Big Data applied to criminal investigations: expectations of professionals of police cooperation in the European Union

Big Data applied to criminal investigations: expectations of professionals of police cooperation in the European Union

Policing and Society

Big Data applied to criminal investigations: expectations of professionals 

Policing and Society

Big Data is seen as an increasingly important tool to support policing activities, define security governance policies and assist criminal investigations. Previous research has investigated the predictive capabilities of Big Data, but there has been less focus on the uses of Big Data in criminal investigations, focussed on detection and apprehension that occur after a crime has been committed. This article aims to fill this gap through the lens of expectations of professionals involved in police cooperation in the European Union. It looks at the expectations of the application of Big Data techniques in criminal investigations using DNA data held in national criminal DNS databases and, therefore, potentially increasing the interoperability between genetic and non-genetic data. The perceived benefits relate to expectations for Big Data’s potential to advance cold cases and strengthen the interoperability of multiple datasets in ways that produce intelligence valuable for criminal investigations. Perceived risks concern the difficulties associated with investigating large sets of data, the potential for enforcing genetic discrimination, and threatening privacy and human rights.

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Laura Neiva, Rafaela Granja & Helena Machado (2022) Big Data applied to criminal investigations: expectations of professionals of police cooperation in the European Union, Policing and SocietyDOI: 10.1080/10439463.2022.2029433

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