Australia Gets World-Class Forensics Facility

AFP move in after 2.5-year construction effort.

The Australian Federal Police has finally moved into a new $106 million forensics facility in Canberra that will aid in everything from cybercrime to organised crime and terrorism investigations.

Over 200 experts in digital forensics, weapons intelligence, fingerprint and facial identification, and biological and chemical criminalistics come together in the new forensics facility at Majura.

It replaces a similar but outdated Weston Forensic Centre, which was overcrowded and unsuitable for newer forensics techniques, forcing police in some cases to ship work to New Zealand instead.

The opening of the new facility was delayed by six months due to prolonged construction works: it was originally slated to open at the end of 2015.

In total, it took 2.5 years to build and is expected to have a useful lifespan of about 20 years.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the facility was home to “cutting edge technology and innovation”, though many of the uses of that technology were classified, preventing him from talking about them at length.

“Can I assure you this building contains some of the keenest minds, some of the most innovative minds employed by the Commonwealth of Australia,” Turnbull said.

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