A world-class new training program for aspiring and current detectives in the NSW Police Force is now being delivered for a more agile, coordinated, and professional approach to criminal investigation across the state.
As part of the ongoing modernisation of the NSW Police Force, the Education and Training Command is overhauling their professional development programs to provide to fulfilling career paths for all officers.
This includes developing and implementing strategies to enhance learning environments by creating high-quality learning products and innovative curriculum, which advance the skills and capabilities of all employees.
In 2018, the entire suite of the NSW Police Force’s investigative education programs was reviewed, which identified an opportunity to increase in the investigative professional knowledge level and skills of officers across the organisation.
The recommendations from this review were endorsed by the Detectives Board, which agreed that an investigators qualification ahead of designation would provide longevity within the detective profession.
The initial training is targeted at all investigators, including those from the Region Enforcement Squads, Target Action Groups, local and specialist proactive crime teams, rural crime investigation, and crash investigation, as well as criminal investigation.
Future investigators must first undertake the Advanced Diploma Police Investigation (ADPI), following which they attain a nationally recognised qualification in policing investigations.
On completion of the ADPI, those seeking a career in criminal investigation must then undertake the revamped Detective Designation Course (DDC), and, on successful completion, can be awarded the designation of detective.
Enhancements to the DDC incorporate training and skills-building acknowledging the ever-changing criminal landscape, advancements in technology – including those that assist and impede criminal investigations,
To complement the improved training program, there are new investigative tools in the Major Investigation Management System, commencing the process of understanding machine learning (artificial intelligence) investigative tools, ancestral and DNA-mapping, virtual kidnapping, cyber-enabled or cyber-dependent crime, and crypto currency investigations.
The curriculum for more than 25 specialist investigative courses – including adult sex assault, arson, bias and hate crime, child abuse and exploitation, clandestine laboratories, counter terrorism, cybercrime, homicide, money laundering, robbery, rural crime, and technology crime – are also in the final stages of complete re-writes as part of the modernisation process.
A new Senior Detectives Course is also being developed to equip NSW detectives with superior knowledge and skills to operate professionally in joint-agency investigations into trans-national crime, which incorporates managing partnerships, utilising technical and capability deployed internationally, addressing legal issues nationally and facilitating arrests in jurisdictions outside of NSW.
Further, the Detectives Board has approved the development of a ‘Knowledge Library’ containing the expertise and knowledge of investigative workflows to be accessible by all investigators in NSW to ensure the best outcomes are achieved.
This will ensure all investigators are equipped with the skills and knowledge to meet and exceed the future demands and complexities of crime.
Finally, the position description for each and every position that carries a designation, is being re-written to reflect their modern duties, and all detectives will receive official identification – with new badges about to be rolled out.
The new badge has been under development for almost two years, undergoing durability testing, various operational trials and field surveys before recently being approved by the Commissioner.
The first recipients of the badge will be Class One of the new ADPI and DCC program, who are due to graduate on Wednesday 25 November 2020.
In the following months, more than 2600 current designated detectives will be presented with their new badge, while other specialist investigators, who also operate in plain clothes, will receive a variation of the identification.
The training forms part of the Detectives Board’s ongoing development of investigative culture in line with long-standing traditions of the profession.
