Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin insists the creation of a new "super ministry" in Canberra won't stop him transforming the force.
The Turnbull government will soon bring Australia's immigration, border, law enforcement and domestic security agencies into a single mega-portfolio.
The AFP and spy agencies are expected to work under the same tent by the end of this year.
But with the merger fast approaching, the AFP commissioner has declared a "revolution" in the force's response to tech-savvy criminals and terrorists.
Mr Colvin said the AFP would still concentrate on investigating crimes, nabbing offenders, protecting people and engaging overseas.
But its focus will increasingly shift from prosecution to harm reduction.
"There will always be more crime than a police agency can manage," Mr Colvin told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra on Wednesday night.
"So it makes sense that we focus our finite resources on the areas where they will have the most impact."
The commissioner signalled a significant re-think of what his 6500-strong force does and who they partner with.
"We must place greater emphasis on technology if we are to stay in the game," he said.
"We need to use the system to beat the system and we need to look at people outside ourselves who already have some of the answers that we seek."
Mr Colvin stressed the need to bring regional neighbours up to speed, arguing staggered response rates to new technologies opened up troubling gaps, which presented fertile ground for criminals.
Sharing information across borders also emerged as one of the commissioner's key gripes, along with engaging on a far less "transactional" basis with international partners.
He argued international law enforcement agencies had fallen well behind the standards set by trade and business sectors in sharing intelligence, information and evidence.
"At the moment we are applying in reality 80s or at best 90s-level legislation to what is a 2020 or 2030 problem."
Mr Colvin said the creation of the controversial Home Affairs ministry was of no bearing to his new vision, which was critical to the survival of the AFP.
"We need to make these changes, so we'll make them, regardless of the broader construct that we sit in," he said.
The move to Home Affairs placed the AFP at the centre of national security and would give the force a Cabinet minister for the first time in decades.
It would also allow for economy of scale for research, development and delivering technology.
Mr Colvin said ordinary Australians did not want to hear about divisions or unintended rivalries between government agencies, but just wanted to know they were working together to get on with the job.
