New Australian Federal Police headquarters opens in the CBD

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has opened its new Victorian headquarters in the CBD, will now oversee Victorian and Tasmanian operations at 155 Little Lonsdale St.

The headquarters was officially opened on April 17 by AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC.

AFP Southern Command Assistant Commissioner Hilda Sirec said the headquarters would be an investment for the whole community and ensured it “stays a step ahead of criminals”.

“This is a purpose-built facility that will enable our law enforcement agency to execute the critical work and operations we undertake to keep Australians safe,” he said.

The upgraded facilities ensure the AFP is equipped to deploy at a moment’s notice to fight crime and are backed by specialists with the latest technology to process and analyse vast amounts of information in real-time to identify patterns in criminal activity to ensure focused disruption efforts.

Housing the latest in forensic technology, the new headquarters will enable crime to be solved faster through advanced fingerprint and DNA analysis, illicit drug identification, ballistics testing and identification of victims of child sexual abuse.

The state-of-the-art facility will also include an updated major incident room for large-scale operations, an onsite gun range for investigators and tactical response training and tailored training spaces to maximise the effectiveness of multi-agency-operations.

Investigative units including the Joint Counter Terrorism Teams, the National Anti-Gangs Squad, the Transnational Serious Organised Crimes teams and Joint Organised Crime Taskforces, Cybercrime and Human Exploitation teams will be based at the new headquarters.

The AFP’s Victorian executive and support staff will also be based in the building.

The building has been named Dulai Wurrung, which means platypus in the Woi-Wurrung language of the local Wurundjeri people and is also the AFP’s emblem. It was named in consultation with Traditional Owners.