Inspector Angus (‘Gus’) McFarlane (pictured above right) grew up in Adelaide and joined the South Australia Police in 2005 after serving eight years in the Australian Army.

While serving in a range of policing roles he continues his military career as an Army Reservist, and is halfway through studying the Master of Leadership and Management (Policing and Security) online in the Charles Sturt Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security.

“As a Police Officer, I was initially posted to Whyalla before returning to Adelaide as a detective,” Gus said. “After four years, I joined the Special Tasks and Rescue Group, Operations section.

“This led to 12 years in Special Operations policing, culminating in the role of Manager of the South Australian Police Aviation Unit, POLAIR.

“As both a Police Officer and an Australian Army Reservist, I continued a career in parallel, with highlights including deploying to Afghanistan as Mentor for Security Planning, and to the Solomon Islands with the Police and Army assistance mission.”

In April this year, Gus was promoted to Inspector and currently works in the Metropolitan Operations Service Executive in Adelaide, where he lives with his wife Sarah and two children, Grace aged four and six-month old Lachlan.

While studying the master’s degree, Gus first learned of the eight-point elective subject ‘International Engagement – Singapore Study Tour’ via an email from the University. He completed a short application for the course, as well as an application for a Chueng Kong Scholarship and was one of 11 students selected from 52 applicants.

“The Cheung Kong Scholarship was brilliant in making the course more affordable,” Gus said. “The application process was relatively simple, and the University staff were great in assisting to get all the required documentation together.

“The study tour was a great way of doing an eight-point postgraduate subject in two weeks while visiting a foreign country at the same time.”

Program Leader Mr Adrian Davis in the AGSPS said 11 postgraduate students participated in the study tour hosted by the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) from Sunday 6 to Saturday 19 October.

“This program is designed for postgraduate students from policing, security, border force and the wider investigation disciplines who want to immerse themselves in understanding the context, security and investigative structures of the South-East Asia region and Singapore,” Mr Davis said.

“The students gained a unique understanding of policing research, border control, prison and civil defence structures and they explored the Singaporean culture while learning and sharing ideas about criminal justice, transnational crime, human trafficking, drug crime, crisis, relational and restorative leadership, and local policing.”

The program involved several field trips and guest speakers from academia, security, intelligence and human resource management. The group liaised directly with key organisations - Interpol, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Singapore Prison Service, Central Narcotics Bureau, Community Care Services and the National Employers Federation.

Gus said the decision to apply for the study tour was influenced by several factors. Professionally, this course offered him an exciting opportunity to meet and hear from industry leaders in security in one of the world’s largest commercial markets, Singapore.

“I am always looking for inspiration to inform innovation, and this is sometimes hard to achieve when working in an organisation for a long period of time,” Gus said.

“For me, the number one benefit of completing this course was the ability to gain firsthand access to very senior security leaders in major corporations such as Disney, Mastercard and KPMG.

“With this course being facilitated by the Singapore University of Social Science, the facilitators were able to offer an insider view into the Singapore educational system and Home Team concept.

“This course left me feeling re-energised and inspired to return to work with new ideas, and increased motivation to improve my workplace and organisation’s policies and procedures.”

Gus said his second motivation was to complete the tour with a group of professional peers from both government and industry backgrounds.

“As a government worker for the last 27 years, I have had limited opportunities to gain insights into the private security sector and the work conditions and challenges associated with private industry,” he said.

Gus also praised the study tour as a great social experience, enabling him to make new friends from all over Australia, and some new Singaporean friends, from both government and private security backgrounds.

“The bonus was enjoying exploring an amazing city such as Singapore, especially some of the culinary delights in Raffles, the Atlas Bar and the Marina Bay Sands,” he said.

“The tour created a perfect balance of work, rest and play.”