The national picture. One search.
The ACIC’s National Criminal Intelligence System (NCIS) has transformed how law enforcement agencies across Australia share and use information. What began as a pilot capability is now a nationally integrated system used by tens of thousands of frontline officers. By bringing together comprehensive police information and intelligence from across jurisdictions, NCIS is helping identify suspects faster, to reinforce community safety, and disrupt serious and organised crime more effectively.
NCIS has recently delivered another major milestone, extending its reach by incorporating richer data from all police agencies, the Department of Defence and expanded national intelligence holdings.
The uplift strengthens intelligence workflows, allowing users to run simple or complex searches across multiple systems and quickly triage results in one place.
ACIC Executive Director Intelligence and Information Systems, Heidi Madden, said the uplift strengthens NCIS’s ability to deliver a more complete national intelligence picture.
“Our commitment to enhancing intelligence sharing through NCIS, strengthening the platform’s security and performance, and expanding access to critical policing information, is helping jurisdictions stay connected and ahead of emerging threats.”
From pilot to national intelligence capability
NCIS has evolved significantly over the past 10 years. The early pilot, which began in 2015 by the ACIC’s predecessor, the Australian Crime Commission, demonstrated the potential to improve intelligence and information sharing to support more effective and timely detection and disruption of criminal activity.
Previously, accessing police information across jurisdictions, beyond essential details such as offence histories, warrants and warnings, relied on personal contacts within other agencies and navigating multiple systems.
In March 2021, NCIS became available to law enforcement partners for use in active operations for the first time. This marked the transition from concept to operational reality, enabling timely and targeted information sharing across agencies.
Since then, NCIS has expanded in scale and capability, integrating data from multiple police agencies and national systems. It now supports a truly borderless approach to criminal intelligence, ensuring officers have access to the information they need, when they need it.
Drawing on data from police and intelligence systems nationwide, NCIS supports risk assessment, decision making and analysis.
For ACIC intelligence analysts, NCIS is primarily used to identify profiles and networks around persons of interest, particularly when information is incomplete. By linking people, locations and events across datasets, NCIS uncovers connections that would otherwise require extensive manual effort.
In one case, an intelligence analyst identified a person of interest using only limited information, including a misspelt name and a partial address. By following links across systems, the analyst quickly built a detailed profile, significantly reducing the time required to strengthen the intelligence picture.
Tasmania Police reviewed a missing person case flagged in 2020, with no results returned through local systems. Using NCIS, officers immediately located previously unknown records in another jurisdiction confirming the individual was deceased, allowing the case to be resolved.
This highlights how access to nationally shared information can resolve cases more efficiently and reduce uncertainty.
In another case, Queensland Police Service investigators required information on a relatively unknown person prior to executing a search warrant. An NCIS search revealed interstate data showing the individual had been charged with a terrorism offence. This information allowed officers to adjust their approach and better prepare for the risks involved.
This demonstrates how NCIS supports informed decision making and improves officer safety in high-risk situations.
NCIS supports investigations where speed is critical. In one case, a search that returned hundreds of potential matches in a local system was significantly narrowed using NCIS, enabling investigators to identify a suspect more quickly.
Filtering and prioritising results using nationally available data reduces investigative effort and accelerates outcomes.
A growing national asset
NCIS continues to grow in scale and impact. In the last 12 months more than 55,000 users conducted over 68 million searches – highlighting its critical role in supporting law enforcement and intelligence operations.
As new datasets and capabilities are added, NCIS will continue to strengthen Australia’s response to crime by enabling secure, real-time information sharing across jurisdictions – helping law enforcement stay connected, informed and ready to respond to current or emerging threats.
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