The meeting was held via Zoom. 25 members participated and there were two visitors ( Sossi and Tony from Cilantro). The chair was Greg O’Shea and the guest speaker was Trish Reynolds formerly with the Australian Federal Police. Greg welcomed members, guests and guest speaker. He then introduced Trish Reynolds who gave us an insight into the life in the Australian Federal Police. (AFP).
Trish gave a brief history of the establishment of the AFP. It was established. In 1979 following the bombing of the Hilton Hotel in 1978 during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
AFP is made up of the Commonwealth Police, the ACT Police and the Narcotics Bureau. The roles are National and ACT and Commonwealth policing.
Their primary function is terrorism. Other functions include: Transnational serious and organised crime, child protection, drug crime which is over border and massive imports, (but not within individual states), Commonwealth fraud, human trafficking, people smuggling, cyber crime ACT policing and airport security. AFP also provide protective security officers who drive around in red “Wiggles cars.”
AFP is made up of the Commonwealth Police, the ACT Police and the Narcotics Bureau. The roles are National and ACT and Commonwealth policing.
Their primary function is terrorism. Other functions include: Transnational serious and organised crime, child protection, drug crime which is over border and massive imports, (but not within individual states), Commonwealth fraud, human trafficking, people smuggling, cyber crime ACT policing and airport security. AFP also provide protective security officers who drive around in red “Wiggles cars.”
Trish then provided some statistics. The budget in 2020/21 was $1.86 billion. The force has 6,700 staff of whom 3,950 are sworn officers and there are approximately 100 protection staff. There are 682 officers based in Melbourne. There are also staff based in 40 different countries and 3 external territories viz. Christmas Island, Cocos and Keeling islands. She the touched on the differences in roles between the AFP and Victorian police, as well as recounting an amusing anecdote on how she met Queen Elizabeth the Second by mistake when the Queen visited Australia in 1986.
Trish was in the AFP for 38 years and left in January 2021. She recounted some of her experiences while in the force. Question time was interesting and not all members were able to ask questions as we ran out of time. Greg then thanked Trish for a very interesting and informative presentation.
President Helen then shared some information on the Board meeting held the previous night.
The sergeant had a brief fines session.
The sergeant had a brief fines session.
