By Cameron Weston
A TOP Williamstown water cop has won a prestigious scholarship to study security at major ports around the world.
Inspector Kenneth Ashworth, of the Williamstown-based Water Police unit, won the Donald McKay scholarship, a Churchill Fellowship award focusing on organised crime.
Victoria’s Governor, Professor David de Kretser, will present the scholarship at Government House on Friday.
Insp Ashworth will travel to Hong Kong, London, Rotterdam, New York, Miami, Washington, Los Angeles, Singapore and Jakarta during a two-month tour, to learn more about how major sea ports manage security and tackle organised crime like drug smuggling and people trafficking.
He said he will then be able to use the detailed, specialist knowledge to help improve security at the Port of Melbourne.
“Rather than learning from mistakes after an event, we want to pick up what other people are doing and bring it back to Victoria and Australia.
“It’s about achieving excellence in chosen fields; it’s about learning more about your skills and your craft. I consider myself very privileged to have won it.”
Insp Ashworth said the scholarship was important because such a long and detailed tour would have been impossible under police budget constraints.
Terrorism is a serious security issue for the world’s major ports, and part of the study tour will involve stopping at places which have been grappling with terrorism issues for decades.
Insp Ashworth said London, for example, dealt with threats from the IRA, while New York and the American military had unique experience with terrorist threats to its ports.
Drug trafficking and people smuggling were major problems in Asia, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands had also been dealing with these issues for many years.
A rigid set of standards adopted by the International Maritime Association (IMA) in 2004 had resulted in security standards rising across the globe, Insp Ashworth said, adding that knowledge of the world’s best-practice he gained on the study tour would help Melbourne measure up.
“Any sea port has its problems, and the majority of those are about vulnerability from the water.
“Ports which trade internationally must have certain measures in place, on land and on the water.
“On the water side, the responsibility falls on the states to enforce the measures.”
Insp Ashworth said security was vital to the national interest, with about 30 per cent of Australia’s economy, and 90 per cent of the Victorian economy coming through the ports.
However, as well being an issue of national security, terrorism was also a local police issue, and one the water police needed to be prepared for.
“Terrorism is also a crime so this study also covers the broad gamut of port issues,” said Insp Ashworth, who has been with the water police at Williamstown for four years.
He previously specialised in criminal investigation, and was in charge of Prahran and St Kilda police stations.
