Operational priorities
As Australia's national policing agency, we protect Australians and Australia's interests.
In response to a changing crime environment, we use an Operational Prioritisation Model (OPM) to help inform our decisions on operational priorities and where to apply resources.
We do this by assessing Commonwealth crime according to:
- the potential harm to individuals, the community or Australia
- the impact that our actions could have to eliminate or reduce the harm.
Harm and impact are assessed on 5 levels, from least to most significant. This produces an overall OPM ranking, with 1 being the most serious and 5 being the least serious.
While the OPM is a key element in our decision-making, other factors inform decisions include:
- mutual assistance requests
- international responsibilities
- ministerial direction
- political and media sensitivities
- resource availability.
Depending on the matter, sometimes we may need to refer it to another Australian Government body or state or territory police authority for action.
