Criminology

Establishment of standing crime commissions has its roots in the uncovering of the extent of organized crime that went undetected or without proper investigation by the traditional law enforcement mechanisms as shown up the Costigan report. In addition, organized criminal gangs and syndicates knew no state or national borders but the Australian law enforcement was disjointed without even the basic ability to share information among the separate branches of government as well as the different agencies and worse yet, information within the same agencies was not well disseminated.

Traditional organs did not have specialized manpower like lawyers, accountants, auditors, IT specialists etc, who are indispensable to stemming such crime nor did the force have the sufficient wherewithal to do the same especially in the face of numerous other traditional offences and crimes. Unlike Royal commissions, the Australian police lacked access to tax records of individuals, and couldnt require individuals to produce documents or answer questions.

Most of these flaws were remedied e.g. by the creation of the Bureau of Crime intelligence which was tasked with enhancing co-ordination between the varied state bodies and agencies and ensuring that intelligence was shared and effectively used (Carter, 2004). Joint task forces between police were as well instituted to help enhance cooperation across states, while some documents could still be obtained through warranted searches as well as passing additional laws to allow for more flexibility on the part of the police.

Even so, it still proved difficult effectively investigate organized crime within the ordinary legal bounds under which suspects were entitled to remain silent. A fundamental right under common law, which forbid police, as well as courts to compel suspects to answer questions or give evidence. In addition, the police could not be invested with coercive powers, owing to the difficulty enforcing the powers as well as the necessary checks and balances that such a move would occasion among etc. This could only be broken through by the introduction of Royal style commissions complete with coercive powers, which could only be practiced by operating outside the ordinary criminal process, a realization that opened the first Standing crime commission, the NCA.

The argument for the formation of a standing crime commission as against the enhancing the ability of the police to better cope with organized crime also served the need to develop a multi disciplinary approach to investigating crime as well as meeting the realization that the police would be overwhelmed by the new cases that need long bouts of investigations given the fact that the police already struggled with conventional crime.

In addition, the costs of setting up and running a separate agency to investigate combat crime would be infinitely less than attempting to equip, train or hire more specialized staff for a large and bloated police force.

The NCA was set up to bolster efforts in reigning in organized crime that could not be fought effectively by the traditional organs for lack of capacity as well as legal constraints. These resulted from the lack of intelligence which made efforts to fight crime narrow, reactive and not anticipative. (Fleming  Wood,  2007). But such sweeping powers to override witness right to silence proved unnecessary for the NCA, a specialized investigative body whose mandate is simply to gather enough valid evidence to facilitate a successful prosecution. This could only be remedied by setting up separate special agencies such as ICAC that could get the truth, irregardless of what was admissible in court and as such help in gathering intelligence about crime.

The NCA was as well accused of misuse of power, ineffectiveness as well as political interference etc which led to its replacement with the ACC, charged with even greater responsibility of streamlining government as well as legislative framework.

Strategic intelligence allows authorities to anticipate crime and thusly get an edge over Criminals and make the process of fighting crime more proactive.

For successful as well as maximum utilization, raw data as well deduced intelligence must be shared among relevant bodies, and at relevant times to allow for the different sources of data to be analyzed and integrated in, order to come up with meaningful information, useful in anticipating crime and potentially preventing it. This should be done without jeopardizing the said information or compromising the final ends of such intelligence gathering. Whether or not information should be shared with the public or otherwise, calls for drawing a line between information and intelligence as well as distinguishing between strategic as well as tactical intelligence.

Tactical information is by its very nature aimed at decision making by relevant authorities as to emerging trends in crime as well as possible ways to combat it and as such sharing such information with the public which includes the criminals would serve to preempt the very purpose of gathering the same information unless such sharing is equally strategic. Tactical intelligence could be shared with the public where appropriate and such sharing is particularly helpful is enlisting the help of the public in arresting offenders, making targets less vulnerable as well as mitigating against the risks involved.

The success of intelligence based approach in fighting crime depends on the effectiveness of the dissemination and integration of the information to those who need it, and keep away from those who must not have it but also the effective use of the intelligence gathered to make the desired objectives.

Introduction of Standing Crime Commissions have made it possible to take advantage of intelligence based modes of dealing with organized crime by allowing such commissions more flexibility in obtaining the intelligence from suspects. Thus thusly, commissions serve an important role in not only assembling enough evidence that can stand up in court e.g. the NCA but other commissions e.g. the ICAC offer valuable intelligence.

In addition, in investigation official of corruption, big time corruption as well as other matters that the police cannot take on, or cannot be trusted to take on owing to the official secrets act, as well as other legal and political constraints, the commissions play a crucial role in bringing perpetrators to book.

These agencies are also advantaged in that they draw their staff from not only the police, but from other specialized professions giving them an edge over the traditional organs. This coupled with it cross jurisdictional reach that these commissions have, which make the more effective.
 
Other roles, tackling public indifference towards the justice system through public education and provision of necessary information to enlist the assistance  of the general public in fighting organized crime, official corruption etc.
 
Investing sweeping powers in these standing crime commissions though crucial had to be regulated and hence the existence of a special parliamentary committee to oversee their work and keep them to the straight and narrow. Cases of abuse of power though still exist and were bound to, to the detriment of civil liberties in the country (Carter, 2004).
 
Though the need to reign in organized crime is doubtless important. But this is hardly a justification for the setting up of myriads of standing crime commissions, most of which with overlapping roles and efficiency.

These agencies too have had to come up against changing environments in which they operate. The initial need to have crime tackled from a multi disciplinary angle did not produce agencies that partnered with the police in the face of crime, but ones that the police have learned to either compete with or envy. Not least because of the large amounts of resources availed to these commissions, sweeping powers as well as their successes in uncovering insidious corruption. The roles of standing crime commissions need to be redefined to avoid overlapping with each other or competing with the traditional roles of the police. This will help cut back on costs of running the police as well as special commissions and minimize inefficiency.