Be-ForIntel: Building the foundations of a Forensic Intelligence tool in Belgium (P042)

• In Event: Poster session

Abstract

Various forms of forensic data are well known and widespread within the Belgian criminal investigation. They have been used successfully to solve or prevent crimes and serious incidents.
Forensic data is nowadays mainly used on a case-by-case basis as evidence in court. However, this information could be applied on a much wider scale through the use of forensic intelligence.
The Be-ForIntel project aims to examine under what conditions and how forensics intelligence can be implemented in Belgium. To this end, we identify three complementary objectives.
The first objective is to map the organisations and institutions that generate forensic data in Belgium.
Therefore the fundamental conditions (in terms of rules, law, technique, etc.) for the implementation of a forensic intelligence tool in Belgium will be isolated. Subsequently, based on these all the forensic data in Belgium will be identified in order to reflect how they can be managed for a forensic intelligence system. This part of the research is practical and bottom-up to identify opportunities and challenges in building a forensic intelligence tool in Belgium. The second part of the project will assess the feasibility and added value of a forensic intelligence approach in Belgium to demonstrate what can be done at the strategic level instead of a case-by-case basis. Police recorded crime data will be combined with forensic data to assess the added value by using a network analysis and statistical analysis. For the feasibility study a legal study and semi-structed interviews will be conducted.
The third and final part will translate the first two objectives into precise guidelines for the actors in the field (e.g., magistrates, police officers, forensic experts, legislator,…), so that they have a roadmap for the practical implementation of a forensic intelligence tool in Belgium.

Authors

• Caroline Stappers, Researcher at the National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology

• Dayle Harvey, PhD researcher at the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy, Ghent University

• Kuralarasan Kumar, Univesity of Ghent

• Christophe Vandeviver, Ghent University

• Tom Vander Beken, Professor and director of the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP), Ghent University

• Fabrice Gason, National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC)

• Olivier Ribaux, University of Lausanne (Université de Lausanne)

• Bertrand Renard, National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC-INCC)