Sydney Intelligence Gathering Course - May 2009
As I sit on yet another plane flying over our beautiful country watching the clouds below and the shimmering water of the Great Australian Bight I think about how far ASSI has come over the past few years.
I started in the front office of my house with an old desktop computer, inkjet printer, telephone and a desk and chair that my wife had bought me from a nearby auction house.
As I began to understand how the investigation business actually worked outside the Police and Government agencies by working in it, I started to re invest any earnings back into the business slowly buying more up to date equipment and software. My aim then, and has always been to build a company that can deliver professional and affordable training that is not only practical, but informative, interesting, true to life, instinctive and most of all, fun.
Last week we conducted the 2nd International Security Intelligence Course in Sydney. A professional course where we used state of the art military specification wireless communications kits, secure radio networks, GPS navigation systems, HD Video cameras, high spec notebook computers, perimeter alarms and digital cameras.
How far we have come, yet what I realize is that it is not the equipment that we have to thank for the results we obtain, but the people that use it and their attitude and commitment to the training we conduct.
The course had a who’s who of Investigations attending. We had an Assistant Commissioner of Police from the Pacific islands, Banking Industry Fraud Investigators, Defence Force personnel, Superintendent of Police in China, Investigators from Mongolia, Philippines and experienced Australian investigators from Melbourne, Sydney and Perth who represented multiple industries including Power utilities, Casinos and the Private Investigation Industry.
It never ceases to amaze me how people from so many diverse backgrounds can come together so quickly to form such a strong and committed team.
This course was not about making money, it never is, it was about getting people to work effectively outside their comfort zone, sometimes under stressful conditions, conducting real life practical training, learning investigation and intelligence gathering techniques that they could use in their day to day operations. I think that by the feedback we received we achieved this and much more.
The cooperation and interaction between the Australian investigators and the overseas investigators was commendable. Even though there were some language difficulties both ways, these were overcome quickly by everyone working together using alternative communication methods sometime during quite adverse conditions.
We also had lots of fun, we wont talk about my experience with the blood stained sheets and the numerous leeches I pulled off my legs, we wont talk about Micks concern about the house he was in swaying from side to side, we wont talk about Alans encounter with the pond that he failed to see when crawling through the forest undergrowth in the middle of the night in his Gille suit (you saved the laptop Alan, that is the main thing) and we wont talk about the 26 point turn that had to be conducted in the 45 degree angle driveway of the house which saw one vehicle almost up on two wheels !!!
What we will talk about is the team meeting all the objectives and completing the tasks given to them including their excellent interview techniques with the role players. We will mention the professional tactics that were employed in Mangrove Mountain where after long hours of driving, the team completed the task given to them with outstanding results. We will talk about Kimberley’s undercover role and how under stressful conditions and some quick thinking she was able to re establish communications and we will talk about the excellent results achieved by the team on the final exercise, Operation Shkon
To those persons that said they would attend the course but who were never heard from again, all I can say is that you missed a great few days.
If you want to get ahead in this industry you must try to better yourself in every way that you can. You must take every opportunity to network with others, not only in your local area but overseas also. Some of the things we learnt from our overseas guests were invaluable.
If you only ever dream about being a successful investigator and getting lots of work then that is all it ever will be, a dream,. So get into action. Talk to people, network, attend good informative courses and take some risks.
Don’t listen to negative people and don’t pay people to tell you how to get work, you don’t need to, there are lots around like the investigators on this forum who will assist you if you simply ask and understand that they are busy and it may take time but they will guide you as they have guided me. Don’t pay people to tell you how good they are, pay people to bring out the best in you.
So to Alan, Kirsten, Mick, Amy, Onga, Danniel, Onon, Daniel, Kimberley and Stu, my sincere thanks for your patience, commitment and professionalism. You will all go far.
Live the dream
Adrian Francis
Director
Australian School of Security and Investigations
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