Press Releases 7.1. Press Release - 19th November 2008

7. Press Releases

7.1. Press Release - 19th November 2008

The Odyssey project was officially launched at Sheffield Hallam University on November the 12th. The project will undertake research to create and develop a secure platform which will identify and track organised criminals and the weapons they use. Part funded by the 7^th European Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, the Odyssey project will span over 30 months.

The Odyssey platform will be developed by a consortium of Police Forces, Government organisations, IT companies and Research Centres and will be co-ordinated by Sheffield Hallam University.

The kick-off meeting was opened by Sheffield Hallam University Director of Communication Mr John Palmer. In his welcome speech he underlined the relevance of the Odyssey project within the European security policy framework.

Also present at the kickoff meeting was Commander Simon Foy, Head of Homicide and Serious Crime, who addressed the participants with an overall review of gun crime within the UK. He explained his vision for the project and the projects importance: "This is a noble cause and with the European Commission funding this project it will save lives". The project will develop new European Union standards in policing and combating organised crime and terrorism. Commander Simon Foy stated: "If we manage to recover one gun from the street, we have succeeded".

7.2 Press Release - 26th January 2009

One of the biggest threats facing society today – organised and armed criminal or terrorist gangs - could soon be challenged with the help of a new system being coordinated by Sheffield Hallam University.

Organised crime and terrorism creates a threat that can undermine the democratic and economic basis of societies, resulting in a loss of confidence in the law, and despite Home Office statistics suggesting a fall in gun-related crime in recent years, other sources suggest that gun crimes have doubled since the late 90s, with deeply disturbing figures of a gun crime being committed every 52 minutes being reported by the media.

Working with police forces, Government organisations, IT companies and research centres from across Europe, Sheffield Hallam is leading the way in the development of a system which could drastically increase the efficiency with which police can react to gun-related crimes, leading to a significant improvement in security throughout the EU.

The Odyssey project – funded to the tune of £1.8 million by the European Commission - provides a platform through which anti-crime units from across the continent can instantly access and share crime data and evidence for cross comparison. This will allow police forces to co-operate on cases and pinpoint similar crimes which could be related.

Professor Babak Akhgar, an expert in Informatics and information systems at Sheffield Hallam’s Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3RI), is coordinating the Odyssey project.

‘Security agencies have been using ballistics data for many years but, until now, cross-referencing that data has been a long process. This system automatically alerts relevant agents in other countries when there is a match on gun and bullet signatures,’ he said.

“Criminals use guns as currency, and Odyssey allows agencies to build profiles of crime networks by tracking the unique ‘signature’ that guns and bullets produce when they are fired.”

The system automatically flags up any matches in ballistic data regardless of its source, meaning a single gun used in multiple crimes can be tracked throughout Europe, allowing for the potential to apprehend not just a single suspect, but networks of criminals in numerous countries. Intelligence will be extracted using advanced semantic knowledge extraction and data-mining to facilitate fast, responsible decision making.

One of the driving forces behind Odyssey has been EUROPOL, the European law enforcement organisation, which hopes the project will help to develop new European Union standards in policing and combating organised crime and terrorism. Other partners involved in the development include the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (West Midlands Police is the lead police force), the Royal Military Academy, the SAS, the Politecnico di Milano, An Garda Siochana (Irish police), the Italian police force, Europol, Xlab, Forensic Pathways Ltd, and Atos Origin.

7.3 Press Release - 5th August 2009

Odyssey and what it means to you

It's one of the biggest threats facing society today and helps organised criminals and terrorists stoke fear in our communities - and that's gun crime.

But that is about to change with the launch of a new pan-European project called Odyssey.

Co-ordinated by Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, the project will see police experts, industrialists, computer scientists and researchers working together to develop a secure interoperable situation awareness platform for the automated management, processing, sharing, analysis and use of ballistics data and crime information to combat organised crime and terrorism.

The Odyssey project, launched in the autumn of 2008 is part funded by the 7th European Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The project will use non-personal ballistics data and crime information to identify connections and links that previously would not have been discovered. This will allow police forces to co-operate on cases and pinpoint similar crimes which could be related.

Experts will examine the bullet casing and/or the related firearm to assess the 'toolmarks' on the evidence - each gun leaves a different 'signature' on a bullet fired from it.

Using this data, it is hoped that police forces will be able to track guns from crime-to-crime, and possibly from country-to-country, and by doing so will find out which criminal or terrorist networks have been using the weapon.

The Project will conduct research and create a secure Pan-European ballistics and crime information intelligence network not only to tackle organised crime and terrorism but also increase the safety and security of all EU citizens.

Professor Simeon Yates, Director at Sheffield Hallam University’s Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3RI), is co-ordinating the Odyssey project.

He says: "Security agencies have been using ballistics data for many years but, until now, they have been acting in isolation. This system will automatically alert relevant agents in other countries when there is a match on gun and bullet signatures.

"Criminals use guns as currency, and Odyssey allows agencies to build profiles of crime networks by tracking the unique ‘signature’ that guns and bullets produce when they are fired."

One of the driving forces behind Odyssey has been EUROPOL, the European law enforcement organisation.

Other partners involved in the development include the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (West Midlands Police is the lead police force), the Royal Military Academy, SAS Software Limited, the Politecnico di Milano, An Garda Siochana (Irish police), the Italian police force, XLAB, Forensic Pathways Ltd and Atos Origin.

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