National criminal intelligence system coming
by Ernie Davitt, National Affairs Editor, ASM
Federal, State and Territory police are expected to have new technology in place next year which will allow instant exchange of information about criminals and suspects from around Australia.
CrimTrac – the agency responsible for developing information sharing solutions for law enforcement – has been widely commended for its innovative ICT applications, winning the 2008 e-Award for Excellence in e-Government at CeBIT, Australasia’s leading Information and Communications Technology event.
CrimTrac won the e-Award for its National Police Reference System (NPRS), an electronic program that enables police and law enforcement agencies to exchange police information about people across all jurisdictions.
The new system will put Australia in a prime position to take advantage of global systems which allow more rapid exchange of information between international agencies such as Interpol.
It will also allow us to take advantage of a new system being pushed by the US FBI which will include biometric data as well as conventional information.
Acting CrimTrac CEO, Stewart Cross said that receiving such an accolade was a tribute to all those who had worked so hard to develop the system.
“CrimTrac has been working closely with police jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies for a number of years to develop this system, so to see it reach this point is a great achievement,” Mr Cross said.
“The NPRS allows police across Australia to exchange information, enabling them to access information about people in various jurisdictions.
“Police use this information to identify whether individuals are a threat to the public, of interest to police or wanted by police.
“It provides information critical to the day to day duties of community policing, supporting police with richer data on persons of interest than was available previously using other systems.
“Traditionally, police have maintained information within jurisdictional boundaries using disparate systems.
"However, having a system that transcends jurisdictional borders will address the problem of offenders moving interstate to avoid detection.
“In 2009, when NPRS has been rolled out across the country, it will have more than 50,000 users, with all police officers in the country having access.
“This will make the job of policing much more efficient, as the system effectively brokers information about persons of interest among Australian police jurisdictions.
The e-Award was introduced by the Australian Government in 2006 to promote excellence in the use of ICT in Australia at all levels of government.
It recognises the most outstanding initiatives in e-Government that have been implemented in the past two years, based on the positive impact they have had on the lives of Australian citizens, the community and business.
About the author: Ernie Davitt is the National Affairs Editor for Australian Security Magazine.