Annual Report - COMPLETE - Australian Crime Commission

Profi le
The ACC aims to reduce the incidence and impact of serious and organised criminal
activity on the Australian community by:
• improved criminal intelligence collection and analysis;
• setting clear National Criminal Intelligence Priorities (NCIPs); and
• conducting intelligence-led investigations into federally relevant criminal activity,
encompassing investigative and intelligence taskforces as approved by the ACC
Board.
The ACC was established to bring a strong intelligence focus to the investigation of
serious national criminal activity, providing Australian law enforcement agencies with
the ability to counter the dynamic and complicated nature of modern criminality.
In addition to the ACC’s wide-ranging in-house capacity, it is able to call on the skills
and resources of state and territory police forces and Commonwealth agencies such as
the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australian Customs Service (ACS), the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Tax Offi ce (ATO) and
the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
In the ACC, Australia now has an organisation that brings together all arms of
intelligence gathering and law enforcement to unify the fi ght against serious and
organised criminal activity.
Functions
The ACC’s functions are listed under section 7A of the ACC Act. Under the Act, the
ACC is responsible for the collection, correlation, analysis and dissemination of
criminal information and intelligence, and the maintenance of a national database
of that information and intelligence. When authorised by the ACC Board, the ACC
undertakes intelligence operations and investigations into federally-relevant criminal
activity. It provides strategic criminal intelligence assessments and advice to the ACC
Board for the determination of the NCIPs.
The activities of the ACC are underpinned by strategic and operational intelligence,
and investigative capability. They inform and assist the ACC and joint taskforces and
inform law enforcement policy and direction at Commonwealth, state and territory
levels.
Special Powers
The ACC has special powers to enable it to effectively fi ght nationally signifi cant
crime. The use of these powers is subject to the oversight and authorisation of the
ACC Board. Legislation makes the special powers available in support of intelligence
driven operations and investigations, which are the key focus of the ACC.
ACC ANNUAL REPORT 2003–04 I 9
1
PROFILE, GOVERNANCE AND PERFORMANCE