Common offence standard

A SIGNIFICANT milestone was achieved on October 19, when the three Service Provost Marshals formally released the new Defence Investigation Technical Instructions (DITI).

Provost Marshal Army Lt-Col Michael Kingsford said that after considerable work, the services now had a common Defence-wide instruction for the investigation of disciplinary offences.

“They were signed after a validation exercise coordinated by Major Nick Rose and involving investigators from all three Services, proved that they were ready for use,” Lt-Col Kingsford said.

Service Police within Defence will now follow a common standard for the investigation of offences. Importantly, the instructions apply Australian Government Investigation Standards and best practices for the conduct of investigations.

The signing of the instructions represents another example of Service Police seeking to implement a joint approach to discipline investigations within Defence.

“This is another step closer to a common approach to policing the ADF and adds to the joint training for Investigation Qualification and Scenes of Crime Officers Courses conducted at the Defence Police Training Centre,” Lt-Col Kingsford said.

The DITIs are available on the Intranet through the Provost Marshal - Army site.