AFP training program gets results
Our specialist contributor, Nick O'Brien continues his overview of the International Deployment Group within the Australian Federal Police. Nick writes that an important factor in IDG's success has been its training program.
The AFP's International Deployment Group sends officers to a number of countries world-wide. It has a unique training program which is the envy of numerous foreign police forces.
Steve Samuels, the superintendent in charge of learning and development in the IDG, can rightly be proud of what he and his colleagues have achieved over the past few years in preparing officers to be deployed overseas. Officers and some unsworn staff undertake a basic 35-day training course consisting of 15 days theory in a classroom environment followed by time spent in a simulated "village".
It`s the village which gives personnel realistic expectations as to what they may have to face and how they can surmount problems.
The IDG has a "bank" of some 90 scenarios which have been sourced from overseas missions. So, all of the group`s training scenarios are based on actual incidents. During their village training, students will be put through at least 30 of the scenarios. There are discreet video cameras in all the buildings in the village so that the students can learn from their mistakes and review their actions and words in scenario training.
Students are briefed they are about to be deployed to a mission; they are given some basic equipment and are then driven to the village. Once there, they are expected to live as they would on actual deployment. There is a shop from which they have to buy their food, toilets are of the "hole in the ground" variety and there are no shower facilities. Despite the lack of basic facilities, Superintendent Samuels states that the importance of personal hygiene is constantly emphasised throughout the course.
There is a police station with cells and an old typewriter. Most police officers with less than 15 years service do not know of life without a computer and some have not even seen a typewriter, so it`s really "back to basics" – pens, paper and card indexes.
There is a small farm at the village and when courses are running, pigs, chickens and goats roam around freely - just like real life in some villages. It is important that students can deal with the animals, so they feed them and deal with the resulting waste – all useful skills when trying to win the hearts and minds of a community.
Aim is to build capacity
The aim of the IDG is to build capacity rather than tell officers from other countries how they should be policing and this is emphasised in the training. Steve Samuels` aim is to turn his graduates into "coaches". His training program has three pillars-understanding culture, capacity building, and personal safety. All are vital areas to cover if the work of the IDG is to be successful.
Unlike when they are deployed for real, none of the students are allowed to carry firearms because they might be tempted to draw a weapon rather than attempt to communicate and negotiate their way out of a problem. They do, however, train with riot shields and helmets in simulated public disorder situations.
Students have to learn skills that would not normally be needed in their routine police role and this includes map-reading, deployment from helicopters and guiding a helicopter pilot into a safe landing site. Some 90 per cent of travel in the Solomon Islands is by helicopter, so such abilities are a necessity.
The IDG course is assessable and although students can fail elements of the training and still pass the overall program, Steve Samuels insists that people who do not have two essential qualities: cultural tolerance and the ability to live and work in a team environment, will not be deployed.
The IDG training is about human relations and being able to speak to people who may come from a culture vastly different to what students are used to and whose values may also be different.
Tragically killed
Adam Dunning, an IDG officer was tragically killed in December 2004 in the Solomon Islands which is witness to the fact that the IDG is deployed into dangerous situations.
However, Superintendent Samuels makes the point that no IDG officer serving overseas has ever had to take a life.
It's clear that the training the IDG provides to its students is unique and deserves its world-class reputation.
About the author: Nick O'Brien is Associate Professor, Counter Terrorism (CT) at Charles Sturt University. He started in CT in 1981 and was head of international CT operations and intelligence in Special Branch at New Scotland Yard in London before coming to Australia as CT liaison officer at the British High Commission.