJaCS. |
| Contact details of relevant capital works officer: | Finance and Logistics |
| Comments: | The new Belconnen Police Station will be situated on a vacant block next to Winchester Police Centre, designed to replace the 35-year-old station on Lathlain Street. The new station’s design is aimed to achieve a high green-star rating with initiatives such as, rain water harvesting, solar hot water systems and a chilled beam air-conditioning system. More that 100 police and staff will be based in the new station which will also feature a public access foyer and counter, holding cells, incidents rooms, welfare counselling and victims of crime room. The plans for the new building also reflect community needs and have considered some of the issues encountered over the past years at the current Belconnen station, specifically taking in to account community response. |
| Work in progress project 2 | |
| Project: | Rae Street |
| Description: | SRS relocation to Rae Street |
| Business unit: | SRS |
| Year of approval: | 2010 |
| Estimated completion date: | August 2011 |
| Original project value: | $1.3 million (capital fit out) |
| Revised project value: | $1.4 million (capital fit out) |
| Prior year expenditure: | Nil |
| Current year expenditure: | $1 million |
| Total expenditure to date: | $1 million |
| Contact details of relevant capital works officer: | Finance and Logistics |
| Comments: | New Lease. The SRS operating base is a re-fit of an existing accommodation space for the purposes of our tactical, canine, bomb response and water operations teams. |
| Work in progress project 3 | |
| Project: | Police Operations Centre |
| Description: | Emergency control centre |
| Business unit: | CT&EM |
| Year of approval: | 2010 |
| Estimated completion date: | August 2011 |
| Original project value: | $400 000 |
| Revised project value: | $150 000 |
| Prior year expenditure: | Nil |
| Current year expenditure: | $130 000 |
| Total expenditure to date: | $150 000 |
| Contact details of relevant capital works officer: | Finance and Logistics |
| Comments: | The refurbishment of the Police Operations Centre (POC) includes the construction of a theatrette style room, enhanced infrastructure to meet the demand of a dynamic work environment when responding to critical incidents. When not in use for major event and emergency management purposes, the POC will be used as a multi-purpose training room. The workstation configuration will offer an increase of 130 per cent in capacity. Technology enhancements will support the command and control function of the POC, which includes additional inputs such as CCTV and MeshNet video streams to further enhance investigations. The catalyst for the POC redevelopment was a review of the existing infrastructure which identified the need for improvement to reflect current methodologies in response to emergency management. Original cost based on contract manager. Cost reduction based on in-house project management. |
There were no new capital works during this reporting period.
As the community policing arm of the AFP — a Commonwealth Government agency — we operate within the Commonwealth Financial Management and Accountability framework. Under this framework ACT Policing is required to comply with the Commonwealth Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997, Financial Management and Accountability Orders 2008 and Commonwealth procurement guidelines. This ensures that our procurement processes comply with the core principles of value for money, and ethical use of public funds.
Under Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines the AFP is required to undertake the following in relation to purchasing activity:
The Austender website can be accessed at tenders.gov.au.
Tables C.14.1 and C.14.2 illustrate consultants and contractors procured by ACT Policing for this reporting period.
| Consultancy group | Amount | Services provided |
|---|---|---|
| Point Project Management Pty Ltd Total | $126 450 | Facilities feasibility report |
| Reino International Total | $25 524 | Autocite maintenance |
| Support Link Australia | $234 000 | Online referral services |
| Traffic Group Australia Pty Limited | $2 889 | Traffic services |
| TOTAL | $388 863 |
| Contractor group | Amount | Services provided |
|---|---|---|
| Analytics Group | $21 566 | Temporary employment services |
| Australian Public Service Commission | $37 278 | Independent Selection Advisory Panel |
| Australian Red Cross ACT | $52 122 | National registration and inquiry system |
| Oakton AA Services | $159 210 | Temporary employment services |
| TOTAL | $270 176 |
ACT Policing plays an active role in the community, particularly as part of our crime prevention strategies. This includes providing community grants, assisting community programs and sponsoring initiatives in support of young people at risk of crime or becoming a victim of crime, and their families.
Throughout the reporting period we have worked with a number of stakeholders to deliver and providing funding in support of the community.
| Recipient | Project description | Outcomes | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACT Debating Union — Debating teams | Funding provides support of the not-for-profit organisation which organises debating competitions for junior (6 to 8 years), intermediate (9 and 10 years) and senior (11 and 12 years) levels. Members are drawn from ACT schools and the community. | Event was attended by Crime Prevention’s Youth Liaison Team to improve police relationships with young people. | $1500 |
| Neighbourhood Watch Program | Funding provides support to valuable crime prevention programs across the ACT. This assistance provides yearly funding for operational activities, including administration and promotion of the Neighbourhood Watch Program and its benefits to the community. The Neighbourhood Watch Program is a community based crime prevention program in which members of a particular neighbourhood accept that they have a personal and social responsibility to assist in the promotion of a sense of well being, safety and security in partnership with police. |
The program is also aimed at reducing crime, especially property crime and crime to the person. The program is primarily directed at reducing the incidence of burglary in residential areas. |
$21 000 |
| Safety House Program | Funding provides support to valuable crime prevention programs across the ACT. This funding assists in the running of Safety House, including its community programs targeting adults and children. |
Safety House is a community based program providing a safer environment for children specifically. Safety House has grown directly from the concerns of parents for the safety of children and other vulnerable members of the community. | $5000 |
| PCYC Kokoda Mentoring Program |
Funding is provided to the PCYC Kokoda to enable one young person identified as at-risk, and their mentor (a member of ACT Policing) on the Kokoda challenge. | The program is yet to be completed however aims to inspire and build confidence in young people. | $5000 |
| Special Kids Christmas Party (2010) | Funding provides sponsorship for this event, supporting disadvantaged and special needs children and their families. Crime Prevention actively supports this event in conjunction with a number of ACT organisations each year. |
Approximately 100 AFP-ACT Policing members were involved in the event. The funding supports those at need, and is part of our community engagement. | $2500 |
| Kick Start (holiday program) | The Crime Prevention team actively promotes opportunities to decrease the over representation of Indigenous people in custody. The Kick Start holiday program is designed to engage an entire family, including extended family. The aim is to improve the social resilience of repeat offenders and bolster the social support around them to break the cycle of crime. |
Kick Start was conducted throughout January, with the program culminating in a cultural camp at Wreck Bay and an afternoon at Jamberoo Recreation Park. A number of teenagers attended the final presentation ceremony and, as was evident among those of the group that were able to attend that day, significant inroads to the community were made. |
$10 425.25 |
| NAIDOC Week — Better Amusement Hire | ACT Policing provides funding to NAIDOC Week to support its Boomanulla Family Day which contributes towards activities for families and children. The funding also provides ‘cross-cultural’ T-shirts for children. ACT Policing has been supporting this event for more than 20 years. |
Support of NAIDOC Week is part of our crime prevention measures to engage with the Aboroginal and Torres Strait (ATSI) community in an informal setting. This relationship has improved progressively in the past few years particularly. |
$14 363.63 |
| Solid Young Fellas | An ACT Policing initiative, the Solid Young Fellas is an Indigenous non-government organisation that targets high risk/vulnerable young people to create a sustainable youth-oriented leadership and mentoring program through Indigenous culture and sporting opportunities programs. This is done predominantly through Touch Football and cultural ceremony and dance supplemented with intensive camps and exposure to other Indigenous kinships culture. Funds are provided to purchase uniforms, mouthguards and boots for players and participants. |
This program is part of Crime Prevention’s Indigenous Liaison Team to engage more closely with the Aboriginal community. | $3952.17 |
| Girl Power | This program has been developed to increase the engagement of high risk young ATSI females in recreational activities, community based projects and cultural awareness programs. Girl Power has a team in the Women’s Touch Football ACT 2011 Winter Domestic Competition. Funding provides boots for participants. This program is still in its early stages of development. |
During the reporting period the team played eight games and is attracting significant interest from other members of the ATSI community. Age demographic for the team is 14 to 35 year. |
$384.07 |
| Indigenous Healing Camps | The Indigenous Healing Camps is provided for Indigenous families to break cycles of substance abuse. This program takes into consideration the Indigenous culture and family unions. Funding has been used for camping equipment in preparation to run the camps. |
The program is in development phase. | $4886 |
| Eyes on the Street | Eyes on the Street is a tool aimed at improving the quality and reporting capacity of businesses and related agencies on criminal activity. Aligned with Crime Stoppers, the Business Liaison Team is responsible for this program; undertaking promotion and providing training to participants. |
A database has been created to manage participant information and to aid in providing participants with additional resources, marketing material and updates. During this reporting period 79 participants from 12 different organisations/areas have signed up to partake in the program. |
$4140 |
| National Crime Prevention Forum 2010–11 | The National Crime Prevention Forum took place between 9 and 10 November 2010 at the Australian Federal Police College. The objectives of the forum were to share information and develop and establish approaches to issues faced by those working in the crime prevention field nationally. This will enable the development of effective and sustainable solutions to the behavioural problems that manifest criminal activities. |
The National Crime Prevention Workshop was attended by 39 representatives from the AFP-ACT Policing, NSW Police, Victorian Police, QLD Police, SA Police, WA Police, NZ Police and the Australian Institute of Criminology. ACT Policing will facilitate feedback and discussion, with the aim of identifying potential areas for cross-jurisdictional activity. |
$4673.45 |
| MARSS — Migrant and Refugee Support Services | In June 2010, Crime Prevention provided funding to MARSS to run sessions — an extension of the 2009 African Chef Program. The objective of the program was to encourage young African men to carry out kitchen duties, traditionally the domain of woman only. |
There were 10 sessions held during the reporting period. | $2500 |
| Multicultural Youth Services | In June 2010, Crime Prevention provided funding to the Multicultural Youth Services for continuation of Learner Driver Safety Awareness Sessions. The session was hosted at the AFP Majura complex. The sessions included practical driving sessions with private instructors from ‘Arrow Driving Academy’. |
A total of 35 participants attended a total of four courses held during the reporting period. | $2500 |
| Who R U in the digital world? Student Summit 18 March 2011 | As part of the Safe Schools taskforce, Crime Prevention sponsored the Student Summit. The taskforce is working to promote safe, responsible and informed student behaviour online at school and at home. The key purpose of the summit was to involve students as partners in the responsible use of digital technologies. |
Students were called to make a declaration about what it takes to lead responsibly in a digital world, and commit to taking an authentic leadership role in their school. | $5000 |
All five badges within the ACT — ACT Policing, ACT Ambulance Service, ACT Fire Brigade, ACT Rural Fire Service and ACT State Emergency Service — participated in the Camp Quality Verit-COOL Challenge on 25 February 2011.
The challenge was to race up the 403 Telstra Tower steps to raise money for children with cancer.
ACT Policing were successful in defending its title against strong competition and the event provided an excellent opportunity for emergency services members to meet socially, instead of in a work environment, and to raise money for Camp Quality.
ACT Policing executives, Deputy Chief Police Officer David McLean, Superintendent Mick Calatzis and Officer-in-Charge of Gungahlin Police Station Peter Davis ‘slept rough’ on the night of 16 June 2011 as part of the Vinnie’s CEO Sleepout — St Vincent de Paul’s annual fundraiser for the homeless.
The charity event challenges business and community leaders in capital cities across Australia to experience homelessness first-hand for one night.
Several thousand dollars was raised as part of our participation, with monies going to the ACT St Vincent de Paul society.
Superintendent Mark Colbran with members of the winning Battle of the Badges team.
As the community policing arm of the AFP, ACT Policing does not have a Records Management Plan in the form required under the Territory’s legislation. We do however, follow strict protocols in relation to the creation, capture, storage and destruction of records, particularly those records used for evidentiary or investigation purposes.
The AFP’s National Guideline on the Management of Records sets out the procedures AFP personnel, contractors and consultants must follow in managing official AFP information.
Our records are managed in accordance with specific record-keeping obligations, governed by the following legislation:
The AFP also adopts the following standards for record management:
The nature of policing requires officers to sometimes arrest or detain a person, whether for a criminal charge or any other basis. The rights of the individual under the Human Rights Act 2004 are clearly understood by our officers, and they perform their duties in accordance with the directions of the Act. ACT Policing understand and fully support the ACT Government’s commitment to the protection of human rights and the dignity of people.
Recognition of this principle is embedded in the preamble of the new five year Policing Arrangement (see Appendix 1) signed on 24 June 2011.
In the ACT the rule of law is maintained by a justice system made up of independent but interoperable component parts. As part of compliance with the statutory framework of the ACT public sector participants in the justice system, including ACT Policing, are expected to promote and protect human rights when exercising a function under an ACT law.
In consultation with the ACT Human Rights Commission, a half-day human rights workshop has been developed for our members. Officers are instructed in their obligations to observe and act within human rights standards unless the law explicitly authorises otherwise.
This training is mandatory for all sworn members and is made available to unsworn members as required.
Human rights training is incorporated into the curricula for various courses such as new recruits (through the Federal Policing Development Program), local procedures training and lateral police development programs, all of which are delivered by Learning and Development at the AFP College in Barton. This training is considered to be an essential component for all new officers in the ACT so that they have a complete understanding of their obligations under the Act while performing their duties.
More information about our training can be found at Section C.8 — Learning and Development.
The Act is provided to ACT Policing members in hardcopy and electronically, and is uploaded on the AFP intranet for members to access as needed.
In addition, the brochures released by the Human Rights Commissioner and publications by the Department of Justice and Community Safety are made available to all members and are displayed at Belconnen, City, Woden, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin police stations, as well as Winchester Police Centre.
ACT Policing, specifically our Judicial Operations function, liaises with the Human Rights Unit on matters relating to the protection of a person’s rights, and the human rights of the community at large.
Human rights is an overarching consideration in every cabinet submission that is prepared by ACT Policing and input is often sought by the Human Rights Commission.
During the reporting period we prepared a number of cabinet submissions which included reviews of existing legislation and, while doing so, considered human rights where applicable.
More information about the legislation and policy documents reviewed by ACT Policing during this reporting period can be found at Section B.4 — Legislative Report.
We are not aware of any matters before the court which have involved arguments concerning ACT Policing and the Human Rights Act 2004.
During the reporting period ACT Policing received a s.18 request for assistance from the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment in the preparation of the State of Environment Report.
The request related to the community safety section of the report. ACT Policing provided data for the past four years on the following:
More information about our measuring of performance can be found at Section A7 — Statement of Agency Performance.
ACT Policing has a continuing commitment to provide a safe environment for all community members, regardless of their origins or beliefs, and to deliver an effective and respectful service. We do this by being part of the community, and ensuring we are involved with all cultures to reflect the community we serve.
We also have Multicultural Liaison Officers who are dedicated to working with the multicultural community. During this reporting period this included developing, sponsoring and executing the successful inaugral Eid al-Fitr.
| Focus Area | Response |
|---|---|
| Languages | Interpreter and translator services In accordance with s. 27 of the Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT), where a person has the right to use his or her own language, we engage the services of Telephone Interpreter Services and translator services to ensure that service delivery is responsive and of a high quality to persons for whom English is not their first language. If a person is admitted to the ACT Watch House, written interpreter guides are displayed at the charge counter and in the cells to allow them to indicate which language they wish to communicate in and the relevant interpreter services can be provided. Community policing Language skills are considered to be a core capability within the AFP and there is an increasing requirement for improved communication, cultural understanding and language skills for national and community policing. We support and encourage our members to gain skills in other cultures and languages which they can achieve through the AFP Culture and Language Centre. The experience of connecting with other cultures can remove outdated perceptions of both police and culturally diverse groups, from which new networks and relationships can develop. ACT Policing regularly reviews and updates language sheets for summonses, so that the judicial process can be clearly explained for both English and non-English speaking members of the community. ACT Policing has a number of officers who can speak a language other than English, and this information is provided on a police officers name badge while on duty so that members of the community can recognise this. |
| Children and Young People | Youth Liaison Officers Youth Liaison Officers were established during the reporting period and work primarily to reduce youth crime in the ACT while seeking to ensure a balance between youth support and law enforcement. During the reporting period the team use evidence-based, targeted engagement activities and programs aimed at young people aged 10 to 18 years identified as being at risk of committing criminal offences, or are vulnerable by their behaviour or circumstance. The team’s intentions are to:
All persons attending the ACT Watch House are treated with consideration of their human rights. On-site qualified nursing staff are available to provide health care, with additional medical services available on call. Youth Liaison Officers also work closely with our Multicultural Liaison Officers within Crime Prevention to manage activities relating to young people. |
| Older People and Aged Care | Seniors Liaison Officer Throughout the reporting period our Senior Liaison Officers have delivered several home and personal safety presentations to varity of multicultural seniors groups, including elderly from Chinese and Tamil community groups. Our Senior Liaison Officers remain focused on multicultural seniors groups and are working on a project to assist non-English speaking seniors to contact emergency services. More information about our work with senior citizens can be found at Section C.24 — ACT Strategic Plan for Positive Aging 2010–2014. |
| Women | Our Superintendent of Crime Prevention is the Deputy Chair of the National Women’s Advisory Group, which aims to promote cultural diversity for the advancement, opportunities, recruitment and retention of women in the AFP. Her participation ensures that ACT Policing is represented at this forum. The Superintendent of Crime Prevention has also been a member of the AFP Diversity Council through this role and has supported the implementation of the AFP’s Diversity Plan. Seniors Liaison Officers Our Senior Liaison Officers are on a steering committee for the advisory group run by Women’s Centre for Health Matters to develop an information booklet on home and personal safety for older culturally and linguistically diverse women in the ACT. More information about our work with senior citizens can be found at Section C.24 — ACT Strategic Plan for Positive Aging 2010–2014. White Ribbon Day In 2010, ACT Policing was again a major contributing partner for promoting this day to the Canberra community. ACT Policing ran the ‘Men in Uniform ‘stalls in the five major shopping centres across Canberra — Canberra Centre, Westfield Belconnen and Woden, Gungahlin Marketplace and Tuggeranong Hyperdome. ACT Policing also hosted a luncheon with White Ribbon Day Ambassador celebrity Andrew O’Keefe in Canberra along with all State and Territory Police Commissioners. More information about our community engagement can be found at Section B.1 — Community Engagement. International Women’s Day During the reporting period we also supported International Women’s Day. A number of our members attended an International Women’s Day morning tea hosted by the AFP. More information about our commitment to women in ACT Policing can be found at Section C.22 — ACT Women’s Plan 2010–2015. |
| Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Humanitarian Entrants | Multicultural Liaison Officers Our Multicultural Liaison Officers engage with government and non-government agencies to identify vulnerable refugee and migrant families, particularly those that are on the cusp of offending or have committed minor offences in an attempt to assist them in engaging positively in the community. Multicultural Liaison Officers identify these families and develop crime prevention activities/programs to work one-on-one with families. They also engage with all sections of the multicultural community but the focus is on identifying families and young people who are offending. We also conduct sessions with university students that are new entrants to Australia about security and legislation awareness, which might differ considerably from that of their country of origin. These sessions included licensing and driving legislation, police contacts, home and personal safety in the ACT and local service providers. During the reporting period, sessions have been delivered to approximately 200 newly arrived, international students. |
| Intercultural Harmony and Religious Acceptance | 2010 Canberra Eid al-Fitr Festival The Eid al-Fitr is an annual holy day and festival in the Islamic Calendar to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Crime Prevention members who attended the 2009 Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne conceived the idea of the AFP hosting an event for the Canberra Muslim community to share an Islamic festival with the rest of the community. A committee was formed to oversee the planning of the inaugural 2010 Canberra Eid al-Fitr Festival consisting of ACT Policing, the AFP’s Culture and Language Centre, ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA), Muslim community leaders and community members. The inaugural 2010 Canberra Eid al-Fitr Festival was held at John Dunmore Lang Park in the Parliamentary triangle on Sunday 19 September 2010. A range of attractions including stage performances, food, handicraft and information stalls, animal farm, reptile show, dodgem cars, pony rides, jumping castle and children’s rides were on display. AFP and ESA personnel and volunteers from both agencies and volunteers were on hand throughout the festival undertaking duties ranging from ticket sales to official duties. An estimated 4000 people attended the festival. More than 3500 amusement ride tickets were sold. Approximately one third of visitors were non-Muslim. Multicultural Liaison Officers ACT Policing recognises that, in some countries, police are feared and this means that some people, particularly those who arrive in Canberra under humanitarian or refugee programs, have a fear or mistrust of police. Multicultural Liaison Officers regularly meet with people individually, or in groups, to try help them overcome this fear or mistrust so that they are comfortable asking for help if required. Police recruits and operational police are provided with cultural awareness training so that officers have some insight into the experiences that people may have encountered prior to arriving in Australia. This includes the opportunity to receive first-hand knowledge from community members, of refugee background, who attend training sessions and talk of their personal experiences. This insight is invaluable to us to better understand the experiences that have shaped people’s view of police. Additionally, cultural diversity embraces many religions and religiously determined behaviour can pose challenges to our members. In receiving this type of training, we can perform our duties with greater awareness and sensitivity. Multicultural Liaison Officers devote a major portion of their time engaging with and forming relationships with Canberra’s culturally and linguistically diverse community. As part of this, they deliver information sessions to government departments, community organisations, religious and social groups and educational institutions to address crime prevention issues and emergency management strategies. |
1 June 2011
Hi,
My comments refer to the police handling of the “disappearance” of my intellectually disabled 28-year-old son Eden.
Fortunately everything resolved itself last night when Eden returned home unaware of the concern people had for him. After missing a meeting with his carer he spent the day at the Belconnen Library.
I want to thank the officers at the Belconnen and Gungahlin Police Stations who were involved and assisted me and the carers at Eden’s Disability ACT home with urgency, compassion, sensitivity and a professional approach to the situation. … My wife and I [would like to] thank everyone involved for their effort and assistance. They made us as comfortable as possible in an otherwise tense situation. They are a credit to the ACT Policing team.
Regards
{name withheld for privacy reasons}
June 2011
Dear Chief Police Officer
Yesterday my advisor’s house was broken into. I would like pass on her thanks to the ACT Policing officers who attended her house.
Their names were Constable Basil Karapanos and Constable Joel Shoemark.
She found them to be prompt, courteous, very professional, and also very reassuring.
Thanks to those two officers and keep up the good work.
Regards,
Jeremy Hanson Local member for Molonglo
Shadow Minister for Health, Police, Corrections, Veterans’ Affairs and Indigenous Affairs.
ACT Policing is committed to improving outcomes for our Indigenous community and supporting the whole-of-government approach to Indigenous policy. This is predominantly driven through our work in the justice system and our crime prevention team, specifically, our Indigenous Community Liaison Team (ICLT).
The ICLT — of one Sergeant, one Constable and two unsworn members — is a dedicated team to enhance communication between police and the ACT’s Indigenous community. During this reporting period, the ICLT participated in a range of activities aimed at establishing and maintaining positive relationships within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island (ATSI) community, and to foster and enhance mutual understanding with the aim of achieving a reduction in crime and the rate of ATSI incarceration.
The ICLT facilitates a number of programs for ATSI youth, which are designed to develop interpersonal and team building skills for those identified as ‘at risk’ and offer alternatives to involvement in crime. The following programs are all reported against the Aboriginal Justice Agreement and ACT Chief Ministers Task Force on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs bi-monthly (unless otherwise stated).
Indigenous people (4650) represent approximately 1.29 per cent of the ACT population (ABS statistics put ACT population at 360 100). The ATSI population in the ACT is much younger than the rest of the population in the Territory.
During this reporting period, 9.2 per cent of all persons taken into custody by ACT Policing identified as being ATSI descent, (see Table C20.1). This is a significant decrease from 2009–10 where 15.8 per cent of all persons taken into custody identified as being of ATSI descent.
Of persons arrested (excluding persons arrested for protective custody for intoxication), 17.1 per cent (534 persons) identified as being of ATSI decent.
During the reporting period there were 11.1 per cent (125) instances of people taken into protective custody for intoxication who identified as being of ATSI descent. These instances were for the commission of substantive criminal offence/s or due to their need for protective custody due to intoxication.
The overall results are positive, with a substantial decrease in adult custody rates. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the current programs undertaken by the ICLT are providing a positive influence on the over representation of Indigenous people being taken in custody combined with a significant decrease in volume crime statistics. More information can be found at Sections A3 — Highlights and A9 — Analysis of Agency Performance.
Ulumba ‘Rain’ by artist Zita Wallace was commissioned and later launched by ACT Policing in April 2011, depicting the journey between police and the Aboriginal community.
| Persons arrested | Protective custody for intoxication | Total in custody | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Total | ||
| Juvenile | Indigenous | 112 | 35 | 147 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 120 | 40 | 160 |
| Non-Indigenous | 224 | 93 | 317 | 24 | 9 | 33 | 248 | 102 | 350 | |
| Total | 336 | 128 | 464 | 32 | 14 | 46 | 368 | 142 | 510 | |
| Adult | Indigenous | 309 | 78 | 387 | 95 | 17 | 112 | 404 | 95 | 499 |
| Non-Indigenous | 1912 | 359 | 2271 | 816 | 119 | 935 | 2728 | 478 | 3206 | |
| Total | 2221 | 437 | 2658 | 911 | 136 | 1047 | 3132 | 573 | 3705 | |
| TOTAL | 2557 | 565 | 3122 | 943 | 150 | 1093 | 3500 | 715 | 4215 | |
Source: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
(Reported against the Aboriginal Justice Agreement only.)
The AJA is a major commitment of the ACT Government, which seeks to address the law and justice needs to ATSI people in the ACT. To ensure the objectives of the agreement are achieved, a reporting framework has been developed to monitor the progress of all actions.
This reporting framework outlines progress against each of the 105 tasks and ensures compliance and review of the agreement prior to its expiry in 2013. The AJA aims to achieve the following objectives:
ACT Policing is working with our government and non-government partners to fulfil our commitments to the AJA and to provide better services and engagement with the Indigenous community in the ACT. These relationships have been strengthened which has resulted in greater engagement with families who have often become disengaged with community services.
ACT Policing is further continuing to contribute to the reduction of incarceration rates by undertaking and committing to the following:
As part of our ongoing commitment and in achieving the AJA, we have continued to manage and deliver a number of programs and activities aimed at ATSI people, some of which were launched during this reporting period.
The ICLT along with Judicial Operations partner with the Aboriginal Justice Centre (AJC) to maintain the ‘Interview Friends Program.’ This program ensures that an interview friend is provided to all ATSI persons who require or request this service. Regular training is provided by the AJC to ensure that all volunteers maintain their knowledge and skills.
The ICLT is responsible for ensuring currency of contact information for the Interview Friends Program.
Research conducted by the Australia New Zealand Police Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) states that there is significant over representation of ATSI persons in crime, both as victims and offenders. It is estimated that around one-third of arrests of ATSI people in the ACT are for breaches of bail or failing to appear in court.
ACT Policing, in conjunction with the various agencies, developed the ‘Front Up’ program to allow Indigenous people a mechanism to voluntarily surrender themselves to the courts without having to be processed by the ACT Watch House.
Since the program trail commenced in August 2009, there have been 34 instances where the AJC has arranged for offenders to voluntarily hand themselves into the courts for arrest on breach on bail, or an outstanding warrant for ‘failing to appear’. The program has been successful and is viewed as a major step forward in fostering positive relationships between police, the AJC and the ATSI community in the ACT. The ICLT is currently managing this program in partnership with the AJC to assist with the establishment of an ongoing effective framework.
In July 2010 the ICLT participated in a number of NAIDOC Week activities and events along with more than 400 ATSI and non-ATSI people. This participation will continue in 2011.
ACT Policing provides funding for some of the NAIDOC Week activities. More information can be found at Section C.15 — Community Grants/Assistance/Sponsorship.
Launched in January 2010, the Kickstart program focuses on ATSI people who have become disengaged from the community and service provision. The program runs in partnership with the Northside Community Service and is a conduit for Indigenous persons to re-engage with service providers and their local community.
During this reporting period three programs have been facilitated by Northside Community Services and supported by ACT Policing, involving approximately 300 participants.
28 February 2011
For Sergeant Doug Inwood’s supervisor
At around 10.45am this morning (Monday 28 February) at the Sulwood and Athllon roundabout I noticed a girl writhing on the side of the road being attended by two women (one was the mother and the other a girl who stopped to assist).
I stopped and ran over to see if they required assistance as I presumed the girl had been run down by the car on the side of the road. At the same time the driver of an SUV also ran across the road to provide assistance. The girl had severe bruising down her back and was writhing uncontrollably.
The SUV driver quickly took control of the situation, assessed the girl’s condition and made a phone call for assistance. She appeared to be having a fit.
Because of the questions he asked the mother of the girl I presumed he was a doctor and asked him if was indeed a ‘medic’. He said no — stating he was a police officer.
He took over from the mother as the girl in question required considerable strength to restrain her and prevent injury.
I ended up comforting the distraught mother while the police officer and the girl continued to give both comfort and restrain the distraught girl. Both continued supporting the girl until the arrival of uniformed police and an ambulance.
Too often police are under the pump and criticised for their performance. Here was an off-duty police officer who could have easily driven past this girl in distress. Instead he stopped, gave immediate support to a very distressed young girl in a calm and measured way and at the same time gave ongoing support to a very distressed mother.
This program has been developed to increase the engagement of high risk young ATSI females in recreational activities, community based projects and cultural awareness programs and is still in its early stages of development.
The aim of the program is to assist in reducing the rate of young ATSI females involved in crime and promotes positive relationships between ACT Policing and the ATSI community. This initiative has been lead by ACT Policing in partnership with Northside Community Services and the PCYC.
Girl Power has a team in the Women’s Touch Football ACT 2011 Winter Domestic Competition. As of 30 June 2011 the team had played eight games and is attracting significant interest from other members of the ATSI community. Age demographic for the team is 14 to 35 years.
The MPower committee was established under the auspices of the ACT Chief Ministers Task Force on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to provide practical measures for at risk families, through frontline service delivery agencies to build their capacity to engage and to seek solutions to a range of issues that affect them.
As the lead agency, we are instrumental in forming and driving the MPower committee. This whole-of-government response in represented by the Department of Housing and Community Services, ACT Health, the Department of Justice and Community Safety, ACT Department of Education and Training, Housing ACT, ACT Corrections, Youth Justice, ACT Courts and Tribunals and ACT Mental Health. The committee aims to focus the various services and agencies to assist disadvantaged Indigenous families and individuals.
(Reported against the ACT Chief Ministers Task Force on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs only.)
This program focuses on re-empowering Indigenous people who have become entrenched within the judicial system by providing them with alternatives to crime related activities i.e. employment and assisting in generating a legitimate income.
The aim of this program is to reduce the rate at which Indigenous people come into contact with the judicial system and provide them with the opportunity to legitimately earn a living and support their family.
(This program ceased in December 2010.)
ICLT members, along with Youth Liaison Officers, participated in various sporting activities and case conferencing with Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people at the Bimberi Juvenile Detention Centre. This provided these members with an opportunity to engage with incarcerated young people in a controlled environment and contribute to the rehabilitation process.
As a Commonwealth Agency the reporting requirements of the ACT Environment Protection Act 1997 do not apply to us, however, we do take our responsibility towards the environment seriously.
Environmentally sustainable principles and practices are being integrated into the design, construction and operation of our facilities, including:
We ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account when purchasing office furniture and equipment. We also have a comprehensive recycling program for paper, toner cartridges, metal and fluorescent tubes.
Construction progress for the new Belconnen Police Station.
The total ACT Policing fleet at 30 June 2011 comprised 195 motor vehicles and 25 motorcycles. Table C.21.1 illustrated the break down of the vehicles by fuel type and the estimated greenhouse emissions.
| Fuel type | Vehicles | Estimated CO2 emissions (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|
| LPG | 11 | 104 |
| Hybrid | 3 | 3 |
| Diesel | 52 | 384 |
| ULP | 154 | 892 |
| TOTAL | 220 | 1383 |
During this reporting period we continued to meet the targets set by the Australian Greenhouse Office in relation to the number of vehicles achieving a Green Vehicle Guide score of more than ten. We also continued to encourage the use of ethanol-blended fuels during the reporting period.
Total water consumption across our facilities during this reporting period was 15 133 kilolitres.
Table C.21.2 below shows our energy use and associated CO2 emissions. The table also includes an estimate of emissions as a result of waste based on the average full-time equivalent (FTE) staff during this reporting period.
| Energy type | Usage | Estimated CO2 emissions (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 6 088 469 kWH | 6799 |
| GAS | 18 129 186 MJ | 1292 |
| Waste | 925 Ave FTE | 1398 |
| TOTAL | 9489 |
The total estimated CO2 emissions for ACT Policing during the reporting period was 10 872 tones (1383 from vehicles and 9489 from energy use and waste). The slight increase from 10 277 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the 2009–10 reporting period is due to increases in FTE throughout the year.
ACT Policing is continually reviewing its approach to ecological sustainable development, particularly in relation to capital works and its accommodation strategy.
During this reporting period, ACT Policing established a strategic accommodation committee to determine ACT Policing’s footprint in the coming years. Once this future direction is set, and requirements determined, we will be developing an appropriate environmentally sustainability program for all our facilities, noting that our carbon footprint will necessarily be more than other agencies given the 24/7 nature of policing business. However, within that paradigm we will collaborate with others, to identify ways of minimising waste, energy and improve energy efficiency.
One of the challenges facing ACT Policing in this respect is that we currently occupy some buildings which were not purpose-built or designed for the unique nature of our operating environment, with many retro-fit to ensure some level of environmental sustainability. Such buildings are counter-productive financially and in the environmental sense. Working inline with the strategic accommodation strategy will ensure a consistent and thoughtful approach to how we address ecological sustainable development.
An example of our approach to ensuring ecological sustainable development is the construction of the new Belconnen Police Station.
The new Belconnen Police Station, which is currently under construction, has included the following specific environment sustainability design requirements:
The new station will be an environmentally friendly building with several key features that encourage less energy and water use including:
{undated}
Constable Sam Norman – Belconnen Police Station Constable Narelle Kavanagh – Belconnen Police Station Mr Luke Shoemark (unsworn member) – ACT Policing Operations
The work of all three above officers was exemplary and — from our point of view — way above and beyond the call of duty.
We are deeply appreciative of their prompt and understanding response and their brilliant work in contacting and gaining the confidence of our daughter who was severely stressed by a number of setbacks she has recently experienced in a long ongoing marital dispute.
Please thank all of the officers again and (if appropriate) draw this message of thanks to their superior officers.
Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts.
{name withheld for privacy reasons}
Consistent with the strategic framework of the ACT Women’s Plan 2010–2015, there was significant progress in identifying better conditions for women in policing in the ACT during this reporting period.
Women in policing, and more specifically, increasing the representation of women in our police service, is a key area of focus for ACT Policing.
During this reporting period a working group was established to examine ways in which flexible and part-time work patterns could be introduced more broadly into ACT Policing to facilitate a more balanced approach to work and family commitments.
We began by reviewing the needs of members, particularly those in sworn roles, when they return to work from extended leave. Patrol rostering patterns are being examined to explore more effective ways to meet the requirement of a 24/7 response capability, and to retain experience in frontline roles by looking at ways in which rosters can accommodate the work/life needs of members. This will necessarily need to be informed by the new Enterprise Agreement currently being negotiated in the AFP.
Developing flexibility in operational employment options has been acknowledged as a major challenge for ACT Policing (more information about our major challenges can be found in Section A.3 — Highlights). Policing, is by its very nature, a reactive environment providing service and response 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. A certain number of frontline police are required each shift to effectively police Canberra, and to conform with our Enterprise Agreement.
Embedding flexible work options within the operational environment is not without considerable difficulty. This has lead to officers returning from, for example, maternity leave, traditionally being employed in non-operational roles. However, our members have indicated their desire to be able to return to operational duties while still being able to fulfil their family obligations. We will continue to work to achieve this.
In December 2010 and May 2011, ACT Policing participated at the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) Women in Policing forums. The forums are a proactive group brought together to identify best practice in:
Our Think you’d make a great cop campaign in September 2010 to support local recruitment efforts for community policing officers targeted females to increase representation of women in ACT Policing. Female officers were used in profiling their career in ACT Policing, and spoke about their experiences, challenges and rewards as part of this strategy. As a result, our first ACT Policing specific recruit class — Federal Police Development Program 3/2011, June 2011 — consisted of 13 women and 12 men. This was a significant milestone in increasing the footprint of women in policing.
As part of the AFP’s ongoing recruitment strategy, emphasis has been given to recruiting more women into the organisation. Future recruit courses will target a 50 per cent female participation rate.
Our executive team comprises five women, including the Director Corporate Services Judith Kendrick.
In March 2011 ACT Policing celebrated women in policing at the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day with a morning tea to recognise the achievements of women in ACT Policing and the community.
The 2011 global theme for International Women’s Day was equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.
As part of these celebrations women’s contribution to policing was recognised through a historical depiction of women in policing — including featuring the first female police officer — illustrations of changes in women’s uniforms over the years, and profiles of women in ACT Policing’s executive structure.
ACT Policing’s White Ribbon Day luncheon, November 2010.
In November 2010, ACT Policing hosted a lunch at the National Convention Centre as part of an international campaign to stamp out violence against women.
White Ribbon Day is recognised as a call to action for the community to join together and take an active stand in condemning violence against women. Police Commissioners from each Australian State and Territory and New Zealand joined dignitaries and other guests — including a select group of young Canberra citizens — at the lunch which was aimed to raise awareness and promote education about this issue across the entire community.
The Chair of the White Ribbon Foundation — Andrew O’Keefe — led Police Commissioners in pledging an oath never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.
The campaign was further promoted with our members leading the ‘Men in Uniform’ stalls with the ACT Fire Brigade, Canberra Raiders and Brumbies to raise funds in support of the elimination of violence against women. The stalls were located in Canberra’s major shopping centres and sold White Ribbon Day merchandise and provided information about the issue. The stalls were inundated with support from people wanting to undertake ‘the oath’. It was considered to be an outstanding result and showed that the community is genuinely supportive of this campaign. More than $8 000 was raised.
ACT Policing is a key partner agency of the ACT’s Family Violence Intervention Program (FVIP). Established in 1998 the FVIP allows for a coordinated response to family violence incidents that come to police attention and proceed to prosecution. The FVIP is a program that integrates the activities of the police, prosecution, courts and corrections in the criminal justice system, and coordinates externally with other key agencies such as the Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS).
While ACT Policing’s mandate with regard to responding to family violence is investigation, evidence collection, and arrest and charge, we work cooperatively with other FVIP participating agencies to maximise victims safety and protection, provide opportunities for offender accountability and rehabilitation, and seek continual improvement in responding to family violence crimes.
More so than men, women are predominately victims of family violence and we work closely with DVCS to ensure victims of this crime are provided crisis support. This relationship is supported by a Memorandum of Understanding which outlines each agencies responsibilities and how we work together in responding to family violence incidents including DVCS providing a 24/7 call out response to all incidents.
Crime Prevention’s Intervention Team provide FVIP training to police recruits (through a two day program) as well as to operational members within ACT Policing.
The Intervention Team also provide victim assistance and support through the engagement of Victim Liaison Officers (VLOs). VLOs contact victims of indictable crimes and offer support, referral and assistance with a range of activities relating to the criminal justice system. Through these activities ACT Policing has good working relationships with government departments and community organisations that also support victims of crime.
ACT Policing established a part time employment working group — the Part Time Employment Working Group — during this reporting period to:
Three meetings took place during the reporting period in which a number of common issues and constraints emerged.
Eight recommendations were made by the group which were presented to the ACT Policing Executive Committee. Of those recommendations the following four recommendations are in the process of being addressed and implemented across ACT Policing:
The work undertaken by the Part Time Employment Working Group was presented to the Canberra Women’s Network meeting in July 2010 and to the National Women’s Advisory Group in October 2010.
The Canberra Women’s Network was established to provide women within policing — sworn and unsworn — the opportunity to network, discuss issues impacting on women within the workplace, and identify emerging trends and issues with a view to developing and implementing strategies to address these issues. The Network provides a forum which facilitates training opportunities for women, for example, developing job applications. A number of women within ACT Policing are members of the Canberra Women’s Network.
The National Women’s Advisory Group was established in 2010 to promote a culture of diversity for the advancement, opportunities, recruitment and retention of women within the AFP. ACT Policing has senior representation on this Advisory Group.
The AFP complies with the Model Litigant Policy under the Judiciary Act 1901 (Cth), and abides by the legal service directions issued by the Commonwealth Attorney-General.
As a Commonwealth agency, any legal work performed for ACT Policing is provided to the Commonwealth, and does not constitute Territory legal work for the purposes of the Law Officer Act 1992 (ACT).
There were no breaches of the Commonwealth Model Litigant Policy in relation to any matters involving ACT Policing during this reporting period.
ACT Policing recognises and values the contribution made to the community by our senior citizens; their experience, skills and knowledge often remains an untapped resource. Our senior citizens, many of whom are retired from full time employment, particularly in the law enforcement field provide experience that can only be obtained ‘on the job’ and as such provide excellent mentors to our police recruits.
We are involved in a range of programs that have a specific focus on the comfort and safety of our senior citizens, including:
Our Senior Liaison Officers regularly deliver home and personal safety presentations to seniors in retirement villages, church groups, aged care facilities and multicultural senior citizen groups. Each participant at the presentation is given a Home and Personal Safety booklet, containing a range of useful information and contact numbers for the police.
More than 4800 booklets have been distributed.
The Senior Liaison Officers have also made 17 home visits to seniors as a result of referrals from Victim Liaison Officers or ACT Policing members.
ACT Policing members assist the Red Cross with the Meals on Wheels service by delivering meals to disadvantaged and vulnerable senior persons in the community. This service assists our officers to engage with the seniors, gain their confidence and monitor their welfare.
The Red Cross also distribute our Home and Personal Safety booklet to all of the Meals on Wheels recipients — some 700 people — most of whom are housebound.
ACT Policing frequently make referrals to SupportLink to provide support to victims and witnesses to criminal activity, bereaved families and to vulnerable, aged or at risk people. The service is available to all persons regardless of age, background or socio-economic status. SupportLink provides a referral mechanism between police and social support services to increase the opportunity for persons in need to receive the appropriate social support relevant to their circumstances. SupportLink works directly with police and other emergency services.
One of the programs — the Home Safety Program — is designed to assist ACT residents in improving the security of their homes and to minimise other preventable risks, such as fire or injuries caused by falls. This program is supported by a range of other agencies including ACT Policing, ACT Fire Brigade, ACT Ambulance Service, Emergency Services Agency and Neighbourhood Watch.
This three day event provides an excellent opportunity for our members to engage with a large number of seniors, a target audience not otherwise reached on such a large scale. Approximately 14 000 attended the expo where our Crime Prevention members spoke to senior citizens about concerns about elder abuse, Safety House and Volunteers in Policing.
Volunteer in Policing member at the Canberra Retirement and Lifestyle Expo.
Our website — launched in April 2010 — contains information and practical suggestions for seniors on how to manage their personal safety so they are comfortable in their own homes, and confident to leave their homes to pursue other activities.
Some of these suggestions include:
If confronted by a person on the street who is suspicious or who has entered your residence then:
@CPOACT I live with cyclist robbed in Reid last night. Police response on scene, at hospital and follow up exemplary - much appreciated
@ACTPol_Traffic well done guys! Just wish people would be more responsible.
@ACTPol_Traffic thanks for the heads up, and for providing such a brilliant service- can’t count the times you’ve kept us clear of incidents
@CPOACT How are we going to get the message through that drinking driving will not be tolerated if ACT Court are so lenient? Bad outcome
This is smart Twittering. ACT Police in Canberra using Twitter to keep folks informed. Well done team. @ACTPol_Traffic
June 2011
I would like to on behalf of our team here at Westfield Shopping Centre Management — Belconnen, take this opportunity to thank you and your officers that responded to Monday’s events here at the Belconnen Mall.
I have worked with many police units over the years in a variety of jurisdictions and I was particularly impressed with the response of ACT Policing and in particular with the manner of the response. I believe some 22 units responded including elements of the SRS.
The day was not without difficulty however it was the calm and professional response where I simply knew you and your team were operating in the background that I was most impressed with.
I guess the ‘paydirt’ for police operations was the swift apprehension of the offender which gladly brought an end the ongoing attacks to the centre that day.
On a daily operational level my security team works extremely well with the members of Belconnen Police Station. On Monday it was the Command and Control that took central focus.
My team has also worked well to complete a video dossier of the offender which has lead to the investigating the procurement of accelerants from within the mall prior to the arson attacks.
Hopefully this with the efforts of you team will provide the courts with sufficient evidence to successfully convict the offender in the coming months.
{name withheld for privacy reasons}
Subsection 37(a) of the Australian Capital Territory Self-Government Act 1988 provides that the ACT Executive has the responsibility of governing the Territory with respect to matters of law and order. Under subsection 23(1)(c) the ACT Legislative Assembly, however, has no power to make laws with respect to the provision by the AFP of police services in the ACT. As such there is no police act or similar legislation in the ACT with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) being responsible for providing policing services to the ACT under Section 8 of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979.
In effect, these two pieces of legislation mean that the ACT is policed by the AFP and under the provisions of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 at Subsection 8(1A), the Minister for Justice and Customs and the Australian Capital Territory may enter arrangements for the police services in relation to the Australian Capital Territory that are in respect of Territory functions as defined by section 3 of the Australian Capital Territory Self Government (Consequential Provisions) Act 1988 (hereinafter called ‘police services’).
Paragraph 9(1)(b) of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 provides that in addition to any other powers and duties, a member of the Australian Federal Police has, when performing functions in the Australian Capital Territory, the powers and duties conferred or imposed on a constable or on an officer of police by or under any law (including the common law) of the Territory.
The Commonwealth Minister for Justice and Customs and the Australian Capital Territory have agreed to enter arrangements for the provision of police services in respect of Territory functions in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the Arrangement.
IT IS AGREED by the parties to this Arrangement as follows:
1.1 In this Arrangement unless the contrary intention appears: “ACT” means the Australian Capital Territory;
“ACT Policing” means the Australian Federal Police business unit responsible for the provision of policing services to the ACT.
“AFP” means the Australian Federal Police;
“AFP Act” means the Australian Federal Police Act 1979;
“Chief Police Officer” means the AFP employee appointed by the Commissioner, as provided for in this Arrangement, to be the Chief Police Officer for the ACT;
“Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police referred to in section 6 of the AFP Act;
“Commonwealth Minister” means the Commonwealth Minister of State appointed to administer the AFP Act;
“Commonwealth Place of Interest” means a facility or location that is directly involved in the conduct of Commonwealth Government business or is otherwise in the interests of the Commonwealth to protect.
‘Police Minister” means the Minister of the ACT Executive who is responsible for police matters;
“Police Services” means community policing services provided for under this Arrangement which include, but are not necessarily limited to, the preservation of peace and good order, the prevention and detection of crime and the protection of persons form injury or death, and the protection of property from damage, whether arising from criminal acts or otherwise;
“Purchase Agreement” means the annual agreement provided for under this Arrangement between the Police Minister, the Commissioner, and the Chief Police Officer setting out details of goods and services purchased by the ACT from the AFP, the agreed price for those services payable by the ACT to the AFP and the reporting by the AFP on performance.
2.1 The purpose of this Arrangement is to establish the enabling framework for the provision by the AFP of policing services to the ACT.
2.2 The Commonwealth is committed to the provision, within the context of this Arrangement and the Purchase Agreement, of a high quality community policing service to the ACT.
3.1 Both parties seek from this Arrangement:
4.1 The Commonwealth and the ACT Government agree that the AFP will provide Police services to the ACT Government in accordance with the Purchase Agreement, as varied from time to time by arrangement between the Police Minister and the Chief Police Officer.
4.2 The ACT shall pay the AFP for the provision of police services pursuant to this Arrangement the amounts specified in the Purchase Agreement.
4.3 The parties acknowledge that the AFP is also required, within the ACT, to provide police services to the Commonwealth which are not subject to this Arrangement and for which the ACT is not required to pay. This exclusion extends to cover the costs of enforcing Commonwealth Law and protecting Commonwealth interests by AFP personnel employed within the ACT Policing business unit. Costs excluded from the arrangement will include those associated with the protection of foreign dignitaries, foreign missions, and Commonwealth places of interest. The basis for allocating costs against the Commonwealth and ACT Governments will be articulated in the Purchase Agreement.
4.4 The allocation of resources for the police services required by the Commonwealth within the ACT will not be altered in any way which might materially affect the police services purchased by the ACT Government, without prior consultation and agreement. Failure to obtain agreement will be sufficient grounds for the issue of a notice to discontinue this Arrangement in accordance with clause 13.3.
4.5 Revenues received by the AFP in the course of enforcement of ACT legislation under this Arrangement will be remitted to the ACT.
4.6 The ACT Government will be responsible for the provision of appropriate Community Policing infrastructure and facilities to the AFP. The ACT Government and the AFP will jointly develop a plan to apportion individual responsibilities for the maintenance of structures and facilities and the provision of fittings during the term of this Arrangement.
5.1 There shall be a Chief Police Officer for the ACT who shall, subject to the Authority of the Commissioner, be responsible to the Police Minister for the achievement of the outcomes set out in the Purchase Agreement and the general management and control of AFP personnel and resources deployed for the purposes of that agreement.
5.2 The Chief Police Officer shall be appointed by the Commissioner with the approval of the Police Minister.
5.3 If the Police Minister advises the Commissioner in writing that the Chief Police Officer no longer enjoys the confidence of the ACT Executive, and of the reasons for that lack of confidence, the Commissioner shall as soon as practicable replace the Chief Police Officer.
5.4 The Chief Police Officer will have membership of the ACT Government Chief Executive Officer forum and will receive timely advice on ACT budget instructions and processes.
6.1 The Police Minister may give to the Chief Police Officer general directions in writing as to policy, priorities and goals in relation to the provision of police services by the AFP under this Arrangement and the Purchase Agreement.
6.2 The Chief Police Officer shall comply with any written directions received from the Police Minister under clause 6.1 unless a contrary written direction has been received from the Commonwealth Minister pursuant to the AFP Act.
6.3 Any written directions from the Police Minister will be appended to the Purchasing Agreement in a form that enables them to be published in the ACT Policing Annual Report.
6.4 Except in case of emergency, the Commonwealth Minister shall not issue to the Commissioner a Direction pursuant to the AFP Act which affects the provision by the AFP of police services to the ACT unless the Commonwealth Minister has first consulted the Police Minister about the nature and purpose of that direction. Where in an emergency a Direction is given without prior consultation with the Police Minister, the Commonwealth Minister will consult the Police Minister about the Direction as soon as possible thereafter.
6.5 If a Direction by the Commonwealth Minister to the Commissioner has the effect of increasing the cost of police services provided to the ACT, then the costs attributable to the Direction will be borne by the Commonwealth by adjusting the price paid by the ACT in accordance with the price variation provisions of the Purchase Agreement.
7.1 Without inhibiting the independent reporting and advisory capacity of the Chief Police Officer as prescribed in clauses 5.1 and 8.1, the Police Minister may request the AFP to provide information to a nominated agency within the ACT. The nominated agency shall provide support to the Police Minister in the performance of his or her ministerial functions on policing.
8.1 The Chief Police Officer shall provide to the nominated agency such information, reports and recommendations in relation to the provision of services to the ACT under this Arrangement as the Police Minister may from time to time require. The Chief Police Officer shall exercise discretion over the release of information to the nominated agency to ensure that relevant information may be lawfully reported with due regard to privacy and operational policing considerations.
8.2 Consistent with the AFP values of integrity and accountability and without limiting the generality of clause 8.1, the nominated agency may, subject to any applicable secrecy laws, request and receive information from the Chief Police Officer, on behalf of the Police Minister, regarding:
8.3 The Chief Police Officer shall report annually to the Police Minister at a time nominated by the Police Minister on the provision of police services pursuant to this Arrangement for the proceeding year. The annual report will describe the outcomes achieved during the period reported on and shall include details of the resources utilised, the levels of crime reported and such other matters as may be specified by the Police Minister.
9.1 The Chief Police Officer will provide after the end of each financial year and by date nominated by the Police Minister, a financial statement for that financial year accompanied by a report of the Commonwealth Auditor-General or some other auditor nominated by the Chief Police Officer and approved by the Police Minister stating:
9.2 The Police Minister is also entitled to have specific financial and performance audits conducted by the Commonwealth Auditor-General, or other agreed auditor, the cost of which shall be borne by the ACT.
10.1 If legal advice and appearance about matters covered by the laws of the ACT (including the common law) is required by the AFP in relation to the provision of police services pursuant to this Arrangement, the Chief Police Officer shall
seek such advice or appearance from the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, the ACT Government Solicitor’s Office or other legal sources, whichever is appropriate in the circumstances.
11.1 The Commonwealth is responsible for determining the terms and conditions of employment of AFP employees involved in the provision of police services to the ACT pursuant to this Arrangement.
11.2 If the Commissioner proposes to vary the terms and conditions of employment of AFP personnel in a way which might affect the manner and cost of providing police services to the ACT, the Commissioner shall, before altering those terms and conditions, consult with and advise the Police Minister of the likely implications of the proposed alterations.
12.1 The mechanism for resolving disputes arising from this Arrangement will be as follows:
12.2 will use their best endeavours to settle the dispute; and
12.2 For the purposes of this Arrangement the Contact Officers will be:
For the AFP, Director, Corporate Services on advice from the AFP, Chief Operating Officer; andFor the Territory, Director, Justice, Planning and Programs, Policy and Regulatory Division, Department of Justice and Community Safety.
12.3 For the purposes of the Arrangement the Responsible Officers will be:
For the AFP, Chief Police Officer in consultation with the AFP, Chief Operating Officer; and For the Territory, Chief Executive Officer, Department of Justice and Community Safety.
12.4 Any dispute or matter of concern to either party arising from this Arrangement that cannot be resolved by the officers nominated at clause 12.2 or 13.3 shall be referred for consultation between resolution by the Commonwealth Minister and the Police Minister.
12.5 Contact Officers for the purpose of the annual Purchase Agreement are to be nominated in each Purchase Agreement.
13.1 This Arrangement shall commence on a date agreed to by the parties and shall remain in force for five years.
13.2 Two years prior to its expiry, the parties shall commence negotiations about the terms and conditions of a renewal of the Arrangement.
13.3 If either party decides this Arrangement shall not be continued or renewed, it shall give at least 2 years notice in writing to that effect.
13.4 In the event that a replacement Arrangement is not signed at expiry of the preceding Arrangement, the parties may agree to extend the terms and conditions of the current Arrangement.
14.1 A Purchase Agreement pursuant to this Arrangement shall be renegotiated annually prior to the commencement of the next financial year, which begins on 1 July.
14.2 In the event that the parties have not signed a Purchase Agreement by 30 June in any year, the parties may agree to the terms and conditions of an interim Purchase Agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF this Arrangement has been respectively signed for and on behalf of the parties:
SIGNED by Senator the Han Chris Ellison
Minister for Justice and Customs on behalf of the Australian Government
23 April 2006
SIGNED by Simon Corbell MLA
Minister for Police and Emergency Services on behalf of the ACT Government
14 June 2006
1. In accordance with the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (the Act), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) provides community policing services to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The Act also allows for the Commonwealth and ACT Governments to enter an arrangement for the provision of those policing services.
2. On 14 June 2006, the Commonwealth Minister for Justice and Customs and the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services entered an arrangement which established the enabling framework for the provision by the AFP of policing services to the ACT. The Arrangement for the Provision of Police Services to the ACT (the Arrangement) requires the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services (the ACT Minister), the Commissioner and the Chief Police Officer to enter a Purchase Agreement (the Agreement) for those services. The Agreement is required to set out the details of the goods and services to be purchased by the ACT from the AFP, the agreed price for those services and AFP reporting on performance.
3. This Agreement will be read in conjunction with the Arrangement of 14 June 2006.
4. This Agreement is between the ACT Minister, the Commissioner of the AFP and the Chief Police Officer for the ACT.
5. Unless stated otherwise, definitions in the Agreement are the same as in the Arrangement.
6. The output classes covered by this Agreement include all the goods and services to be purchased by the ACT from the AFP through the direct police budget appropriation. This Agreement does not cover activities funded by revenue outside the direct police appropriation.
7. The ACT’s purchaser interests covered by this Agreement include:
8. Agreed variations to this Agreement shall be supported by correspondence which will be appended to the Agreement.
9. The policing outcome and associated outputs to be provided, performance measures and definitions are contained within Schedule 1 to this Agreement.
10. The Police Demand and Resourcing Model for the ACT, currently being developed by Mr John Walker, may be used as a tool to assist in analysing options for police staffing and in problem resolution. The Model may also be used by the ACT Government and ACT Policing as a strategic tool to inform decisions in relation to determining future police resources to respond to changing demands, trends and policy impacts on policing in the ACT.
11. The AFP will follow the general principles of Commonwealth Cost Recovery Guidelines where appropriate in the provision of policing services to the ACT Government.[1]
12. Payments to the AFP will be on a pro-rata monthly basis in accordance with the 2010–2011 Appropriation Payment Schedule for ACT Policing, except for the one-off Repairs and Maintenance funding which will be paid following request from the AFP with supporting documentation for reimbursement of expenditure for these works.
13. Enabling services costs to support new initiatives will be included as part of any ACT Policing budget bids.
14. The Territory and AFP responsible Officers as defined under clause 24 of the agreement, will negotiate the need to fund additional enabling services on the basis of any extraordinary change in demand that may arise as a result of a policy change by the Territory or by an unforeseen change in social circumstances in the ACT. ACT Treasury will be informed of any additional funding requirements that are deemed necessary as soon as practically possible.
15 In accordance with the Arrangement, the Chief Police Officer for the ACT, subject to the authority of the Commissioner of the AFP, will be responsible to the ACT Minister for the achievement of the policing outcome and delivery of outputs set out in the Purchase Agreement and the general management and control of AFP personnel and resources deployed for the purposes of the Arrangement.
16. Short-term variations to targets and priorities set by this Agreement may be determined by the Minister, including at the request of the Chief Police Officer, following consultation and with reasonable notice.
17. Such variations will be appended to this Agreement and should be within budget limits unless otherwise agreed.
18. The Chief Police Officer will provide services in support of ACT ministerial information requirements which are compliant with ACT Government standards.
19. The Agreement shall apply for the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 in accordance with clause 14.1 of the Arrangement.
20. The Chief Police Officer shall report to the ACT Minister within one (1) calendar month at the end of each quarter, unless otherwise agreed by parties, on those matters prescribed in Schedules 1, 2 and 3 in this Agreement. The reports will be provided in a format agreed by the parties, covering performance, finance and resources.
21. The AFP will assess the results of the survey of crime victims in the ACT once completed, for possible inclusion as one benchmark for establishing performance measures that relate to responding to victims of crime. A performance measure may be documented in Agreements from July 2011 onwards.
22. The mechanism for resolving disputes arising from this Agreement will be as follows:
23. For the purposes of this Agreement the Contact Officers will be:
24. For the purposes of the Agreement the Responsible Officers will be:
25. Any dispute or matter of concern to either party arising from this Arrangement that cannot be resolved by the officers nominated at clause 22 or 23 shall be referred for consultation between resolution by the Commonwealth Minister and the Police Minister.
26. The Chief Police Officer shall also report annually to the ACT Minister, at a time nominated by the ACT Minister, on the provision of police services pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
In partnership with the community, create a safer and more secure Australian Capital Territory through the provision of quality police services.
This will be achieved through four main areas of activity: Crime and Safety Management; Traffic Law Enforcement and Road Safety; Prosecution and Judicial Support; and Crime Prevention.
| Crime and Safety Management | |
| • Incident Response and Policing Support for the Community • Crime Detection and Investigation ACT Policing will provide a safer and more secure Australian Capital Territory so that members of the community can go about their daily lives without undue fear of crime. This will be achieved by: (i) providing efficient and effective police response to calls for assistance received from members of the community; (ii) conducting investigations to detect offenders and bring them to justice; and (iii) maintaining a proactive presence in the community, driven by the analysis of police intelligence data. |
|
| Output Price: | $95,600,000 |
| Traffic Law Enforcement and Road Safety | |
| ACT Policing will enforce traffic laws and promote safer behaviour on ACT roads with the objectives of reducing the number of crash fatalities and injuries to members of the community. | |
| Output Price: | $12,870,000 |
| Prosecution & Judicial Support | |
| ACT Policing will maximise the number of successful prosecutions in Court by providing support to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Courts. |
|
| Output Price: | $20,863,000 |
| Crime Prevention | |
| ACT Policing will seek to reduce and prevent crime through strategies that incorporate government and community cooperation to address risk factors associated with criminal behaviour and recidivism and raise awareness of the community’s role in their own safety and security. | |
| Output Price: | $9,242,000 |
| Total Price2 = | $138,575,000 |
The above four main outputs will be achieved through the provision of police resources – including personnel, as defined and explained in Schedule 2 of this Agreement.
The attribution of prices to outputs is indicative of resource prioritisation by outputs and may vary throughout the year according to the operational assessment of the Chief Police Officer. Changes to the total price must be agreed by both parties.
| Measures | Target |
| Level of Crime | |
| 1. Number of offences against the person reported or becoming known per 100,000 population.a | 800 or lessb1 |
| 2. Number of offences against property reported or becoming known per 100,000 population.a |
8500 or lessb |
| 3. Percentage of offences against the person cleared. | 67% or moreb |
| 4. Percentage of offences against property cleared. | 14% or moreb |
| Perceptions of Crime | |
| 5. Percentage of persons who are concerned about becoming a victim of physical assault in a public place – excluding sexual assault in the next 12 months.a,c,d | National Average or less |
| 6. Percentage of persons who are concerned about becoming a victim of sexual assault in the next 12 months. a,c,d | National Average or less |
| 7. Percentage of persons who are concerned about becoming a victim of housebreaking in the next 12 months. a,c,d | National Average or less |
| 8. Percentage of persons who are concerned about becoming a victim of motor vehicle theft in the next 12 months. a,c,d | National Average or less |
| 9. Percentage of persons who feel safe at home alone during the day. a,c,d | National Average or more |
| 10. Percentage of persons who feel safe at home alone during the night. a,c,d | National Average or more |
| Police Responsiveness | |
| 11. Response times for Priority One Incidents: •Within 8 minutes; •Within 12 minutes. |
60% or more 90% or more |
| 12. Response times for Priority Two Incidents: •Within 20 minutes; •Within 30 minutes. |
60% or more 95% or more |
| 13. Response times for Priority Three Incidents: Where police attention or response is required: – as determined in consultation with the complainant; – but, in any event, no later than 48 hours from the initial contact by the complainant. |
90% or more |
| 14. Percentage of 000 calls answered on first or second presentation: •On first presentation; •On second presentation. |
90% or more 98% or more |
| Public Confidence in Police | |
| 15. Percentage of persons satisfied with most recent contact with police services.c,d | National Average or more |
| 16. Percentage of persons who agree that police perform their job professionally.c,d | National Average or more |
| 17. Percentage of persons who agree that police treat people fairly and equally.c,d | National Average or more |
| 18. Number of established complaint issues against police.e | 72 or below |
| 19. Number of established complaint issues relating to persons in custody. e | 15 or below |
| Road Safety | |
| 20. Number of road crashes resulting in death per 100,000 population.a | 4.2 or lessb |
| 21. Number of road crashes resulting in injury per 100,000 population.a | 180 or lessb |
| 22. Percentage of persons who self-report to driving 10km per hour or more over the speed limit. a,c,d | National Average or less |
| 23. Percentage of persons who self-report to driving while not wearing a seatbelt. a,c,d | National Average or less |
| 24. Percentage of persons who self-report to driving while suspecting they are over the prescribed alcohol limit. a,c,d f | National Average or less |
| 25. Percentage of persons who self-report to driving when using a mobile phone. a,c,d | National Average or less |
| Supporting the Judicial Process | |
| 26. Percentage of briefs delivered to the DPP within the designated timeframe. g | 75% or more |
| 27. Percentage of cases finalised by offence proved in court.h,i | 80% or more |
| 28. Percentage of cases finalised by a not-guilty verdict or otherwise withdrawn.h,j | 18% or less |
| 29. Percentage of cases otherwise resolved. h,k,l | 5% or less |
| Crime Prevention | |
| 30. Percentage of persons who perceive the following quality of life issues to be a problem in their neighbourhood a,c,d : •speeding cars, dangerous or noisy driving •graffiti/vandalism •louts/gangs •drunken/disorderly behaviour |
National Average or less National Average or less National Average or less National Average or less |
| 31. Number of juveniles referred to diversionary programs m | 55 or morem |
| 32. Number of persons referred to community support agencies. | 5100 |
| 33. Design and delivery of a victim awareness training program for ACT Police Officers. | 90% concluded within a 12 month period n |
| 34. Number of referrals to drug diversion programs (drug demand reduction effort). | 65 or more b |
Notes – Schedule 1
a. These measures encompass the jurisdiction of a great many public and private institutions and individuals who contribute to the overall results and standings. Success in these targets is not the sole domain or responsibility of ACT Policing.
b. These targets are based on a three year average.
b1. ACT Policing has sought an aspirational target in relation to reported offences against the person for 2010-2011 with the understanding that there are a number of externalities which may adversely impact on the ability of ACT Policing to positively influence outcomes against this KPI.
c. These measures are sourced from the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing (NSCSP), a self-reporting survey conducted by Roy Morgan Research.
d. Using the results of the relevant NSCSP questions, the percentage of persons ‘concerned’ in Measures 5-8 equals those who scored ‘somewhat concerned’ or ’very concerned’; the percentage of persons ‘who feel safe’ in Measures 9-10 equals those who scored ‘safe or ’very safe’; the percentage of persons ‘satisfied’ in Measures 16 equals those who scored ‘satisfied’ or ’very satisfied’; the percentage of persons ‘who agree’ in Measures 17-18 equals those who scored ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’; the percentage of persons ‘self-report to driving’ in Measures 23-26 equals those who scored ‘sometimes’, ‘most of the time’ or ‘always’. Measure 31 equals those who scored ‘somewhat of a problem’ or ‘major problem’ for each separate problem.
e. Based on the actual number of issues linked to a complaint rather than the number of persons making complaints. Includes category 1 to 4 complaint issues relating only to ACT Policing members of the Australian Federal Police. Measure 19 excludes issues encompassed in Measure 20. This data has only been collected by ACT Policing for 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, therefore the targets are based on an average of these two years.
f. In the ACT, the prescribed limit is 0.02g of alcohol per 100mL of blood for those classed as a ‘special driver’ in the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Act, 1977.’ Special drivers’ include those with a learner, provisional, probation, restricted, suspended and disqualified licence. The prescribed limit for all other drivers is 0.05g of alcohol per 100mL of blood.
g. Briefs delivered to the DPP within the designated timeframe include those where a formal extension was applied for and granted.
h. These measures are based on the concept of a ‘case’ where a person may be brought before the court on multiple charges. The charges are, for the purposes of this measure, grouped under the apprehension identification number which is automatically generated by the PROMIS Case Management System.
i. This measure records successful prosecutions as being those where any of the charges under one apprehension identification number has been proven before the court.
j. This measure records cases where none of the charges under one apprehension identification number have been proven before the court.
k. This measure records cases which resulted in a court appearance where a magistrate or judge has made a determination which is not related to a finding of guilty or not guilty. This currently refers to mental health orders used by a court.
l. The term “otherwise resolved’ includes cases referred to the Mental Health Tribunal, remands by the court before a matter is determined.
m. Excludes other agency referrals. Target based on 2008-2009 benchmark year data.
n. An allowance has been made for officers on leave, training, etc during the twelve month period. The number of sworn officers will be taken from the date of signature of this Agreement by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. The 12 month period will expire on the date of expiration of this Agreement.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Offence | A breach of the criminal law. |
| Offences against the person | Offences against the person include homicide and related offences, assaults, sexually based offences, kidnap and other person offences. |
| Offences against property | Offences against property include robbery, blackmail, extortion, burglary, fraud, motor vehicle thefts, other theft offences, property damage and environmental offences. |
| Offence cleared | Offences cleared by arrest, summons, Voluntary Agreement to Attend Court, charge before court, diversionary conference, caution, Simple Cannabis Offence Notice, or otherwise resolved. |
| Comparability of Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing results | Data reported in the 2000–2001 financial year was compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and published in the Population Survey Monitor. These data were collected through face-to-face interviews with respondents through a sample of approximately 220 people in each quarter of the financial year. This was discontinued and replaced by the Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing (NSCSP), which is conducted on an ongoing basis throughout the year using telephone interviews. The NSCSP, has been conducted by Roy Morgan Research since 1 July 2006, and prior to this, by AC Nielsen. While the content of the survey remains relatively similar over time, there is some potential for variations in results based solely on the difference in the survey methodologies and survey providers. |
| Prioritised response model | The model used by the Computer Aided Dispatch system to prioritise incidents for dispatch of patrols. |
| Police response | All police attendance to calls for assistance from members of the community that fit within the prioritised response model. |
| Priority One Incident | Life threatening or time critical situations. |
| Priority Two Incident | Situations where the information provided indicates that time is important, but not critical. |
| Priority Three Incident | There are two possible responses to situations where there is no immediate danger to safety or property. This will be either police attention or police response. . Each incident will be managed on a case by case basis in full consultation with the complainant. During that consultation, a determination will be made as to whether the complainant agrees that the matter can be handled over the telephone (police attention) or if attendance is required by Police. If the latter, then attendance must be not later than 48 hours from the initial contact by the complainant. |
| Percentage of 000 calls answered on first and second presentation. | It is the policy of TELSTRA to re-present 000 calls to another line after 9 rings in order to maximise the response rate. This is a national standard endorsed by Emergency Service Organisations across Australia. The measurement of response to 000 calls is based on average operating capacity and the target for this measure does not include abnormal instances created by one major event where operating capacity is overloaded due to multiple reporting of the same incident. |
| Complaint issues | Issues associated with a complaint made in accordance with the Australian Federal Police Act, Part V, 1979. |
| Custody | The restriction or removal of a person’s right to freedom of movement. May also be constructive as a result of a person believing that they may not exercise their free will as a result of dealings with a police officer and is deemed to exist in circumstances where a person: i) is in the company, care, custody or control of a member or special member, and is restricted from leaving that company for the time being; ii) is placed in a holding room; iii) is lodged in police cells or an area or facility controlled by police; or iv) is placed under arrest. |
| Injury | An injury sustained by any person as a result of a collision, which necessitates treatment by a medical practitioner. |
| DPP | Director of Public Prosecutions. |
| Hearing brief of evidence | A collation of all relevant evidentiary material relating to a prosecution to be forwarded to the DPP. It is accepted that for the Judicial Process Measures (Numbers 26, 27, 28, 29) the efficiency of other agencies such as the DPP as well as the capacity of victims and witnesses to present their evidence may also affect judicial process outcomes. |
The ACT Government has agreed to fund the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of 923 AFP employees engaged in the provision of community policing services to the ACT for financial year 2010-2011. (823 FTE plus 100
FTE (enabling)). (Noting that there has been an increase in enabling FTE of two since financial year 2009 -2010. This notional increase is calculated based on the enabling funding provided as part of new initiatives for ACT Policing.)[3] This number is a budgeted figure only, acknowledging that actual staffing levels will vary at any given time.[4] This budgeted figure is used in this Agreement for information only and not as a performance measure.
Staff Movement Reporting
In accordance with subclause 8.2 (c) of the Arrangement, the Chief Police Officer will report quarterly to the Police Minister on the deployment, operational status and movement of AFP employees. Reporting will include:
The Chief Police Officer will give timely advice to the Minister on any senior AFP personnel movements or changes (from Superintendent rank (or equivalent) upwards).
Year period. Any increase in staffing may then be offset by reductions during low workload periods (winter) in order to rema in within annual budgeted levels.
The Chief Police Officer will provide the following report on a quarterly basis in accordance with clause 20 of this Agreement:
The report will be accompanied by commentary where consolidated node variations exceed 5% of pro-rata phased budgets.
The AFP provides Community Policing services to the ACT Government on a cost recovery basis. Costs are calculated against defined outputs to be met by the AFP’s ACT Policing business unit and some specialised elements from the wider AFP (Enabling). ACT Policing business unit costs are apportioned between the ACT and Commonwealth Governments on the basis of direct and indirect cost attribution. Costs associated with AFP operational and corporate support (Enabling) are determined using Commonwealth Government Cost Recovery Guidelines where appropriate.
The annual ACT Policing Activity Survey, which is used as an input into the Activity Matrix will be conducted at a time agreed to by the Police Minister and the Chief Police Officer. Any additional surveys or alternative methods of activity recording will be conducted where agreed to by both parties. Any changes to the Activity Matrix will be applied to the Financial Management Information System (FMIS) as soon as practical. No retrospective changes to the Activity Matrix will be made without the agreement of both parties.
The following components are part of the ACT considerations for ACT Policing costs to the Territory in 2010-2011:
(a) ACT Budgeted Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) of 923 FTE (823 FTE plus 100 FTE (enabling)) = $138,575,000. (Noting that there has been an increase in enabling FTE of two since financial year 2009-10. This notional increase is calculated based on the enabling funding provided as part of new initiatives for ACT Policing.)
(b) Annual ACT Policing budget determined by annual budget outcomes with costings for any additional police calculated on level of police officer’s experience and skill to perform task. The budgeted figure includes enabling services and incorporates the equalisation contribution for Police provided in the ACT GST pool. [5]
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Activity Survey | An annual statistical analysis of ACT Policing activities undertaken over a seven day period to capture and define the more routine tasks performed by ACT Policing which are not readily identified by direct cost-attribution. These tasks are subsequently attributed to either Commonwealth or ACT Outputs delivered by ACT Policing. |
| Activity Matrix | A table of values derived from a budget weighted average of activity survey data used to allocate indirect costs against ACT Policing Outputs at a cost centre level. |
| Enabling | Services purchased from the wider AFP such as Information Technology or Forensic Services not within the managerial responsibility of the Chief Police Officer. |
| FMIS | Financial Management Information System or otherwise known as Accounting System. |
This Direction is issued under s. 6 of the Policing Arrangement between the Commonwealth and ACT Governments and outlines the Government’s priorities and expectations for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Chief Police Officer. This Direction is to be read in conjunction with the 2010–2011 Purchase Agreement between the ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the AFP Commissioner and the Chief Police Officer for the ACT.
In accordance with the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (the Act), the AFP provides community policing services to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In accordance with the Act the Commonwealth and ACT Governments entered into an arrangement for the provision of policing services in June 2006. This arrangement details the goods and services to be purchased by the ACT from the AFP and the agreed price for those services. This arrangement is supported by annual Purchase Agreements which outline the range of deliverables and key performance indicators. Consistent with this agreement I expect ACT Policing to pay due attention to all elements of the Purchase Agreement.
The Government expects the AFP to give special emphasis to the following broad operational issues during financial year 2010-2011:
The ACT Government expects the AFP to report quarterly to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services on progress against special areas of focus.
Simon Corbell, MLA
Minister for Police and Emergency Services
14 October 2010
The Financial Statements are available for download as a PDF Document [16.3MB]
| Offences type | Offences reported |
Offences cleared |
Clear up rate |
Male charges |
Female charges |
Total charges |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offences Against the Person | ||||||
| Homicide and Related Offences | ||||||
| Murder | 1 | 3 | 300% | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Attempted murder | 3 | 3 | 100% | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Conspiracy to murder | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Manslaughter | 1 | 1 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Driving causing death | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Homicide unspecified | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total homicide and related offences | 5 | 7 | 140% | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| Assaults (excluding sexual) | ||||||
| Assault causing GBH | 37 | 22 | 59% | 23 | 0 | 23 |
| Assault causing ABH | 436 | 309 | 71% | 249 | 56 | 305 |
| Assault other | 1992 | 1630 | 82% | 750 | 180 | 930 |
| Total assaults (excluding sexual) | 2465 | 1961 | 80% | 1022 | 236 | 1258 |
| Sexual Offences | ||||||
| Sexual assault 1st 2nd 3rd degree | 5 | 2 | 40% | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Sexual intercourse, no consent | 73 | 70 | 96% | 16 | 0 | 16 |
| Sexual intercourse, person < 16 yrs | 47 | 58 | 123% | 29 | 0 | 29 |
| Indecent act, assault | 29 | 22 | 76% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Indecent act, no consent | 62 | 51 | 82% | 37 | 0 | 37 |
| Indecent act, person < 16 yrs | 44 | 62 | 141% | 45 | 0 | 45 |
| Incest | 11 | 14 | 127% | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Indecent exposure | 44 | 21 | 48% | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Abduction (sexual intent) | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total sexual offences | 315 | 300 | 95% | 144 | 0 | 144 |
| Other Offences | ||||||
| Kidnap | 15 | 17 | 113% | 18 | 2 | 20 |
| Other offences against the person | 116 | 89 | 77% | 117 | 7 | 124 |
| Total other offences | 131 | 106 | 81% | 135 | 9 | 144 |
| Total Other Offences Against the Person | 2916 | 2374 | 81% | 1310 | 245 | 1555 |
| Offences Against Property | ||||||
| Robbery | ||||||
| Armed robbery | 143 | 91 | 64% | 92 | 11 | 103 |
| Other robbery | 112 | 52 | 46% | 46 | 13 | 59 |
| Total robbery | 255 | 143 | 56% | 138 | 24 | 162 |
| Blackmail and Extortion | ||||||
| Blackmail and extortion | 1 | 1 | 100% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Burglary | ||||||
| Burglary dwellings | 2498 | 346 | 14% | 311 | 39 | 350 |
| Burglary shops | 348 | 49 | 14% | 50 | 10 | 60 |
| Burglary other | 618 | 88 | 14% | 85 | 4 | 89 |
| Total burglary | 3464 | 483 | 14% | 446 | 53 | 499 |
| Fraud and Misappropriation | ||||||
| Fraud | 492 | 920 | 187% | 338 | 674 | 1012 |
| Counterfeiting | 19 | 9 | 47% | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Misappropriation | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total fraud and misappropriation | 511 | 929 | 182% | 338 | 675 | 1013 |
| Handling Stolen Goods | ||||||
| Receiving | 27 | 35 | 130% | 50 | 8 | 58 |
| Unlawful possession | 89 | 92 | 103% | 140 | 56 | 196 |
| Other handling stolen goods | 9 | 8 | 89% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total handling of stolen goods | 125 | 135 | 108% | 191 | 64 | 255 |
| Theft or Illegal use of a Vehicle | ||||||
| Motor vehicle theft | 1304 | 161 | 12% | 159 | 23 | 182 |
| Bicycle theft | 397 | 11 | 3% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Boat theft | 5 | 1 | 20% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aircraft theft | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other vehicle theft | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unspecified vehicle theft | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total theft or illegal use of a vehicle | 1706 | 173 | 10% | 161 | 23 | 184 |
| Other Theft | ||||||
| Stock theft | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shop stealing | 1160 | 603 | 52% | 229 | 231 | 460 |
| Theft at burglary - dwellings | 1770 | 260 | 15% | 253 | 22 | 275 |
| Theft at burglary - shops | 210 | 36 | 17% | 20 | 2 | 22 |
| Theft at burglary - other | 372 | 34 | 9% | 21 | 2 | 23 |
| Other theft | 7084 | 715 | 10% | 221 | 69 | 290 |
| Total other theft | 10597 | 1648 | 16% | 744 | 326 | 1070 |
| Property Damage | ||||||
| Arson | 250 | 38 | 15% | 15 | 5 | 20 |
| Damage at burglary - dwellings | 81 | 13 | 16% | 21 | 1 | 22 |
| Damage at burglary - shops | 28 | 3 | 11% | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Damage at burglary - other | 91 | 22 | 24% | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Other property damage | 6835 | 958 | 14% | 475 | 67 | 542 |
| Total property damage | 7285 | 1034 | 14% | 521 | 73 | 594 |
| Environmental Offences | ||||||
| Pollution | 5 | 3 | 60% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Flora and fauna | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other environmental offences | 20 | 18 | 90% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total environmental offences | 25 | 21 | 84% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Offences Against Property | 23969 | 4567 | 19% | 2539 | 1241 | 3780 |
| Offences Against Good Order | ||||||
| Government security/operations | 43 | 44 | 102% | 98 | 23 | 121 |
| Justice procedures | 1619 | 1506 | 93% | 1895 | 447 | 2342 |
| Firearms and weapons | 248 | 229 | 92% | 249 | 24 | 273 |
| Other offences against good order | 930 | 719 | 77% | 535 | 194 | 729 |
| Total offences against good order | 2840 | 2498 | 88% | 2777 | 688 | 3465 |
| Drug Offences | ||||||
| Possess and use drugs | 383 | 381 | 99% | 330 | 63 | 393 |
| Deal and supply drugs | 33 | 33 | 100% | 34 | 7 | 41 |
| Manufacture and grow drugs | 30 | 24 | 80% | 24 | 6 | 30 |
| Other drug offences | 14 | 9 | 64% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total drug offences | 460 | 447 | 97% | 388 | 76 | 464 |
| Traffic Offences | ||||||
| Drink driving offences | 1461 | 1442 | 99% | 1236 | 294 | 1530 |
| Dangerous and reckless driving | 127 | 119 | 94% | 131 | 8 | 139 |
| Driving licence offences | 840 | 834 | 99% | 768 | 165 | 933 |
| Other motor vehicle, traffic and related offences | 2579 | 2351 | 91% | 811 | 194 | 1005 |
| Total traffic offences | 5007 | 4746 | 95% | 2946 | 661 | 3607 |
| Other Offences Not Else Where Classified | ||||||
| Other offences n.e.c | 541 | 197 | 36% | 36 | 10 | 46 |
| ALL OFFENCES | 35733 | 14829 | 41% | 9996 | 2921 | 12917 |
Note: Offence classifications are based on Australian Bureau of Statistics ANCO (1985), Catalogue No 1234.0. Offences cleared do not necessarily relate to those offences reported in the period.
Offences reported in Jervis Bay are excluded.
Source: Offences reported: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
Offences cleared: PROMIS as at 4 July 2011
Number of Charges: PROMIS (apprehensions module – number of unique offender records per offence type within an apprehension) as at 4 July 2011
A.1 The Organisation
A.2 Overview
A.3 Highlights
A.4 Outlook
A.5 Management Discussion and Analysis
A.6 Financial Report
A.7 Statement of Performance
A.8 Strategic Indicators
A.9 Analysis of Agency Performance
A.10 Triple Bottom Line Report
B.1 Community Engagement
B.2 Internal and External Scrutiny
B.3 Legislative Assembly Committee Inquiries and Reports
B.4 Legislation Report
C.1 Risk Management and Internal Audit
C.2 Fraud Prevention
C.3 Public Interest Disclosure
C.4 Freedom of Information
C.5 Internal Accountability
C.6 HR Performance
C.7 Staffing Profile
C.8 Learning and Development
C.9 Workplace Health and Safety
C.10 Workplace Relations
C.11 Strategic Bushfire Management Plan
C.12 Strategic Asset Management
C.13 Capital Works
C.14 Government Contracting
C.15 Community Grants/Assistance/Sponsorship
C.16 Territory Records Act 2002 reporting
C.17 Human Rights Act 2004
C.18 Commissioner for the Environment
C.19 ACT Multicultural Strategy
C.20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Reporting
C.21 Ecologically Sustainable Development
C.22 ACT Women’s Plan 2010–2015
C.23 Model Litigant Guidelines
C.24 ACT Strategic Plan for Positive Ageing 2010–2014.
The following reporting requirements were determined as not applicable.
| Section | Reason for omission |
| A.8 — Strategic Indicators | ACT Policing does not meet the criteria of a department nor that for a public authority, or ‘prescribed’ Territory authority. The services provided by ACT Policing are on a ‘fee for service’ arrangement and our funding is delivered as part of the budget apportioned to DJaCS. |
| Section C.2 — Fraud Prevention | The AFP Fraud Control and Anti-Corruption Plan 2009-2011 addresses the fraud and corruption risks of the AFP. As part of this plan, the AFP continually conducts reviews of all identified risks and risk assessments to identify new and emerging risks. The plan provides the framework for the management of fraud and corruption in our organisation and is consistent with the requirements of the Financial Management Accountability Act 1997 and the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines. |
| Section C.3 — Public Interest Disclosure | As a Commonwealth Agency, our management of public interest disclosure is in accordance with the information disclosure provisions of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 and other Commonwealth legislation. We therefore do not comply with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1994. |
| Section C.4 — Freedom of Information | As a Commonwealth agency, we operate under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. Requests for information under the Act are managed by the AFP’s Freedom of Information team. The AFP website, afp.gov.au, lists documents available for inspection and purchase in accordance with the Act and provides contact details for the Freedom of Information team and assistance with applying for documents. Details regarding freedom of information requests received by the AFP during the reporting period are detailed in the AFP Annual Report. We therefore do not comply with the Freedom of Information Act 1989. |
| Section C.9 — Workplace Health and Safety | ACT Policing, as part of the AFP, a Commonwealth agency, is not subject to Division 6.8 of the Work Safety Act 2008. As Commonwealth employees we are subject to the Occupational Health and Safety (CE) Act 1991. |
| Section C.14 — Government Contracting | The AFP is a Commonwealth agency and therefore falls within the Commonwealth Financial Management and Accountability framework. Under this framework the AFP is required to comply with the Commonwealth Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997, Financial Management and Accountability Orders 2008 and Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines. We therefore do not comply with the Government Procurement Act 2001. |
| C.16 — Territory Records | Our records are managed in accordance with the requirements of the Commonwealth Protective Security Manual, the AFP Act 1979, the Archives Act 1983 and other relevant Commonwealth and Territory legislation. We do not have a Records Management Plan in the form required under the Territory’s legislation as we are a part of a Commonwealth Government Agency. We therefore do not comply with the Territory Records Act 2002. |
| Section C.21 — Ecologically Sustainable Development | As a Commonwealth Agency the reporting requirements of the ACT Environment Protection Act 1997 do not apply to us. |
| Section C.23 — Model Litigant Guidelines | As ACT Policing is the community policing arm of the AFP, any legal work performed for ACT Policing is provided to the Commonwealth, and does not constitute Territory legal work for the purposes of the Law Officer Act 1992 (ACT). The AFP complies with the Model Litigant Policy under the Judiciary Act 1901 (Cth), and abides by the Legal Service Directions issued by the Commonwealth Attorney-General. |
| ABS | Australian Bureau of Statistics |
| ACC | Australian Crime Commission |
| ACLEI | Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity |
| ACT | Australian Capital Territory |
| ACTPLA | Australian Capital Territory Planning and Land Authority |
| ADFA | Australian Defence Force Academy |
| AFP | Australian Federal Police |
| AFPA | Australian Federal Police Association |
| AIC | Australian Institute of Criminology |
| AJA | Aboriginal Justice Agreement |
| AJC | Aboriginal Justice Centre |
| ANAO | Australian National Audit Office |
| ANCOR | Australian National Child Offender Register |
| ANPR | Automated Number Plate Recognition |
| ANU | Australian National University |
| ANZPAA | Australia and New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency |
| APM | Australian Police Medal |
| ASIO | Australian Security Intelligence Organisation |
| ATSI | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander |
| AWA | Australian Workplace Agreement |
| BLO | Business Liaison Officer |
| BRT | Bomb Response Team |
| CA | Collective Agreement |
| CAN | Court Attendance Notice |
| CCTV | Closed Circuit Television |
| CIN | Criminal Infringement Notice |
| COAG | Council of Australian Governments |
| CRAMS | Complaints Recording and Management System |
| CT&EM | Counter–Terrorism and Emergency Management |
| DHCS | Disability Housing and Community Services |
| DIAC | Department of Immigration and Citizenship |
| DJaCS | Department of Justice and Community Safety (Justice and Community Safety Directorate as at 19 May 2011) |
| DPP | Director of Public Prosecutions |
| DVCS | Domestic Violence Crisis Service |
| EIPP | Early Intervention Pilot Program |
| EMC | Exhibit Management Centre |
| ESA | Emergency Services Authority |
| FBI | Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| FPDP | Federal Police Development Program |
| FTE | Full-time equivalent |
| FVIP | Family Violence Intervention Program |
| HR | Human Resources |
| HSMA | Health and Safety Management Arrangement |
| ICCS | Incident Command and Control Training |
| ICLT | Indigenous Community Liaison Team |
| IEDD | Improvised explosive device defeat |
| IPS | Information Publication Scheme |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization |
| ITEA | Individual Transitional Employment Agreement |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicator |
| MARSS | Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services |
| MCPEM-P | Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management - Police |
| MLO | Multicultural Liaison Officer |
| MOSC | Management of Serious Crime |
| MoU | Memorandum of Understanding |
| NAIDOC | National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee |
| NCIDD | National Criminal Investigation DNA Database |
| NCTC | National Counter Terrorism Council |
| NSW | New South Wales |
| OH&S | Occupational Health and Safety |
| OIC | Officer in Charge |
| ORS | Office of Regulatory Services |
| OSS | Operations Support Sergeant |
| PCA | Prescribed Content of Alcohol |
| PCYC | Police and Community Youth Club |
| PDA | Performance Development Agreement |
| PGA | Pharmaceutical Guild Association |
| PIN | Provisional Improvement Notice |
| POC | Police Operations Centre |
| PP&P | Policy, Performance and Planning |
| PROMIS | Police Real-time Online Management Information System |
| PRS | Professional Reporting and Standards Investigations |
| RAID | Remove All Impaired Drivers |
| RAMSI | Regional Assistant Mission to the Solomon Islands |
| RAPID | Recognition and Analysis of Plates Identified |
| RBT | Random Breath Test |
| RJU | Restorative Justice Unit |
| RRDT | Random Roadside Drug Testing |
| RTA | Road Transport Authority |
| SARP | Sexual Assault Response Program |
| SCAG | Standing Committee of Attorney-Generals |
| SEA | Special Employment Agreement |
| SES | State Emergency Service |
| SPS | Suburban Policing Strategy |
| SRS | Specialist Response and Security |
| TAMS | Territory and Municipal Services |
| TIN | Traffic Infringement Notice |
| UC | University of Canberra |
| VIP | Volunteers in Policing |
| VLO | Victim Liaison Officer |
| YLO | Youth Liaison Officer |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Autocite | An autocite is a small, portable, hand-held computer terminal which allows authorised officers to issue on-the-spot infringement notices for traffic and criminal offences. |
| Average Lost Time Rate | The average of working days lost per lost time incident. This rate provides a measure of the severity of injuries being experienced by workplaces over time. |
| Complaint issues | Issues associated with a complaint made in accordance with Part V of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. |
| Custody | The restriction or removal of a person’s right to freedom of movement. May also be constructive as a result of a person believing that they may not exercise their free will as a result of dealings with a police officer and is deemed to exist in circumstances where a person: i) is in the company, care, custody or control of a member or special member, and is restricted from leaving that company for the time being; ii) is placed in a holding room; iii) is lodged in police cells or an area or facility controlled by police; or iv) is placed under arrest. |
| Hearing brief of evidence | A collation of all relevant evidentiary material relating to a prosecution to be forwarded to the DPP. It is accepted that for the Judicial Process Measures (Numbers 24, 25, 26, 27) the efficiency of other agencies such as the DPP as well as the capacity of victims and witnesses to present their evidence may also affect judicial process outcomes. |
| Injury | An injury sustained by any person as a result of a collision, which necessitates treatment by a medical practitioner. |
| Lost Time Incident Rate | The number of lost time incidents for each one hundred workers employed. |
| Offence | A breach of the criminal law. |
| Offences against the person | Offences against the person include homicide and related offences, assaults, sexually based offences, kidnap and other person offences. |
| Offences against property | Offences against property include robbery, blackmail, extortion, burglary, fraud, motor vehicle thefts, other theft offences, property damage and environmental offences. |
| Offence cleared | Offences cleared by arrest, caution, summons, charge withdrawn, unfounded, Voluntary Agreement to Attend Court, charge before court, diversionary conference, Simple Cannabis Offence Notice, complaint withdrawn by victim, insufficient evidence to proceed or otherwise resolved. |
| PCA | The ‘prescribed concentration of alcohol’ relates to the amount of alcohol detected in a person’s blood or breath while they were in control of a vehicle. As per ACT legislation, there are three levels which motorists must abide by: i) ‘L plater’ or ‘P plate’ driver — no more than 0g of alcohol in 100mL of blood or 210L of breath ii) special driver — no more than 0g of alcohol in 100mL of blood or 210L of breath iii) for any other person — 0.05g or more of alcohol in 100mL of blood or 210L of breath. All police attendance to calls for assistance from members of the community that fit within the prioritised response model. |
| Police response model | The model used by the Computer Aided Dispatch system to prioritise incidents for dispatch of patrols. |
| Prioritised One Incident | Life threatening or time critical situations. |
| Priority Two Incident | Situations where the information provided indicates that time is important, but not critical. |
| Priority Three Incident | There are two possible responses to situations where there is no immediate danger to safety or property. This will be either police attention or police response. Each incident will be managed on a case by case basis in full consultation with the complainant. During that consultation, a determination will be made as to whether the complainant agrees that the matter can be handled over the telephone (police attention) or if attendance is required by Police. If the latter, then attendance must be not later than 48 hours from the initial contact by the complainant. |
[1] Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines, Department of Finance and Administration Circular 2005/09
[2]Includes one-off additional Repairs and Maintenance funding.
[3] FTE number (operational and non-operational personnel) includes enabling FTEs (such as forensics, IT personnel) and is the level to which a unit may be staffed. Actual FTE numbers do not represent individuals but represent the aggregate sum of the percentage of time spent on ACT Government Service Delivery by individuals employed within the ACT Policing business unit and AFP Enabling areas
[4] The budgeted FTE number is an annualised figure with actual FTE varying at any time in line with operational requirements. For example, the AFP may deploy additional resources to support ACT Policing in high workload periods such as Christmas/New
[5] The equalisation contribution replaces the Special Fiscal Needs (SFN) allowance provided by the Commonwealth in recognition of the ACT not having control over the terms and conditions of employment of AFP employees
