Due to COVID restrictions, with increase in screen time on digital platforms and their impact on community behavior in consuming a message, the law enforcement agencies are in a crucial phase of shifting according to recent digital trends and new forms of crimes. Here, are the possible future challenges for Australian Law Enforcement Agencies,


1. Increase in Cyber Crimes:

  • As Australians face restrictions and limit public presence, the activity on digital platforms has increased significantly. As per ‘NortonLifeLock Digital Transformation Report’ , 1 in 6 Australians fell victim to cybercrime during the lockdown period. In addition, Australia ranked 6th in most serious cyber-attack targets in the globe.

  • As the COVID 19 restriction is expected to continue for certain periods in future, it is critical to track and prevent the Australian digital users from cyber-attacks. Since cyber-crime involves international offenders it has been a challenging task globally including Australian Federal Police (AFP). As per data from Western Australia Police Force (WA Police), 30 to 40 % of cybercrime offences are committed by international offenders , where the victims and offenders reside in the same jurisdiction in only 7 % of cases .

2. Change in community behavior:

  • There are various factors that drive the change in community behavior such as unemployment, cost of living, use of social media etc. Hence, it is a challenging task to monitor the change in demographic and their impact on society.

For Instance: There is a significant increase in domestic violence during this pandemic. According to Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), almost
1 in 10 Australian women in a relationship have experienced domestic violence during the COVID 19 crisis, with two-thirds indicating the attacks started or became worse during the pandemic.


  • The role of social media and their impact on the community is something the law enforcement agencies have to deal with in future as well. Because, any share of incidents (good/bad) in social media could have a serious impact on the community and their behavior.

3. Law enforcement workforce need to embrace technology advancements faster to serve community better

  • In future, law enforcement agencies such as police have to work simultaneously with both physical and digital domains in crime prevention and detection. Hence, it is crucial for agencies to recruit new officers who can embrace both physical and technology faster and also to train existing officers within the system.

For Instance: An officer might have to use digital evidence processing tools such as geo-spatial analysis, video analytics, data analytics and digital forensic during an investigation process.


4. Balancing proactive (Crime Control) & community policing (Positive impact on community)

  • Although modernization of arms, introducing new units such as anti-terror squads and digital forensic are crucial for crime prevention & detection, the relationship between community and law enforcement agencies is also a crucial approach in crime prevention and in solving neighborhood problems.

For Instance: Recent concerns and protest such as black live matters highlights the importance of positive relationships between law enforcement agencies and community.


5. Access to more data and time constraints in investigation:

  • Due to the emergence of technology advancements, there is an exponential increase in the volume of information and the law enforcement agencies have to process the data to extract actionable insights during the investigation. In the meantime, there has also been a pressure on the law enforcement agencies to make the investigation process faster .
  • Hence, it will be a challenging task for law enforcement agencies to store and process the accumulating data in future.