The growth of multinational crime over the past decade has made international cooperation essential for Australian police and security professionals, according to a counter terrorism expert at Charles Sturt University (CSU).

 

Speaking ahead of CSU’s Policing and Security in Practice: Then, Now and Into the Future conference in Sydney on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 November, Associate Professor Nick O’Brien, said crime crossed borders much more easily than law.

 

“The internet has made it possible for someone in country ‘A’ to steal from someone in country ‘B’, via someone in country ‘C’,” he said.

 

“Criminals know how difficult it can be for police to cooperate internationally and they exploit that weakness.

 

“Establishing international links will be essential to fighting crime in our own country in a way that it wasn’t, even 10 years ago.”

 

Professor O’Brien said the conference, to be held on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 November at Sydney’s Moore Park, was a rare opportunity for leaders in the policing and security fields to build the strong networks they need.

 

“There aren’t many opportunities of this type within Australia,” he said.

 

“Charles Sturt University is poised to become the global leader in policing and security distance education, with the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security and School of Policing Studies, and from next year the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies.

 

“We’re very proud to be able to offer an event like this, with such a strong line-up of international experts, to our local law enforcement community.”

 

NSW Police Commissioner Mr Andrew Scipione, APM, will be one of several high-profile experts to feature as keynote speakers, along with former Head of the Olympic Intelligence Centre and former CEO of the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency, Ms Sue Wilkinson, QPM, and former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mr Mick Keelty, AO, APM.

 

Social researcher and author, Mr Hugh Mackay, Canadian Senator and former Chief of Police Ottawa and former Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner, Mr Vernon White, and Professor Colin Rogers from the University of South Wales also feature on the program.

 

A collection of the proceedings will then be published as journal articles in a special issue of Salus Journal, a peer-reviewed, on-line journal of public safety published by the University’s Faculty of Arts.

 

Professor O’Brien said it would be the policing and security professionals who were able to anticipate new criminal trends who would be most effective in the future.

 

“The most effective police leaders will be those who anticipate problems rather than react to them.”