The Response to Organised Crime in Australia

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The government response to organised crime incorporates a number of agencies with responsibilities for delivering demand, supply and harm reduction strategies. This fact sheet provides an indication of the type of government response activities underway, with a primary focus on the Australian Crime Commission’s (ACC) strategic and operational approach.

Understanding Changes in Organised Crime and Crime Markets

Understanding changes to international and domestic situations helps law enforcement and governments determine appropriate responses to organised crime and guides operational activity.

Law enforcement agencies such as the ACC monitor a range of markets to determine changes in the nature and extent of organised criminal involvement. We know that globalisation, changing political, social and economic dynamics and advances in technology continue to create opportunities for exploitation by organised crime.

The ACC’s strategic direction and priorities are established by its Board. The ACC’s Picture of Criminality in Australia product suite informs many Board—and government—decisions, including setting priorities and allocating resources. The suite of products consider the risks posed by people, groups, markets and other matters affecting the strategic crime environment in Australia and current and emerging trends in criminality and organised crime. The Picture of Criminality in Australia also considers factors that will shape future organised criminal activity. The assessments are crucial decision-making tools for Australian law enforcement.

One of the key classified products in this suite is the Organised Crime Threat Assessment (OCTA). On 15 April 2011, the Minister for Home Affairs and Justice launched an unclassified public version of the OCTA, called Organised Crime in Australia 2011, which is helping to inform industry and communities about how to harden their environment against organised criminal activity.

Through its classified and unclassified products, the ACC facilitates a greater national understanding of, and capability to address, key problems such as trends in the production and use of illicit drugs, money laundering and identity crime. The Picture of Criminality in Australia informed the development of the Commonwealth Organised Crime Strategic Framework and are used to guide information collection and set law enforcement priorities and activity through the Organised Crime Response Plan (released on 26 November 2010) and other initiatives.

Understanding the changing criminal environment is crucial in shaping not only an effective response by Australian law enforcement, but also a collaborative response by agencies outside the law enforcement umbrella which are responsible for regulation and monitoring of key sectors.

The ACC is collaborating with bodies such as the Australian Institute of Criminology, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and the Australian National Council on Drugs to develop a more holistic picture of the criminal economy, money laundering, various categories of fraud and illicit drug markets. The ACC is likely to benefit from existing or proposed research initiatives by these bodies into several of these areas and can add perspective to the projects through its own datasets and knowledge of the organised crime environment.

Another key component of the ACC’s response to organised crime is its High-Risk Funds Methodology. This is an approach to analysing financial data to isolate high risk money movements and identify targets. It involves examining and understanding the criminal economy through economic and analytical modelling of financial, trade and other data drawn from numerous public and private sector sources. Data drawn from overtly recorded money flows is assessed by applying specific algorithms and an agreed threat and risk assessment methodology to identify high- risk funds (that is, those money flows which are most likely to contain illicit funds). Then, entities identified as being associated with the high-risk funds are examined against national law enforcement holdings to identify targets for further development and assessment.

A tailored intervention and prevention response can then be developed in conjunction with the ACC’s partner agencies, once again using a risk-based approach weighted to the financial structures and wealth-generating capacity of the criminal organisation.

The benefits of this approach are that it enhances the strategic intelligence picture, more efficiently targets law enforcement efforts to the disruption of criminal enterprises, and identifies greater opportunities for confiscating illicit funds.

Collaboration

The impact of organised crime on Australian society is significant. It creates economic instability, community fear and risk to personal wellbeing and safety. The use of legitimate activities by organised crime groups disguises criminal activity and makes it more difficult for law enforcement to identify the criminal component.

In dealing with the current and emerging threats from organised crime, law enforcement needs to be flexible, innovative and forward- looking, and will increasingly need to use the skills of highly specialised experts across a broad range of disciplines.

Collaboration between law enforcement, government and industry is vital in Australia’s response to organised crime.

A great example of collaboration can be seen in the newly created Criminal Intelligence Fusion Capability (Fusion). The Minister for Home Affairs and Justice, the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the ACC launched Fusion in July 2010, which includes the full range of law enforcement, national security and related Commonwealth agencies. Fusion is maximising the effective use of public and private sector data holdings and facilitating lawful real-time intelligence sharing in relation to serious and organised crime. It is a very practical and cost- effective way of lawfully harnessing a range of data from agencies within government and law enforcement to more effectively direct law enforcement efforts and resources to disrupt the highest-threat criminal targets.

Fusion is increasing the ability of the ACC and its partners to integrate data and criminal intelligence to identify high-risk cash flows and patterns of crime as well as the individuals, businesses and corporate structures involved in criminal enterprises domestically and internationally. This capability also ‘fuses’ data in near real-time, analyses results and provides actionable intelligence reports to partner agencies.

Fusion exemplifies the advantages of multi- agency responses to organised crime.

High tech crime is a perfect example of the need for broadly based domestic and international collaboration—most IT systems and hardware are owned and operated by the private sector and the risk is sophisticated and multi-dimensional. CERT Australia, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and other agencies involved in cyber security are colocated in the Cyber Security Operations Centre to better collaborate and cooperate during cyber security incidents.

Similarly, the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT) was formed in March 2005 to increase the level of scam awareness in the community. The ACFT comprises 21 government regulatory agencies and departments with responsibility for consumer protection regarding frauds and scams. The ACFT also has a range of community, non-government and private sector organisations as partners.

The purpose of the ACFT is to help government members work together to:

• enhance the Australian and New Zealand governments’ enforcement activity against frauds and scams
• run an annual coordinated information campaign for consumers—the National Consumer Fraud Week in March (timed to coincide with Global Consumer Fraud Prevention Month)
• involve the private sector and community groups in the information campaign and encourage them to share information they may have on scams and frauds
• generate greater interest in research on consumer frauds and scams.

Collaboration will help develop better response strategies that combine the strengths of operational law enforcement activity, regulatory and legislative change, and community involvement. Partnerships between law enforcement, industry specialists and governments will offer Australian law enforcement the skills and tools it needs to further improve crime fighting capabilities.

Increased Public and Industry Awareness of Key Organised Crime Issues

The Australian public feels the impact of organised crime in numerous ways. There is the money governments invest to fight crime, taxation revenue forgone and the individual and social harm caused by criminal activities,not least of which are the traumatic effects of drug addiction on users and their loved ones. There is the uncertainty that organised crime creates when members of the public interact on the Internet or conduct transactions at ATMs and EFTPOS terminals and the higher credit card rates and insurance premiums that are required to compensate for criminal activity. There are the regulation and reporting mechanisms that apply to pharmacists and suppliers of chemicals to ensure that precursor chemicals are restricted to legitimate uses. There is the distortion to property markets and real estate prices, and the loss of government revenue, caused by mortgage fraud and real estate purchases that facilitate money laundering and other crimes.

Organised crime operates within and alongside legitimate business, gradually corrupting from within. The effect—while hard to quantify or identify until the changes to business ethics more obviously manifest—is cancerous for those legitimate businesses in which organised crime has gained a foothold. All these factors make industry and the public key sources of information about organised crime.

Increased public awareness of the activities of organised crime groups plays a key role in the effective prevention and reduction of such activity. Many frauds are rendered ineffective when the potential victim is able to recognise the attempted crime. For example, http://acc_internet_dev/publications/crime-profile-series/_files/money-laundering.pdfidentity crime can be prevented by improving the processes that support identity verification and by educating people in techniques to protect their identities. In recognising this, on 23 November 2009 the Commonwealth Attorney-General launched the booklet ID Theft – Protecting your Identity, which provides advice and strategies on how to protect personal and financial information and computer data, appropriate courses of action for victims of identity theft and a list of government resources to help protect personal information.

Card fraud may be reduced by the timely introduction of chip and PIN technology and extortion can be combated by members of the public who report instances of this insidious activity to police. As part of the National Taskforce on Card Skimming, the ACC worked with the Australian Payments Clearing Association on an awareness-raising initiative, Safeguard Against Skimming, which was launched on 18 March 2011. Posters and an education video were produced and distributed by financial institutions to businesses using EFTPOS terminals, to improve their understanding of card skimming and how to protect these terminals. Awareness and understanding of the risks posed by organised criminal activity will continue to be a vital component of the fight against organised crime in Australia.

The Government is working to improve industry understanding and collaboration with partners. Another example of this is the Cyber Security Strategy which was launched by the Commonwealth Attorney-General on 23 November 2009 adopts a comprehensive approach to promoting the security and resilience of Australia’s information and communications technology systems. The objectives of the Australian Government’s cyber security policy are that:

• all Australians are aware of cyber risks, secure their computers and take steps to protect their identities, privacy and finances online
• Australian businesses operate secure and resilient information and communications technologies to protect the integrity of their own operations and the identity and privacy of their customers
• the Australian Government ensures its information and communications technologies are secure and resilient.

On 6 June 2010, the Commonwealth Attorney-General launched a comprehensive publication, Protecting Yourself Online, as part of Cyber Security Awareness Week which provides a one-stop-shop for information relevant to Australia’s cyber environment.

Specialised Law Enforcement Strategies

Organised crime has the capability to resist and adapt to law enforcement efforts. Law enforcement uses special tools including coercive powers, covert intelligence, surveillance and a range of specialised analytical and investigative techniques to overcome this resistance.

Tactical law enforcement responses will, of necessity, continue to be predominantly reactive and directed toward matters affecting single regions and jurisdictions. However, it is recognised world-wide that proactive and specialised law enforcement approaches are crucial to the success of law enforcement efforts in combating organised crime. Once the nature and extent of the organised crime footprint in key markets and sectors is understood, along with the identity and characteristics of persons and networks engaged in organised crime, the response must include ongoing collaboration between state, territory and Commonwealth law enforcement agencies. The increasing spectre of transnational crime argues for the collaboration to extend to agencies from foreign countries and to world bodies.

The AFP’s International Liaison Officer Network provides Australian law enforcement agencies with a mechanism to collaborate with international counterparts on operational functions and crime types, including organised crime. The Network has over 85 AFP appointees in 30 countries, incorporating 30 posts and nine offices around the world. This is ever increasing with the volume of transnational crimes that are being investigated by the AFP. AFP International Liaison Officers are the Australian Government’s law enforcement representatives overseas.

The ACC Approach to Combating Organised Crime

The ACC is an independent statutory authority established on 1 January 2003 under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002.

The ACC’s primary objective is to support and complement Australian law enforcement efforts to reduce the threat and impact of serious and organised crime. It is a niche, complementary agency which delivers specialist law enforcement capabilities to other agencies in the law enforcement community and broader government. All ACC activities are conducted either with or for one of its many partner agencies across Commonwealth, state and territory governments.

As Australia’s national criminal intelligence agency, the ACC provides law enforcement and other Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies with a unique and valuable understanding of serious and organised crime, including its activities, methodologies and emerging areas of influence. To this end, the ACC provides specialist advice on national criminal intelligence priorities and delivers criminal intelligence products and national criminal intelligence information systems.

The ACC also undertakes targeted intelligence operations and investigations into serious and organised criminal activity in partnership with law enforcement agencies under taskforce, joint operation and intelligence-sharing arrangements. Close collaboration with Australian law enforcement and related government agencies is central to the ACC’s approach.

The ACC’s approach to combating organised crime is determined by the ACC Board. The membership of the ACC Board comprises the Commissioner of the AFP (Chair), each state and territory Police Commissioner and the heads of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the AttorneyGeneral’s Department and the Chief Executive Officer of the ACC as a non-voting member.

A key role for the ACC Board is to approve the use of the ACC’s special coercive powers. These coercive powers are an important aspect of its work and of the Australian law enforcement framework, as they allow the ACC to examine witnesses under oath or require the production of documents, or other evidence, in order to collect information that is not obtainable through traditional law enforcement methods.

Introduction of Legislation and Legislative Amendments

Since the government recognised organised crime as a growing concern in the Prime Minister’s first national security statement in December 2008, a number of legislative amendments have been introduced to make Australia an unattractive destination for organised crime.

Some of these changes are listed here to provide an indication of the breadth of the government response to organised crime.

The 2010 Serious and Organised Crime Acts implemented reforms to more effectively prevent, investigate and prosecute organised crime activity and target the proceeds of organised crime. Specifically, those Acts:

• introduced new criminal offences targeting those involved in organised crime
• strengthened criminal asset confiscation and anti-money laundering regimes
• require individuals suspected of possessing unexplained wealth to demonstrate that it was legally acquired or have it confiscated
• enhanced money laundering, bribery and drug importation offences
• broadened access to telecommunications interception for the investigation of organised crime offences, and
• provide protection for undercover law enforcement officers who infiltrate criminal organisations.

Building on the measures in the two Serious and Organised Crime Acts, the Crimes Legislation Amendment Act 2010 is increasing the capacity of the AFP and ACC to investigate serious and organised crime.

Similarly, the Law and Justice Legislation (Identity Crimes and Other Measures) Act 2010 will support law enforcement in tackling identity theft, as well as helping the victims of these distressing crimes.

To tackle the profits of crime, the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2011 was introduced into the parliament in March 2011 and will boost the confiscation of criminal assets by establishing the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce. This taskforce will combine the resources of the AFP, ACC, ATO and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

As the key policy agency in the national security space, the Attorney-General’s Department will continue to work closely with law enforcement and regulatory partners to combat organised crime with a strong legislative environment, and a national coordinated response across government.

More information on legislative amendments can be found on the Attorney-General’s Department website .