It's said to be the only police force in the world committed to offshore policing in regional trouble spots.

In fact, the reach of the Australian Federal Police goes well beyond the region - as far a field as Belgrade in Europe, and Bogota in South America.

But it's in Asia and the Pacific that the AFP has had an increasingly influential role in recent years, playing a key part in counter terrorism initiatives and capacity building in the region.

It's also become embroiled in the feisty politics of Australia's immediate neighbours.

Critics accuse the AFP of being arrogant and unaccountable, the bully boys of the Pacific and the 'deputy sheriff' to the United States in Asia.

Others claim it is trailblazing a new form of diplomatic and humanitarian policing.

Commissioner Mick Keelty has been the face of the Australian Federal Police for the past six years.

He spoke to Helen Vatsikopolous about the changing face of the AFP - and its reputation in the Asia Pacific region.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: The Australian Federal Police has grown tremendously from a Canberra guard force, to an organisation that operates across 27 countries. Now, what is it comparable to? The FBI? Or is it in fact, unique?

Mick Keelty: Well, it isn't quite like the FBI, it's more like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police model, where they do policing at the local level and policing at the national level, and policing at the international level. And that's what the AFP has grown to be like.

We are a bit of a hybrid model, we are one of the only police organisations in the world that has developed a capacity to do international policing, particularly capacity building and police keeping. So it is rather a unique model.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: The big success story of the Australian Federal Police, together with Indonesian police, has been the capture of the Bali bombers. But where is the threat from Jemaah Islamiah today?

Mick Keelty: I think it is correct to say that JI has not been dealt with, and if you look at trends in other parts of the world, for example with the IRA, when the IRA was quite active, there were often periods of no activity, and then suddenly you would have a surge in activity.

"We are a bit of a hybrid model, we are one of the only police organisations in the world that has developed a capacity to do international policing, particularly capacity building and police keeping."

I think the work of the Indonesian National Police has just been outstanding, in terms of what they have been able to achieve compared to other law enforcement agencies around the world, it is just incredible. And whilst a lot of attention in Australia quite promptly was given the Garuda plane crash very recently, what was lost in the publicity of that was a very successful operation by the Indonesian National Police some two weeks after the plane crash, that dealt with nearly 40 terrorists or potentially terrorists who were either in training or possession of equipment, and large amounts of explosives that possible could have been used in a bombing campaign - the largest that we would have seen in some years in Indonesia.

So I think the work of the Indonesian National Police has been incredibly successful, but it needs to continue, and JI is still as much a threat today as what it has been in the past.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: So still the same today?

Mick Keelty: Well of course Noordin bin Top is still at large, and he is our number one suspect and certainly the most wanted person for terrorism in our part of the world. We haven't stopped the training, remembering that the training doesn't necessarily occur in Indonesia, in fact there is a lot of intelligence to suggest that it happens in other countries nearby.

"I think it is correct to say that Jemaah Islamiah has not been dealt with."

There is still a lot of work to be done here. What has happened is we have been able to, with the Indonesian National Police, suppress their activities for a period of time. But of course some of the key players are still outstanding, in terms of law enforcement activity, and whilst ever we discover - and the Indonesian National Police have discovered - training camps or equipment, such as suicide vests and large amounts of explosive, whilst ever we are discovering that, it is clear that the activity is continuing.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: Much of the expansion of the AFP has happened under your watch. Critics say it has happened too quickly on an ad hoc basis without checks and balances, which leaves it open to be politicised. Who do you answer to?

Mick Keelty: Well, we answer to the minister for justice and customs at the federal level, and whilst we have grown substantially in the last couple of years, we also have had a lot of checks and balances put in place. For example, the work that we've done in capacity building and peace keeping, we've actually invited several universities - Flinder's University, the Australian National University - have conducted studies in the work we have done in these areas so we can measure our performance in these areas and be accountable, if you like, in terms of where the dollars are being spent and how they are being spent.

I think to suggest that we have grown exponentially without any sort of accountability mechanism is an overstatement in terms of the strategy that we have put in place here, [it] is a deliberate one. We've put to the government plans over four to 10 years to increase the size of the organisation, to actually go into these fields.

For example, there was no International Deployment Group in any police force in the world up until the time that the AFP established ours, when it was announced by the prime minister back in 2004. Since that time, we've been able to develop the International Deployment Group to 1,200 people, as it will be by the end of next year, and that's been a phased implementation working towards capacity building, working towards peace keeping, and these are roles that suddenly have become very important for governments that need to be fulfilled.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: For example, at a time when the Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, published a direct letter to the people of Solomon Islands, going over the head of Prime Minister Sogovare, you said at the time about the Solomons government there that it was "either out and out corrupt or out and out incompetent". Now that is being political.

Mick Keelty: No, it wasn't. My statements were about the treatment of our commissioner, Shane Castles, and when you saw what Shane Castles was doing, it was a totally dedicated and committed effort to establish the Royal Solomon Islands Police as an agency that was capable and professional in the same way that many other policing agencies in the world are. And some of the investigations that they got involved in were to do with allegations of corruption, and those allegations still have not been answered in many cases.

"If you want a good police force and if you want good governance, then you have to deal with corruption, and you have to tackle it head on."

These are difficult issues, but they have to be confronted. You can't sweep them under the carpet and hope they go away. If you want a good police force and if you want good governance, then you have to deal with corruption, and you have to tackle it head on.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: You had a good working relationship in Indonesia with General I Made Mangku Pastika [former chief of police in Bali], who has said he "established who was the boss" [during the Bali bombings investigation], but the same can't be said for relations with countries in the Pacific. For example, two Australians who were police commissioners, Andrew Hughes in Fiji, and Shane Castles in Solomon Islands, were both sent packing.

Mick Keelty: Well part of the reason is because they have stood up for the democratically elected government, certainly in the case of Fiji with Andy Hughes, and you've had a coup in Fiji. Let's not beat around the bush, you've had a coup, so the democratically elected government has been overthrown by a dictator, and the police are caught in the middle of all that.

And, you know, that's not an issue about sensitivity, that's an issue about reality. And in the Solomon Islands, we were dealing with, or indeed the Royal Solomon Islands Police were dealing with, issues of corruption that extended into issues of political violence.

And what Made Pastika said was quite right. And I've reinforced it here today. And that is that we are there as the guest of the host government, and we understand that, we appreciate that, and we will work with the host government or police agency to do the work that is required.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: Can Australia be compromised by going into a country to uphold a system that it wouldn't support back home? For example, going into Tonga to support one of the world's last feudal monarchies?

Mick Keelty: Well, you're right in what you say. It's not a Westminster system that we're used to operating under, and we've not taken a position up in Tonga at this point in time. But we have been able to assist the Tongan police to deal with some of the riot behaviour.

"We are there as the guest of the host government, and we understand that, we appreciate that, and we will work with the host government or police agency to do the work that is required."

But you are right. If we were to go to Tonga at the invitation of the government of Tonga, then we would have to establish a new operating system, and work within the laws of the Kingdom of Tonga. In almost every case, like for example the Solomon Islands, for the first couple of years of operation in the Solomon Islands, everybody was singing the praises of what had been achieved. The disarming of the Royal Solomon Islands Police was seen by the community, and by the police force and by observers in the international community, as a very positive step.

In the riots that occurred in the Solomon Islands in April last year, and the fact that we had several of our members... repatriated to Australia for emergency treatment in hospitals demonstrates quite clearly the sort of restraint that was exercised by people who were in place over there.

And the response to that is an inquiry into the action of police during the riots. When I went there, within 24 hours of those riots, and I saw how the police stood themselves between a line of demonstrators - quite violent demonstrators - and what now appears to be the case, politically if you like motivated demonstrations, standing in line between them and their Parliament House. Protecting the government of the Solomon Islands, physically protecting the government of the Solomon Islands. They put their life on the line to do it, and one of our officers lost his life, was murdered in the line of duty in the Solomon Islands.

And I simply don't understand why anyone would criticise, or even think to criticise, the work of the AFP in the Solomon Islands.

Helen Vatsikopoulos: Commissioner Keelty, thank you.

Mick Keelty: My pleasure, Helen.