This Quick Guide provides key internet
links to websites with information on crime and law enforcement arrangements
and issues.
Australian Government
- Department of Home
Affairs (DoHA)—the lead department for law enforcement and crime
prevention. Key pages include:
- crime—overview and links
to more specific information including policy on organised crime, money
laundering, cybercrime, human trafficking, people smuggling and illicit drugs
and
- crime prevention—information
on the government’s crime prevention initiatives, including grants programs.
- Attorney-General’s
Department—the lead department for fraud and anti-corruption policy and
the administration of criminal justice. Key pages include:
- crime and
corruption—overview and links to more specific information including policy
on anti-corruption, foreign bribery and fraud control
- federal
offenders—information on the management of persons convicted of
Commonwealth offences while they are imprisoned or on parole and
- international
relations—overview and links to more specific information on international
crime cooperation including extradition, mutual assistance and international
transfer of prisoners processes, and the Pacific law and justice program.
- Australian Federal Police (AFP)—responsible
for preventing, disrupting and investigating Commonwealth offences and state
offences that have a federal aspect, contributing to combating organised crime
and safeguarding Australia’s interests from criminal activity in Australia and
overseas.
- Australian Criminal
Intelligence Commission
(ACIC; comprising the former Australian Crime Commission and CrimTrac)—Australia’s
national criminal intelligence agency. ACIC gathers and shares criminal
intelligence and leads or participates in joint investigations and intelligence
operations, with a focus on serious and organised crime of national
significance. It also provides national
information systems and services to police and law enforcement agencies.
While some of ACIC’s intelligence products are classified, it also produces a
range of publicly available material, including the annual Illicit
Drugs Data Report, the biennial Organised
Crime in Australia Report and the Crime type fact sheets.
- Australian Border Force
(ABF)—responsible for managing the security and integrity of Australia’s
borders, including law enforcement functions relating to prohibited imports
such as illicit drugs and firearms. The ABF is part of DoHA, but is led by a
Commissioner who reports directly to the Minister for Home Affairs. The ABF is
part of the multi-agency taskforce Maritime
Border Command and leads two of the three Task Groups established to
support Operation
Sovereign Borders.
- Australian Transaction
Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)—Australia’s anti-money laundering
and counter-terrorism financing regulator and specialist financial intelligence
unit. Key publications include the AUSTRAC
Compliance Guide and its money laundering and terrorism financing risk
assessments and strategic
analysis briefs.
- Australian Commission for
Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI)—an
independent agency responsible for preventing, detecting, investigating and
reporting on corrupt conduct and systemic corruption in Commonwealth law
enforcement agencies. As at September 2018, the AFP, ACIC, DoHA, AUSTRAC, and
certain officers in the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources were
under ACLEI’s jurisdiction. ACLEI publishes investigation and other reports on
its website.
- Commonwealth Director of
Public Prosecutions—an independent service established to prosecute
Commonwealth criminal offences. The Prosecution
Policy of the Commonwealth is available on the website, as are case reports, prosecution statistics and
information for victims
and witnesses.
- Australian Institute of
Criminology—undertakes and disseminates crime and criminal justice
research through publications, events such as seminars and workshops, and
information services
such as research alerts and its library. It also administers the Criminology Research
Grants program.
Federal parliamentary and other
oversight bodies
State and territory police services
State and territory justice
departments
Statistics
Select operational and research
organisations
Australia
International
- United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC)—the United Nations agency mandated to help member
states to respond to illicit drugs, transnational crime and terrorism through
research and analytical work and technical and capacity-building assistance.
The UNODC is responsible for several treaties,
produces a range of publications
examining issues at the country, regional and international levels and provides
a range of other publicly accessible resources.
The Commission
on Narcotic Drugs and the Commission
on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice are governing bodies of the UNODC.
- The
Campbell Collaboration—publishes systematic reviews, plain
language summaries and policy
briefs, including in the fields of crime
and justice, to inform evidence-based policy.
- What
Works Centre for Crime Reduction at the College of Policing in the
United Kingdom (UK)—reviews research on practices and interventions to reduce
crime, to inform Police and Crime Commissioners and other stakeholders and help
them target resources more effectively. Its publications include systematic
reviews and What
Works Briefings.
- Center for Evidence-Based Crime
Policy at George Mason University in the United States (US)—aims to
‘make scientific research a key component in decisions about crime and justice
policies’. Its research projects include evidence-based policing, crime and place, systematic reviews (working
with the Campbell Collaboration) and criminal justice policy.
The Center maintains the Evidence-Based
Policing Matrix, a database of research
studies that were based on randomised control experiments or
quasi-experiments, focused on interventions primarily involving police and
included crime or disorder as a measured outcome.
- Interpol—an
international policing organisation that aims to foster better international
cooperation on transnational crime by providing technical and operational
support and training. It produces a range of publications
and information on crime types.
- National Criminal
Justice Reference Service—a US-based resource funded by the federal government
to provide crime, justice and drug-related information to support research,
policy and program development. The site includes publications
from the Office of Justice Programs and the Virtual
Library and Abstracts Database, as well as information by topic.
- Europol—the
European Union’s law enforcement agency assists law enforcement agencies in
member states by providing intelligence, analysis and operational support. It
also has several operational and strategic agreements with non-EU
countries (including Australia). Publications include EU Terrorism
Situation and Trend Reports, Serious
and Organised Crime Threat Assessments and Internet
Organised Crime Threat Assessments.
- European Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)—established to provide the
European Union and member states with data and evidence to inform law and
strategy on drugs, drug addiction and their consequences. Publications can be viewed
by date, type or topic, and the website also includes statistics and country information.
- Organized Crime and
Corruption Reporting Project—an investigative reporting platform formed
by non-profit investigative centres, journalists and regional news
organisations across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
- Police
Foundation—a UK-based think tank focused on policing and crime
reduction which produces a range of publications.