Police Federation calls for criminal database revamp

The Police Federation of Australia (PFA) is urging all major political parties to commit to fostering collaborative and interoperable policing by funding systems to facilitate information sharing.

As part of its proposal, the PFA is calling on the next government to build a national interoperable public safety mobile broadband network.

The PFA’s Three Point Plan for Better National Security, developed following the 2015 Parramatta shooting, also calls for criminal intelligence databases and systems to be upgraded to help all police deal with the dangers posed by terrorism and organised crime.

In line with this plan, the agency is calling for the 30-year-old Australian Criminal Intelligence Database and the Australian Law Enforcement Intelligence Network to be replaced with a new National Criminal Intelligence System (NCIS).

Under the proposal, the NCIS would be a national repository for criminal intelligence, acting as a proactive, real-time national alerting system. It would provide monitoring, indicators and warnings, trend analysis and metrics to service as a national intelligence picture for Australia’s police forces.

At full capability the NCIS will help develop intelligence across the spectrum of crime, from volume crime and domestic violence through to serious and organised crime and terrorism. States and territories will also be able to use the system to improve community safety and crime prevention.

The Australian Crime Commission is involved in an NCIS pilot program with a consultative group of 15 law enforcement and criminal intelligence organisations.

Another component of the three-point plan is the introduction of a national case management system for major police investigations. The PFA noted that numerous inquiries since 2007 have called for the introduction of such a system, but so far these recommendations have come to nought.

Finally, the PFA is calling for the government to allocate sufficient spectrum for an interoperable public safety mobile broadband network.

The federation noted that multiple parliamentary committees have called for spectrum to be allocated for dedicated public protection and disaster relief radio communications.

Dedicated spectrum would allow law enforcement to more easily share information including video, fingerprints and firearms records across state borders and agencies.

Despite assumptions from the Productivity Commission, public safety agencies would not need to build an entirely new network, the PFA said. Instead, the agencies could leverage their substantial existing infrastructure, as well as those from the commercial mobile operators.

But because relying solely on the commercial networks could put police, emergency services and the public at risk, the PFA wants the next government to commit to allocating 20 MHz of the 700 MHz frequency band to public safety agencies.

“Clearly, a shared spectrum arrangement, working closely with carrier networks, is the best option. Ownership of the spectrum should be with the PSAs. They would be able to ‘expand’ into other resource blocks within the carrier’s spectrum when needed,” the PFA’s policy document states.

“Conversely, in cases in which the PSAs were not using the spectrum, the carrier would have access to it, improving their services. This is particularly beneficial in regional areas, where PSA use may be intermittent, and it meets ACMA’s requirement for ‘highest value use’.”

But the PFA noted that recent efforts by Vodafone to buy the bulk of the 700 MHz spectrum left unsold during a 2013 auction could jeopardise this strategy. As a result, the PFA is calling for any decision on Vodafone’s proposal to be deferred until after spectrum has been allocated to public safety agencies.

The PFA said the three major initiatives could be paid for by funds seized from criminals under a proposed new national unexplained wealth regime.

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