Australian Federal Police

Australian Federal Police states on its website that its role is to "protect Australia's security and prevent and detect crimes against Commonwealth law within Australia and, in certain circumstances, by Australians overseas." It also liaises with international law enforcement agencies and has particular responsibility for counter-terrorism enforcement.


 * Queensland Police
 * NSW Police
 * Tasmania Police

Contact details
Website: http://www.afp.gov.au/home

Resources Critical of US Police

 * Kristian Williams, Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America (South End Press, 2007). (Provides an excellent critique of community policing.)
 * Anannya Bhattacharjee, In Whose Safety? Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement (Philadelphia: American Friends Service Committee, 2001).
 * Gore Vidal, "America the Great ... Police State", Truthdig, July 28, 2009.
 * Radley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces (PublicAffairs, July 2013).

Films

 * "The Largest Street Gang in America", Boiling Frog'', March 2009.

Resources Critical of Australian Police

 * Chris Cunneen, "A Garrison State: The Police In Arms" (1985) 71 Arena 67-89.
 * Athol Moffitt, A quarter to midnight, the Australian crisis : organised crime and the decline of the institutions of state (Angus & Robertson, 1985).
 * Chris Masters. "The Moonlight State", Four Corners report (1987).
 * Phil Dickie, The Road to Fitzgerald (University of Queensland Press, 1988).
 * Chris Cuneen, Mark Findlay, Rob Lynch, and Vernon Tupper, Dynamics of Collective Conflict: Riots at Bathurst Bike Races (Sydney, Law Book Company, 1989).
 * Bob Bottom, John Silvester, Tom Noble & Paul Daley, Inside Victoria: A Chronicle of Scandal (Pan Macmillan Publishers Australia in association with Books & Magazines, 1991).
 * Alex Cooper, "Kennett to increase police powers", Green Left Weekly, April 28, 1993.
 * Coalition Against Police Violence,, "What happened to Gary Hayes?", Green Left Weekly, November 17, 1993.
 * Raymond Hoser, Victorian Police Corruption (Kotabi, 1999).
 * Jude McCulloch, Blue Army: Paramilitary Policing in Australia (Melbourne University Publishing, 2001).
 * Chris Cunneen, Conflict, Politics and Crime: Aboriginal Communities and the Police (2001), particularly Chapter 8: ‘Governance and the policing of contested space’
 * Roderic Broadhurst, ‘Crime and Indigenous People’ in Adam Graycar and Peter Grabosky (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Australian Criminology (2002).
 * John Jiggens,  The Sydney Connection: Nugan Hand, Murray Riley & the Murder of Donald MacKay (Hill End, Qld. : Network to Investigate the Mackay Murder, 2004).
 * Monica Taylor and Tamara Walsh (eds.), Nowhere to Go: The Impact of Police Move-on Powers on Homeless People in Queensland, (A combined Law School and QPILCH report, completed by students on clinical legal placement at the QPILCH Homeless Person's Legal Clinic, Semester 1, 2006 (Qld, 2006).
 * Simon Illingworth, Filthy Rat (ABC Books, 2006). Review] by Brian Martin.
 * Ben Courtice, "Legal centre hits police racism", Green Left Weekly, April 26, 2006.
 * John Jiggens, The Killer Cop and the Murder of Donald Mackay (Network to Investigate the Mackay Murder, 2009). (see especially Appendix 1, The Drug Joke: Drugs and Police Corruption)
 * Paul Maley and Michael McKenna, "Crime body tainted by rogue cop", The Australian, July 30, 2009.
 * John Wesley Egan

Critiques of ASIO

 * Pat Flanagan (ed.), Big Brother or Democracy: The Case for the Abolition of ASIO (University of Adelaide, 1979).

Films

 * Stripsearch is sexual assault (Casuarina, N. T. : Simmering Video and Coalition Against Police Violence, 1995). (20 min)

Articles and Resources
Chappell and Paul Wilson (eds), Crime and the Criminal Justice System in Australia: 2000 and Beyond (Butterworths, 2000).
 * Tamar Hopkins, "An Effective System for Investigating Complaints Against Police: A study of human rights compliance in police complaint models in the US, Canada, UK, Northern Ireland and Australia", Victoria Law Foundation, 13 April 2009.
 * Robyn Lincoln and Paul Wilson, ‘Aboriginal Criminal Justice: Background and Foreground’ in Duncan

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Australian Crime Commission
 * Committee in Opposition to Secret Police
 * Committee for the Abolition of Political Police
 * Police Violence
 * Prison-industrial complex
 * Lex Wotton
 * National Crime Authority
 * Sisters Inside
 * Australia Revokes Scott Parkin's Visa
 * Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
 * Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security
 * Tasmania Police's 2008 'eco-terrorism' training exercise
 * Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (2009)
 * Building Peace and Stability: Measuring Effectiveness of Peace and Capacity Building Operations (University of Queensland)
 * Federal Bureau of Narcotics

External Articles

 * "Federal police sought TV role", Sydney Morning Herald, May 30, 2008. (This is an Australian Associated Press report).
 * Alex Bainbridge, "Racism kills: Demand justice for Mr Ward", Green Left Weekly, June 20, 2009.
 * Stu Harrison, "Lethal weapons: Ban Tasers now!", Green Left Weekly, June 21, 2009.