ABSTRACT
While his portfolio of experiences and responsibilities is broad, his approach to policing is brilliantly simple. Two clear themes emerged out of our conversation: adherence to the “rule of law” and the importance of “partnerships.” e eective combination of these themes is the foundation of policing for Mr. Hughes, and they are the ingredients for dealing with a myriad of policing issues from terrorism to leadership to crime control. ese concepts seem to ow naturally from his laid-back, yet engaging, style and clearly serve him well as he directs thousands of ocers hailing from hundreds of countries and deploying them in diverse and volatile areas around the world. e following is a transcript of our meeting: JEM: Can you tell me about your career? AH: I have 31 years on the job. I joined a small force of 550 in 1977
in the Australian Capital Territory [ACT]. en, in 1979, the ACT police amalgamated with some federal bodies and became the Australian Federal Police. At that stage I was a young detective working on criminal investigations in the nation’s capital, doing a wide range of investigations that you might nd in any city. e amalgamation opened up many opportunities and I was given a lot of responsibility early on. In 1993 I moved to the international side and to one of the cities in northern Australia. I worked there a couple of years and
through a series of internal moves I moved up the chain and I ended up in London for 3 years working for the Australian High Commission with UK and European counterparts in law enforcement, primarily on organized crime investigations.
