Proprietary rights statement

10.4 Questions and Answers for the Odyssey Project

The Odyssey Project will carry out innovative research and development that will provide a secure network capable of facilitating the sharing of ballistics intelligence between EU Member States. This will be within an interoperable trust and security management framework. Currently, technology to analyse and match guns, cartridge cases and bullets is manufactured by different companies using different approaches. This makes data and intelligence sharing between member states difficult and in some cases impossible. Consortium members of the Odyssey project will undertake research that will dramatically improve data sharing between member states. The project will also create new standards for ballistics examination improving best practise across the European Union.

The name Odyssey is taken from the Greek poem and story connected with the battle and siege of Troy. Odyssey is concerned with a journey of discovery.

Odysseus or Ulysses, in Greek mythology, was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle.

Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness. He is most famous for the ten eventful years he took to return home after the ten-year Trojan War and it is on this journey that he gained ‘wisdom’. Perhaps most of all he is famous for the Trojan horse event where he delivered the capability to breach the defences of his enemy without them even knowing about it.

The Ballistics Odyssey Platform will be the Trojan horse in gun crime for the European Union.

Who will have access to the database?

Police departments that perform ballistics analysis will have access to Odyssey. Experts that are involved in matching and correlating ballistics objects will be able to check samples that they are examining in the laboratory against other samples seized in different member states. Police officers that are investigating gun crime will also be able to search the database to provide intelligence about an incident they are investigating. For example, a shooting in London with a distinctive gun might provide no leads locally. However, the investigating officer could use Odyssey to search for similar incidents across the EU. This would be the case even if there had not been a bullet or cartridge case recovered from the crime scene. Odyssey will also collect information about criminal networks and trace guns. Strategic intelligence will be able to be analysed and strategic interventions planned. For example, Odyssey may reveal the path that a recovered weapon has taken from the factory through to the recovery after a crime. Multiple incidents of this type would enable police officers to have an evidence base upon which to act and intervene perhaps at the point of sale. Odyssey will also paint a detailed picture of gun crime across the EU enabling governments to lobby for policy and procedural changes relating to the sale and restriction of firearms.

The database will not be secret – it will be shared with police forces around Europe. Access to it will be restricted to authorised users. The Odyssey project is actively encouraging as many experts as possible to use the database and it will provide a crime solving and intelligence sharing platform across the European Union

The database is being built by a consortium that includes the best security specialists in Europe. These companies are working in connection with law enforcement agencies to ensure the security protocols on the Odyssey platform are the best available. Police officers specialising in data security – from across Europe - have been involved in the project from the start and will continue to be involved right up until the project finishes. We believe the approach to security is different in this project as the police and law enforcement agencies are driving the security standards and providing the technical specialists with detailed instructions as to their requirements. Security is a priority throughout the project and will continue to be after the project is delivered. Users will be required to be trained appropriately and security cleared to ensure they have the appropriate levels of access. The system will also include a secure log on facility and the secure transmission of data.

The sharing of ballistics and crime information and the ability to rapidly link organised crime and terrorism is, at the moment, not available and is much needed. Until now, there has been no European initiative. There have been recent changes to European policy and the law now makes data sharing a possibility. The creation of the European Union has enabled people, vehicles and weapons to travel easily between member states creating a problem that needs to be addressed. There needs to be a straightforward way for law enforcement agencies to rapidly share data and intelligence in order to track, trace and catch criminals. This has not been possible before for legal reasons and because the technology has not been available. The Odyssey project represents the emergence of these factors and a chance to improve the situation in Europe.

Currently the Odyssey Project is funded by the European Commission. There are no plans to develop it further than the EU. However consortium members routinely collaborate with partners worldwide. Although the implementation of Odyssey is focused on the EU, the development process will involve collaboration with organisations globally. We welcome specialist knowledge and expertise from any relevant organisation.

The partners include police forces, IT companies and research centres from across Europe. These are Sheffield Hallam University, Atos Origin, Forensic Pathways Ltd, EUROPOL, XLAB, Politecnico di Milano, the National Ballistics Intelligence Service, the Royal Military Academy, Ireland's An Garda Siochana, SAS Software Limited and the Italian Servizio Polizia Scientifica.

Partner profiles can be accessed at http://odyssey-project.eu/

Why aren't all of the EU countries represented?

Although all of the EU states are not in the consortium, realistically the majority of member states have a voice in Odyssey. Europol is a major partner and member states can forward their requirements through Europol. We are also collaborating with organisations such as ENFSI and the European Firearms Experts Working Group which have members across Europe. A large part of the project is focussed on dissemination – effectively telling experts about what we are doing and the more member states that we speak to the better. We also welcome input from any member state that would like to contribute.

The Odyssey Project will create European Standards for ballistics data collection and crime information.

It will create a Secure Interoperable Platform that will allow the management and use of ballistics intelligence and crime information for Member States. It will have the ability to transfer and/or access technical data for cross correlation purposes. This is by securely transferring, accessing and the sharing of technical data.