The ability of law enforcement agencies to identify and bring offenders to justice underpins the criminal justice system of a country. At the heart of this issue, crime has a significant negative impact on individuals and communities.
The first level of investigation around 'volume' crimes, such as minor theft-related offences, criminal damage, low level assaults and motor vehicle crime, significantly undermines the basic safety and security of communities. The frequency of other major crimes, such as homicide and serious assaults, sexual offences, race crimes, offences against children, armed robberies, kidnap and blackmail, serves to destabilise communities further. Finally, serious and organised crime, including armed robbery, theft of high-value commodities, extortion, economic crime, violence, human and drug trafficking and cargo theft, has a significant and pervasive impact on the confidence of local communities.
Consequently, it is imperative that law enforcement agencies have robust forensic and investigative skills and procedures to identity offenders and ensure successful prosecutions. These in turn need to be underpinned by the incorporation of a strategic intelligence model that can support a more fundamental approach to problem solving, where resources are tasked efficiently and provide leaders and managers with an accurate understanding of crime and incident problems.
For many countries, the development of new skills around crime investigation, forensics and intelligence remains a priority.
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