Whilst the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has primary responsibility for Commonwealth law enforcement, its investigational capacity is not without limits. The AFP’s Case Categorisation and Prioritisation Model (CCPM) assists in identifying and directing resources to matters of the highest priority, while rejecting other matters for investigation, in line with key strategic priorities.
How is the CCPM used?
In a recent communication, the AFP states that the CCPM considers:
- The incident/crime type
- The impact of the matter on Australian society
- The importance of the matter
- The resources required by the AFP to undertake the matter
Incident/crime type
The incident type is a means of grouping similar matters. Incident types include:
| Child Sex Offences | Environmental Crime | Other Commonwealth Crime |
| Child Sex Offences – Online Exploitation | Family Law | People Smuggling |
| Child Sex Offences – Travelling Child Sex Offender | Federal Parolee | Performance & Image Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs) |
| Commonwealth Property/Premise Offence | Firearms | Protection |
| Corporate or Bankruptcy | Fraud | Protection – CPP Australian Office Holder |
| Corruption | Harming Australians | Protection – CPP Non-Australian Office Holder |
| Counterfeit Currency | Human Trafficking | Sanctions |
| Crimes at Sea | Identity Crime | Telecommunications and Postal |
| Criminal Assets | Intellectual Property | Terrorism – Diversion |
| Cyber Crime | Intelligence | Terrorism – Domestic |
| Dangerous Goods | International | Terrorism – Financing |
| Domestic LEA Requests | Judicial orders or processes | Terrorism – Foreign Incursion |
| Drugs – Exported | Migration Crime | Terrorism – International |
| Drugs – Imported | Missing Person | Threats to Aviation |
| Drugs – Precursors – Exported | Money Laundering | Tobacco – smuggling |
| Drugs – Precursors – Imported | Mutual Assistance and Extradition | Training |
| Drugs – Trafficked | Offences against Commonwealth Officials | Weapons, other than firearms |
| Electoral Crime | Offences against Humanity | Witness Protection |
Impact of the matter on Australian society
This refers to the perceived impact of the matter on Australian society. Impact is categorised as:
Very high
Examples include:
- Terrorism and national security
- Economic crime (including money laundering) affecting the whole of government agency or valued at more than $5 million
- Multiple commercial drug importation
- Cyber Crime targeting national infrastructure
High
Examples include:
- Impacting on multiple agencies, the system of government or government policy
- Economic crime (including money laundering) affecting the whole of a government agency or valued at more than $1 million
- Commercial drug importation
- Corruption by a public official (including within Australia and bribery of a foreign official in other countries)
Medium
Examples include:
- Economic crime (including money laundering) affecting a government agency within a region or valued at more than $0.25 million
- Trafficable drug importation
- Media/political interest
Low
Examples include:
- Less than a trafficable quantity of drugs
- Personal nuisance
- Mandatory requirement, including judicial processes
The importance of the matter
This refers to the importance of the matter to both the client and the AFP in terms of the roles assigned to them by Government.
Impact to Client
Client impact and priority is categorised as:
Critical: a matter is politically sensitive or goes to central issues of management of an agency or a program
Significant: a serious or complex crime has been committed which the agency cannot resolve without AFP involvement
Routine: AFP investigation is desirable
Not Applicable: where impact to client is not relevant or appropriate
On Merit: no default value – the impact is assessed on a case by case basis
Other: matters where no alternative course of action is available
Value to AFP
Value to the AFP is a measurement of the extent to which a particular matter matches the AFP’s role as defined by its Ministerial Direction and other Government policy such as the Commonwealth Fraud Control Framework. It can be summarised as the investigation of serious or complex matters affecting the Commonwealth’s interests. Importance to the AFP is categorised as:
High
These are matters that have a high degree of relevance to the AFP. Such matters could include those:
- With a ‘High’ or ‘Very High’ impact that require significant investigative capabilities
- Related to emerging criminality such as attacks on e-commerce systems
- Relating to a strategic AFP target who is involved in other activity of interest to the AFP
- Which will allow the AFP to enhance relationships for future serious matters
Medium
These matters would include:
- ‘Medium’ impact matters that require significant investigate skill
- Matters that provide an opportunity for developing AFP employees
- Leveraging resources through assisting another agency investigation
Low
These matters would include:
- ‘Low’ impact matters
- Matters where there is little likelihood of success
- Matters where an alternative approach is considered more appropriate
Outside of the AFP’s role
These matters are not relevant to AFP’s outcomes and are outside the AFP’s core business and/or jurisdiction.
