About ACIC
Created in July 2016, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) focuses on identifying and reducing organised crime in Australia. ACIC is part of the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group and National Intelligence Community and is a Commonwealth statutory agency established under the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (Cth). ACIC currently sits under the Home Affairs portfolio.
ACIC December newsletter
Launched in March 2024 and published quarterly, ACIC’s official newsletter, QRTLY | INTEL is designed to provide insights into ACIC’s work and how it affects Australians. The most recent edition was published in December 2025 and discusses how the organisation is using AI, the national automated fingerprint identification system’s recent upgrade, the value of ACIC’s graduate program, a public address given by CEO Heather Cook, and two recently published reports.
Responsible use of AI
ACIC has started using AI tools in response to its adoption and use by organised crime. To detect and disrupt criminal activities, the organisation is monitoring and identifying useful data points in its “vast and diverse data holdings” to anticipate criminal threats and prepare strategies to counter them.
To assuage the public of any fears of misuse, ACIC’s Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Tania Churchill, provided reassurances that the organisation was taking a careful approach, stating “we embed safeguards into every stage of AI development and use, supported by rigorous assessment of risks and benefits using specialist expertise”.
Churchill provided assurances of continued human oversight and accountability, ensuring that decisions would always be made by humans rather than an algorithm. A comprehensive AI policy also ensures that such tools are used ethically and in ways that are compliant with all regulatory and legislative regulations.
The benefits of ACIC’s graduate program
The December newsletter featured an interview with two students who went through ACIC’s graduate program. The interview revealed how the program allowed them to see the diverse duties and responsibilities available to employees, understand how ACIC’s work benefits both the local and international community, gain valuable insight into the psychology of criminals, discover the value of the intelligence dissemination process, and better understand how national security, foreign relations, counter-terrorism, and extremism intersect with organised crime.
National Automated Fingerprint Identification System update
The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) is Australia’s national palmprint and fingerprint identification system, which is “used more than 12,000 times a day by Australian law enforcement agencies” to help identify suspects of offenses and crimes including armed robbery, murder, and vehicular theft among many others.
Over the last five years, the system has undergone an upgrade dubbed the NAFIS NextGen Project and as a result of this work, the updated, cloud-based platform will provide ACIC and law enforcement agencies the following benefits:
- Improved finger/palm matching effectiveness
- An automation process for crime scene fingerprints
- Desktop access to NAFIS
- Improved security
- A state-of-the-art training program
According to ACIC CEO Heather Cook, the upgraded version of NAFIS sets “a new standard for fingerprint identification and information sharing”.
New ACIC reports launched
ACIC recently published two reports in November:
- The costs of serious and organised crime in Australia, 2023-24
- Opening the Books: the impact of serious and organised crime on Australia in 2025
The costs of serious and organised crime in Australia, 2023-24
Prepared in cooperation with the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), this is a statistical report that seeks to “calculate the costs of serious and organised crime to Australia”.
Opening the Books
This high-level report features data and findings published in the 2023-24 AIC report, which reveals both the direct costs (costs linked directly to crime and those that profit from it) and indirect costs (prevention and response costs incurred across the private and public sectors) of organised crime in Australia, as well as key trends and takeaways, case studies, the highest threat criminal networks, and insights into how organised crime impacts Australian. In total, in 2023-24 organised crime cost Australia $82.3 billion, with $58.9 billion in direct costs and $23.4 billion in indirect costs.
ACIC CEO Heather Cook delivers public address
ACIC CEO Heather Cook delivered a speech at the National Security College (a joint initiative between the Australian National University (ANU) and the Australian government) in November on the topic of serious and organised crime, which addressed its scale and costs, how it impacts Australians, and the strategies ACIC was using to combat organised crime both locally and abroad.
Cook’s speech also delved into how organised crime operates, the people engaging in illicit acts, its links with hostile foreign state actors, how criminals adopt new technologies, and the global nature of organised crime.
Key takeaways
In the latest December QRLTY | INTEL newsletter, ACIC revealed how it’s using cutting edge technologies to improve its offerings, promote trust and accountability with the Australian public, and highlighted the local and international challenges the organisation faces on a daily basis and the steps it’s taking to continue protecting Australians from serious and organised crime.
