User-friendly system aids crime fighters

CRIMTRAC is building a secure extranet that will enable Australia's police forces to swap crime information and work together in real-time.

The federal agency serves as an information broker for law-enforcement agencies and provides access to national criminal history services such as fingerprint and DNA databases.

Its work has been hampered by a "clunky old portal, from the IT stone age", and staff routinely fax key documents, chief technology officer Anthony Martin says.

This is changing since an internal deployment of Microsoft's SharePoint platform, which will underpin CrimTrac's long-term collaboration strategy.