Australia boosts overseas police

The increase includes a rapid overseas deployment group

The Australian government says it is to increase the number of police available for deployment to South East Asia and the Pacific.

The move, the largest expansion of the Australian Federal Police since 1979, would see numbers increased by 400.

Prime Minister John Howard said the move was a response to instability in the region.

It comes a day after the government announced plans to increase the size of the army by 2,600 troops.

There are 800 personnel in the AFP's International Deployment Group (IDF), more than 400 of whom are serving in countries around the region and further afield.

The increase would take numbers to 1,200 over two years at a cost of almost A$500m ($379m, £201m).

Regional need

"The government is doing this because we believe that the need for international deployment by the AFP will in all likelihood increase in our region over the years ahead," Mr Howard told reporters.

In recent years, Australia has been taking on more of a role in tackling security threats in the region.

IDG officers are currently serving in Solomon Islands, East Timor, Nauru, Vanuatu, Sudan, Cyprus and Jordan.

Australia also has troops in East Timor and the Solomon Islands, as well as further afield in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Howard said there were different roles for military and police forces in conflict zones.

"The example very recently of East Timor showed a clear demarcation between the military need in the very early stages and then the policing stabilisation needs after the initial work of the military had been completed," he said.

The personnel increase would allow the establishment of a "operational response group" of 150 officers that could deploy at short notice to handle emerging security situations, he said.