NSW Police parse big data for counter-terrorism clues

The NSW Police is hoping to transform its information systems to handle the big data requirements of counter-terrorism intelligence gathering.

In a tender released late Friday, the agency laid out its requirements for a "relational database ... to effectively store and manage existing data, replacing several separate information systems that do not integrate with each other".

In addition, the database is expected to take feeds from federal and international law enforcement and counter-terrorism systems.

The push for the database is coming from the Service's Terrorism Intelligence Unit, which sits within a wider Anti Terrorism Security Group (ATSG). The tender notes that such a system would also benefit the agency's Counter Terrorism & Special Tactics (CT&ST) Command, and any "evolving future needs".

NSW Police said that cooperation by criminal organisations has led to bigger analytics requirements in intelligence gathering over the past decade.

"Today criminal organisations have realised that it is better for them to cooperate rather than compete with each other," NSW Police noted.

"This has led to the global rise of criminal organisations specialising in money laundering and identity theft, both of which underpin their operations.

"Terrorist organisations are engaging with these criminal organisations to fund their activities and as such the current transnational and terrorism environments internationally have highlighted the necessity for law enforcement agencies to possess a strong intelligence management and analysis function."

NSW Police believed that if they got the system design right, that "other A/NZ policing and justice agencies may opt to purchase" a version of it in future.

The agency said it will put all proposed systems through a three-week proof-of-concept. It wants to finalise "initial purchase and implementation" by June 30, 2013.