Making the most of the latest technologies for the fight against crime
IT and IoT have become an integral part of predictive policing expanding its effectiveness. The EU-funded CREST project aimed to enhance law enforcement agencies (LEAs)’ intelligence and operation capabilities through an innovative platform for crime prediction, prevention, operation and investigation. The platform was built upon the concept of multidimensional integration and correlation of heterogeneous multimodal data streams which include surface/deep/dark web and social media sources and interactions, IoT-enabled devices, surveillance cameras, seized devices and hard disks.
Customisation for an effective fight against crime
The CREST platform integrated diverse and multiple elements that can be used in a variety of domains by the end-users, especially in situations that require great adaptability to a multitude of factors, with the end goal being the support and safety of citizens. These elements include several types of wearable sensors, such as pollution sensors, heart rate sensors, thermometers, etc., and technical equipment that provided reports, in real time, during the tests, into a C2-type platform. The platform allowed their automatic analysis and the generation of warnings based on risk analysis, predefined during the planning period. “We regard the most innovative aspect of CREST is that the platform itself was customised in such a way that it can run inside a private network with no access to the internet,” says project coordinator Ovidiu Dumitrache. “One of the biggest technical challenges was precisely making all the component modules work properly in this private network and have them configured by the end-users so that it can resemble the ones used day by day in a variety of domains for serving the best interest of citizens." Another innovative approach of CREST was the integration of a ‘particle swarm optimisation’ module into the platform which made it possible for a new travel route of the UXVs to be automatically generated. Moreover, CREST developed a mobile app for the announcement and automatic rerouting on the planned reserve route of a rescue or intervention team when an incident occurs. “The TRL level of the application is now between 6 and 7,” confirms Dumitrache. “So, to meet the minimum usage requirements that the end-users normally impose, the security part of the application needs to be further developed by the technical partners so that the platform reaches TRL 9.”
Protecting from crime while safeguarding human rights
“Regarding the challenges that respect for human rights can bring within a project, all the necessary measures were taken from the beginning,” stresses Dumitrache. “We analysed the European and national legislation on human rights, the collection of personal information from the online environment or using equipment installed to ensure safety in the intervention area. Also, all testing was done in an environment controlled by the end-users.” The consortium included a partner with experience both in the legislative field and in projects of this type, the University of Vienna. In addition, an Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) was established for the development of guidelines and forms regarding the collection of personal data and two external experts with European experience in security projects funded by H2020 were also recruited.
Keywords
CREST, crime prevention, terrorism prevention, crime prediction, LEAs, IoT
