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About us

Launched on 2 July 2003, the Australian High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC) was hosted in Canberra by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

As agreed by the AHTCC Board of Management, the four core functions of the AHTCC included:

1. Policy advocacy;
2. Strategic intelligence support;
3. Crime prevention and education; and
4. Capability development.

In June 2007, the AHTCC Board of Management agreed that the AHTCC would transfer from being a nationally-governed centre to becoming a dedicated AFP portfolio, retaining its national focus. The transfer became effective 1 October 2007, and a new High Tech Crime Operations (HTCO) portfolio was officially launched on 1 March 2008.

The role of the HTCO is to:

1. Provide a national coordinated approach to combating serious, complex and multi-jurisdictional technology enabled crimes, especially those beyond the capability of single jurisdictions.
2. Assist in improving the capacity of all jurisdictions to deal with technology enabled crime.
3. Support efforts to protect the National Information Infrastructure (NII).

The AFP is a member of the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT).

Reporting structure

The A/National Manager of AFP High Tech Crime Operations is Commander Neil Gaughan.