Australian Police Journal - All Articles
Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith
The amazing story of Australia's first detective; a man who first arrived on our shores as a convict!
- Category: Historical
- Tags: NSWPF, Israel Chapman, detective, Stuart Smith
News of a significant seizure of cocaine in waters off Australia's east coast.
- Category: Illicit drugs
- Tags: HAZMAT, ADF, Maritime, Illicit drugs, drugs, Water Police, AFP, ABF, NSW Police, Tactical policing
The image above is of an AFP recruit beret from 1982, now in the collection of the AFP Museum.
The West Perth Rapist
Tony Guerriero and Luke McCulloch
Police hunting for a sex offender in West Perth needed a break and that came after what appeared to be an innocuous vehicle stop. What eventuated from that interaction surprised everyone. The offender had used his knowledge and training as an employee of a bank, as a police officer, as a customs officer and as an immigration officer to commit a series of calculated offences.
- Category: Sexual offences
- Tags: WAPS, West Perth Rapist, Sex Assault Squad
From the December 2020 issue of the APJ
From the December 2020 issue of the APJ.
- Category: Police Memorial
- Tags: AFP, Australian Federal Police, Canberra, National Police Memorial, recruits
Detective Sergeant A.F. Clarke, Scientific Investigation Bureau, NSW Police Force
This is an abridged version of an article first published in 1963 (Vol.16, No. 3), and reprinted in part, in the APJ’s 75th Anniversary Edition (September 2021). It relates to one of the saddest and most infamous crimes ever committed in Australia - the abduction and death of a school boy by a man desperate to steal prize winnings from the boy's parents. Some additional comments have been inserted to provide context for today’s reader.
- Category: Homicide
- Tags: Autopsy, Stephen Bradley, Trial, NSW Police Force, Murder, Graeme Thorne, abduction, kidnap, Clontarf, Bondi, Seaforth
Retired Detective Senior Sergeant C.B. (Barry) Fay
The following case-history, about one of Australia’s first serial killers who carried out his nefarious activities around the Sydney business district decades ago, was originally published by the APJ in 1982.
Since then a number of requests were received for the APJ to reprint the article in full for new subscribers. However, due to its length and the fact that a constant stream of interesting (serious crime) articles were being sent to us, their requests were put on the ‘back-burner’.
Following the killer’s death in prison on 12 May 2015 and on reading a number of misleading stories that surfaced shortly afterwards about his mental condition etc., the APJ reprinted the article in its September 2015 issue.
- Category: Homicide
- Tags: NSW Police, Mutilator, William Macdonald, Serial killer, Barry Fay
AFP Kuala Lumpur Post
Jason Byrnes
What type of work does the Australian Federal Police (AFP) do offshore? In 2019 former APJ Assistant Editor, and current AFP Superintendent, Jason Byrnes was approaching the end of his deployment as Senior Officer, Kuala Lumpur Post. Coinciding with the AFP’s 40th year, he was asked by the AFP History, Traditions and Museum Team to provide a reflection on his time in ‘KL’ and the work the AFP undertakes in Malaysia. This article was published in the December 2019 issue of the APJ.
- Category: International policing
- Tags: AFPSLO, Kuala Lumpur, AFP, International liaison, RMP, Malaysia, Royal Malaysia Police, Liaison officer, Jason Byrnes, Malaysian
C.B. (Barry) Fay and Noel Johnson
A woman is raped, her abusive partner murdered, and two police killed, by a crazed man. The story highlights how police must expect the unexpected.
- Category: Homicide
- Tags: NSWPF, Warren Clarke, police deaths, Max Smith, chase, Lurnea, crash, FX Holden, Sydney, Alfred Gregory, Memorial, Leslie Crawford, Conrad Moores, PD truck, Toongabbie, Shoot out, Homicide, Ronald Clarke, Unlawful confinement, Sexual assault, William Riley, Shooting, John Valdmanis, Noel Johnson, Michael Middleton, Green Valley, Robert Cloey, Blacktown, Throat, Barry Fay, Maurice McDiarmid, rape, Maurie McDiarmid
Operation Etch
First Class Constable Tania Curtis, Tasmania Police
From the December 2016 issue of the APJ. An account of the forensic search of a rural property in relation to a homicide investigation.
- Category: Forensics
- Tags: Search, Dirt, Tasmania, Tania Curtis, TASPOL, Bones, Crime scenes, Evidence, Cadaver canine, Human remains
The Study of Human Decomposition
Professor Shari Forbes
Insight into Australia's first 'body farm', designed to help police and academics understand how bodies decompose. First published in June 2016.
Is something extreme need to shatter the status quo?
Associate Professor Peter Moskos
- Category: Corporal punishment
- Tags: USA, Peter Moskos, Flogging, Torture, Corporal punishment
A review of the forensic evidence used to support Operation Zircon: the homicide of retired WA Police Commander Donald Hancock and Mr Lawrence Lewis
David Royds
- Category: Forensics
- Tags: Forensics, UC, Perth, Scientific, Vehicle, Don Hancock, Car bomb, Bomb blast, Sidney Reid, Homicide, Graeme Slater, Murder, Belmont Park Racecourse, OMCG, Clatyon Bennie, bombing, Jack Bennie, WAPS, Scientific methodology, David Royds, National Centre for Forensic Studies, Lou Lewis, NCFS, WAPOL, University of Canberra
The Story of a South Australian Sexual Predator who a Judge Declared had 'No Control Over his Sexual Instincts'
Detective Senior Sergeant First Class Carl Whitaker
Darren Prickett
- Category: Sexual offences
- Tags: Sydney, Herston, Insatiable rapist, Norman Park, stolen motor vehicle, Boonah, ATM, Redbank Plaza, Ipswich, St Lucia, Collingwood Park, West End, David John Graham, Ferry, Crime and Misconduct Commission, Brisbane River, Sexual assault, Coercive hearing, Goodna, Robbery, Propensity evidence, Digital penetration, QPS, Coorparoo, Patricia Nimmett, rape, Brisbane, Michael Trezise, NSWPF, West Pymble, Des Sorensen, Darren Prickett, Clayfield, burglary, Neutral Bay, knife, Hill End
When bitumen, a cop’s finger, handcuffs and a baddie all collide
Sergeant Alan Baker
- Category: Operational hazards
- Tags: Operation, Injury, Ambulance, Operational Safety Training, QPS, QPOL, Alan Baker, Officer survival, Townsville, Hospital, Handcuff sandwich, Arrest
David Keyworth
- Category: Education and training
- Tags: Vampires, mental health, psychological dysfunction
The Salt Nightclub Murders
Brett Smith
- Category: Homicide
- Tags: Ford, Hong Tranh, Gangs, Cressida, Jeff Maher, Hung Van, Yarra River, WRX, Samurai Swords, STI, Subaru, SIRSTI, James Huy Huynh, Springvale, Nam Huynh, Footscray, Homicide, Viet Huynh, Geelong Road, VICPOL, Salt Nightclub, Altona North, Brett Smith, Drownings, Linh Nguyen, DNA, Daly Street, Justice Redlich, Operation Player, Alexandra Avenue, Melbourne, Chapel Street, Forensics, Toyota RAV4, Evolution, Paul Dacey
Pursuit and capture of the 'Pong Su'
Jason Byrnes
'Operation Sorbet' was the AFP name for the investigation into the importation of 150kgs (then worth approximately AUD$164 million) of heroin into Victoria just before Easter 2003. One offender died in the crime, his identity still remains a mystery to authorities. The most public aspect to the investigation was the pursuit of the cargo ship that had carried the heroin to Australia, the North Korean owned 'Pong Su'. This is from the September 2007 issue of the APJ.
- Category: Illicit drugs
- Tags: TASPOL, Tasmania Police, Pong Su, Van Diemen, HMAS Stuart, Customs, Melbourne, Sydney, Search & Rescue, Lorne, Maritime, North Korea, AFP, Pyong Yang, Death, Jason Byrnes, Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police, NSWPF
Husband and wife killed simultaneously
Noel Paine with Barry Fay
- Category: Homicide
- Tags: SS Tintenbar, Clarence River, Grafton, Swan, Drew, Henry Long, Agnes Long, Ryan Street, Firearms, Dent, Shooting, Warburton, Barry Fay, Henry, NSWPF, Mary Street, Noel Paine, Lobban, Coroner, Tragedy, Recklessness, Daily Examiner, Whiteman, Clarence River Historical Society
Retired Assistant Commissioner Denis McDermott APM
- Category: Peacekeeping
- Tags: UNPOL, Dili, Craig Sheehan, Passabe, ANZAC, Rufino Alves Correira, East Timorese, AFP, United Nations, UN, PNTL, Timor-Leste, Denis McDermott, East Timor, CIVPOL
Jason Byrnes
An overview of two violent protests in the heart of the nation's capital, at the pinnacle location for Australian democracy. The story was originally printed in the December 2003 issue of the APJ.
- Category: Demonstrations
- Tags: APS, Australian Protective Service, Riots, ACT Policing, John Howard, AFP, Jason Byrnes, Canberra, ACT, Parliament House, Riot, Public order policing, ACTU
Jason Byrnes
A case study of the command, control and communications (C3) aspects of the emergency response to the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Centre.
- Category: Command & Control
- Tags: FDNY, Al Qaeda, 911, PAPD, Jason Byrnes, USA, World Trade Center, New York, USAR, 9/11, terrorism, Rescue, Search & Rescue, C2, C3, NYPD
