Australian Police Get Immigration Information Fast
July 4th, 2006 | Published in Immigration
Australian police officers now have access to a 24-hour identity service for checking people’s immigration status.
The Immigration Status Service (ISS) has been rolled out nationally by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Amanda Vanstone commented, “This is an invaluable tool for police to quickly ascertain whether someone is lawfully in the community and, if further follow-up is required, to get my department involved.”
National coverage was completed in late June.
“The ISS has received around 1500 enquiries from police, with about half of the enquiries answered within 10 minutes,” Senator Vanstone said.
“The service is operating with one dedicated officer per shift and arrangements are being made to increase to two officers per shift in response to the increasing demand for the service.
“Under the system, a police officer is able to contact his or her dispatcher, who is then able to request details from the status service.
“There are measures in place though to ensure the process is quick. In the event a police officer is in the field, for example a highway patrol officer on the side of the road, we accept verification via email through one of their colleagues in dispatch while we are conducting the checks.
“In keeping with recommendations made in last year’s Palmer report, this is just one of my department’s new initiatives to reform and enhance the way identity issues are managed.”
