International Deployment Group (IDG) profile - Erica
Name: Erica
Age: never too old
Home Town: Canberra
Previous work experience: AFP since 1989. Worked in national investigations in Sydney for ten years, then deployed to Cyprus with UNFICYP in 99 (35 years after my father, who was on the first contingent in 1964). Then spent two years training recruits at the Barton Police College and a couple of months as Team Leader of the Recruitment Team before deploying to UNMISET in Timor-Leste for 6 months. Then spent a year or so in CPP in Sydney before deploying for four months to the Jordan International Police Training Center (JIPTC) as an instructor, followed by four months in RAMSI in the Solomon Islands in a CPP role. After that I took 13 months Leave Without Pay to return to Jordan and work at JIPTC as the Public Affairs Officer. On my return I deployed to UNMIT in Timor-Leste for eight months as the Project Officer to the UNPOL Deputy Police Commissioner for Operations and I am now in the Solomon Islands again, as the RAMSI PPF Media Advisor.
Qualifications: None formal, but I'm studying for a Bachelor of Media Communications at Charles Sturt University (by Distance Education.)
What attracted you to the AFP?
My father was in the AFP and I went to a careers day at school out of curiosity about what it was that he did every day. What I saw interested me so much that I sent my application in shortly after. The thing that attracted me to the AFP originally and the thing it is today are completely different... but then, so am I.
What are your impressions so far?
After 18 years, I'm still excited to come to work every day. You can't beat that!! I'm meeting amazing people, I've travelled the world, and I can quite comfortably feel that I have personally made a difference to other people's lives - most of them from countries not as well off as mine. No where else can you find a job that gives you so many opportunities. For me, the IDG is a career within a career. International policing is the law enforcement role of the future and I intend to be a part of it.