CrimTrac to Update Australia's Crime Intelligence Database
Wednesday 23 July 2014 @ 10.20 a.m. | Crime
The national information sharing service for Australia’s police, law enforcement and national security agencies, CrimTrac, is gearing up to replace existing criminal intelligence database to allow law enforcement agencies to keep pace with increasingly tech-savvy criminals. The current national fingerprint database, used across Australia, will be replaced with a new and expanded biometrics identification system.
Background
The Australian Crime Commission’s chief executive, Chris Dawson, called for the replacement of the existing Australian Criminal Intelligence Database (ACID). The agency recognised the declining effectiveness of ACID in pursuing increasingly high-tech organised crime operations. Dawson explained that the current system is thirty years of age and does need replacing:
"The fundamental piece of infrastructure that an intelligence agency needs is a contemporary information technology and intelligence platform."
CrimTrac, an agency which hosts national systems and databases for the use of state and federal police, currently runs the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS). The fingerprint database will be the first system to be replaced with new cutting edge technology.
Updating the System
Justice Minister Michael Keenan announced recently that CrimTrac will be replacing NAFIS with cutting edge technology that features a range of new capabilities. The system will be the first step in updating the current but ageing crime intelligence database. CrimTrac estimates to have the system ready by 2017.
In addition to providing information on fingerprints, the new database would also include data on faces, palm prints, voice recognition, scars, bodily marks and tattoos, as well as facilitate a more rapid matching process.
CrimTrac is also currently working on a new national DNA matching system that will allow the agencies to match familial links between samples as opposed to the current system where only direct matches are picked up. It is also working on a $9.1 million national ballistic network to combat interstate gang violence as well as a $3.3 million project to trial a National Domestic Violence Order (DVO) scheme which would communicate the issuance of orders across state and territory borders.
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