A report by the NSW Auditor-General has found the NSW Police Force needs four extra years to complete its core technology upgrade, requiring $A493 million in additional funding. The agency has spent $155 million while delivering only one of five core systems.

The report covers planning, procurement and governance activities at the NSW Police Force from 2018 to December 2025.

The audit concluded the NSW Police Force “has not efficiently or effectively planned and sourced key components to upgrade core policing technology systems.”

The program's original 2027 completion date has been pushed to June 2031. The NSW Police Force estimates it needs $78 million more in capital funding and $415 million in recurrent funding to finish the work.

By December 2025, the agency had spent 47 per cent of its $328 million capital allocation. Only the forensics and exhibits system has been replaced in full.

The Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS), implemented in 1994, remains in use on outdated mainframe technology using an obsolete programming language. COPS sits at the centre of more than 300 systems and subsystems, with 207 interfaces to internal and external platforms.

The audit followed a 20 November 2024 referral from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission to the Audit Office of New South Wales. The referral concerned the NSW Police Force's administration of the Integrated Policing Operating System (IPOS) project.

Failed contract with overseas start-up

In 2020, the NSW Police Force awarded the prime contract for IPOS to an overseas start-up technology firm. The audit said the supplier scored higher on operational criteria than two competing bidders.

External advisers and gateway reviews had warned decision makers about delivery optimism, resourcing constraints and supplier capability risks. Concerns also covered the firm's financial position and limited experience delivering systems at comparable scale.

In June 2022, the supplier advised it could not deliver a forensics and exhibits system. Minimum viable computer aided dispatch capability would also slip by several years. The NSW Police Force terminated the contract.

Total lost investment reached close to $20 million. The supplier began legal action against the NSW Police Force, with a confidential settlement reached in August 2023.

Following contract termination, the NSW Police Force did not maintain effective governance, capability or appropriate financial controls, according to the audit. This slowed decision making and prolonged reliance on legacy systems.

Between 2022 and 2024, the steering committee did not provide consistent business leadership or effective oversight of timelines, budgets or risks.

A consultants' project management review in 2024 found projects were “being managed in silos rather than through an interconnected portfolio.” The review also identified “poor project/program financial controls and inconsistency in financial management.”

In January 2023, the IPOS program had 191 approved positions, with 82 (43 per cent) vacant. Recruiting programmers with legacy system skills proved especially difficult.

The cost of temporary developers rose from $1,000 per day in December 2021 to $1,500 per day in December 2024, equivalent to $345,000 per year.

Program reset and multi-vendor pivot

The NSW Police Force initiated a comprehensive reset in mid-2024, rebranding the work as the Police Technology Program (PTP). It introduced single accountable sponsorship, a phased delivery model, strengthened financial oversight and reinforced independent assurance.

The agency has moved away from a single-vendor approach. Procurement processes in 2024-25 for next-generation CAD and the COPS replacement required tenderers to meet minimum staff and revenue thresholds, effectively excluding start-up firms.

Proposals are accepted only from companies with experience in the Westminster system of government that comply with the Australian Protective Security Policy Framework.

A Department of Customer Service health check in November 2025 found the program had “pivoted to a more flexible and scalable delivery model.” It rated overall delivery confidence as medium.

Operational cost of legacy systems

The audit detailed operational impacts of running 1994 technology. Officers must enter the same information multiple times and return to stations to input data. Staff often use paper-based processes to overcome problems with COPS.

A 2019 case study highlighted the impact during a $4 million family day care fraud investigation. Some 700 exhibits were manually entered into four different systems. Search warrant documents were entered into five different systems retrospectively, as there was no scope for realtime input.

Updating COPS for a 2023 bushfire reporting change required 110 days of developer time due to legacy system complexity.

The mainframe costs approximately $13 million per year in hardware and software. An additional $8 million per year covers software licences.

The 2020 business case assumed mainframe decommissioning would save around $26 million per year from July 2027 onwards. Those savings are no longer expected.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon accepted both audit recommendations. In his formal response dated 24 April 2026, he wrote that the reset was designed to limit further exposure and preserve service continuity.

Lanyon said the reforms “represent more than incremental improvement; they constitute a fundamental restructuring of how technology transformation is governed and delivered within the NSW Police Force.”

The full NSW Auditor-General's report, Upgrades to core policing technology, is available at audit.nsw.gov.au.