Helping in fight against organised crime
De Montfort University has taken the lead in establishing a research hub to help in the fight against organised crime, which costs the UK economy more than £37 billion every year.
University academics have linked up with the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU), the regional police force dealing with organised crime, to work together in a series of areas.
The hope is that the expertise of academics can give different perspectives to allow police to not only fight and disrupt crime, but also get a step ahead of the organised criminals.
The project is led by DMU’s Professor Dave Walsh, a senior lecturer in the university’s Business and Law faculty, and Deputy Chief Constable Chris Haward, the head of EMSOU.
The recently-formed regional academic hub aims to delivers research and activity that disrupts organised crime networks and informs Home Office policy on how some of society’s biggest challenges are policed to drive innovation.
The hub has been joined by academics from the Psychology, Computer Science, Law, Accountancy, Education, Community and Youth, Business, Criminology, Policing and the Public Engagement departments.
Academics will ask questions surrounding organised crime in different ways and find and circulate learning from elsewhere.
The hope is that this initiative will improve knowledge in a series of areas.
- Links between national and international organised crime gang networks
- Cyber-crime as an enabler
- Future crime types and methodology
- Criminal entrepreneurialism
- Community resilience
- Protection, Pursuit or Prosecution – what is most effective?
- Evaluation of Impact
Mixed groups of academics and police are tackling 5 key operational priorities - international links; understanding digital technologies; organised crime gang business models; protection from organised crime; and what methods work.