Integrating forensic information in a crime intelligence database.

Since 2008, intelligence units of six states of the western part of Switzerland have been sharing a common database for the analysis of high volume crimes. On a daily basis, events reported to the police are analysed, filtered and classified to detect crime repetitions and interpret the crime environment. Several forensic outcomes are integrated in the system such as matches of traces with persons, and links between scenes detected by the comparison of forensic case data. Systematic procedures have been settled to integrate links assumed mainly through DNA profiles, shoemarks patterns and images. A statistical outlook on a retrospective dataset of series from 2009 to 2011 of the database informs for instance on the number of repetition detected or confirmed and increased by forensic case data. Time needed to obtain forensic intelligence in regard with the type of marks treated, is seen as a critical issue. Furthermore, the underlying integration process of forensic intelligence into the crime intelligence database raised several difficulties in regards of the acquisition of data and the models used in the forensic databases. Solutions found and adopted operational procedures are described and discussed. This process form the basis to many other researches aimed at developing forensic intelligence models.

[1]  Frederick R Bieber,et al.  Turning Base Hits into Earned Runs: Improving the Effectiveness of Forensic DNA Data Bank Programs , 2006, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics.

[2]  Pierre Margot,et al.  Forensic science on trial - What is the law of the land? , 2011 .

[3]  Simon French A forum for discussion , 1996 .

[4]  S. Birrer,et al.  Iterative development of cooperation within an increasingly complex environment : example of a Swiss regional analysis centre , 2010 .

[5]  Joseph A. Schafer International Police Cooperation , 2014 .

[6]  J. Burrows,et al.  Measuring the impact of forensic science in detecting burglary and autocrime offences. , 2004, Science & justice : journal of the Forensic Science Society.

[7]  Pierre Margot,et al.  Forensic Intelligence and Crime Analysis , 2003 .

[8]  Pierre Margot,et al.  Inference structures for crime analysis and intelligence: the example of burglary using forensic science data , 1999 .

[9]  Pierre Margot,et al.  The contribution of forensic science to crime analysis and investigation: forensic intelligence. , 2006, Forensic science international.

[10]  Henk Elffers,et al.  How long do offenders escape arrest? Using DNA traces to analyse when serial offenders are caught , 2012 .

[11]  Peter D Martin,et al.  National DNA databases—practice and practicability. A forum for discussion , 2004 .

[12]  O. Ribaux,et al.  Intelligence-led crime scene processing. Part I: Forensic intelligence. , 2010, Forensic science international.

[13]  Christophe Champod,et al.  The development of an automatic recognition system for earmark and earprint comparisons. , 2012, Forensic Science International.

[14]  Larry Hoover,et al.  Law Enforcement Executive Forum , 2012 .