The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says raids on journalists are not designed to pressure the media.

The ABC’s Sydney headquarters and the Canberra home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst were raided last month over leaked documents.

In an interview with the ABC this week, Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin said his officers were simply enforcing laws.

“I don't believe this was intimidation. I don't believe that's what we were attempting to do,” he said.

“We needed to elicit evidence to further our investigation.”

The raids happened within days of each other, but Mr Colvin says it was not a concerted move designed to intimidate.

“It was purely a resource question for us when we had the right skill set available,” he said.

The AFP sought travel records of ABC journalist Dan Oakes, along with his fingerprints and those of his colleague Sam Clark, after they reported on allegedly unlawful killings carried out by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

“There has been material come out in recent days about other parts of this investigation, that is just part of a normal investigative process,” Mr Colvin said.

He said all three journalists are still the subjects of ongoing investigations, but they have been put on hold while the media organisations launch court action.

“Of course I absolutely support press freedom as part of democracy, as a commissioner and a general citizen,” Mr Colvin said.

“But we also need to do our job, which is to enforce the laws that the parliament has seen fit to pass.”

Some have called on Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton to rule out the prosecution of journalists for publishing classified information.

“The thought of interfering in a police investigation has never crossed my mind - and it won't,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio on Thursday.