The Rise of Fentanyl & Big Crimes on Social Media: How we can be where the Criminals are to Keep Kids Safe

Each week, a classroom full of children die due to illicit pills laced with fentanyl. How can we combat this? What’s the best way to educate communities? How do we use social media to engage children on this topic? The National Crime Prevention Council and Amy Neville from the Alexander Neville Foundation are on a mission to save lives and educate law enforcement on new tools to engage youth.

Tatiana Peralta

Overview of our Social Media Operatives Course (SMOC) & how it has been successfully adopted nationally to target serious & organized crime – our journey – plus case studies.

Join Sergeants Tim Hughes and Tom Smith for a compelling presentation into their journey building a specialist OSINT and SOCMINT team, focused on tackling gangs, serious youth violence, modern slavery and drug supply. Discover how national UK media and their experiences exposed the need for a complete overhaul in police tactics, especially with the rapid rise of social media and its links to serious and organised crime. They will share insights on the bespoke training required and created, In house procedures, tasking systems and some of the lessons that shaped the team's success. Through real-world case studies, you will gain a valuable understanding of key crime types that OSINT and SOCMINT can effectively target and the critical intelligence these tools can provide to drive better investigatory outcomes. 

OSINT for Law Enforcement and Investigators: case study

Conducting open-source investigations manually can be daunting, akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. The relevant information is often buried within vast quantities of data, making both collection and analysis time-consuming and complex. Traditionally, investigative teams have had to juggle multiple tools, each requiring separate subscriptions. This not only incurs significant costs but also creates navigational challenges that hinder efficiency. In this presentation, we will showcase a compelling case study involving a wanted individual to illustrate how to improve the OSINT process and the challenges involved. We will demonstrate various OSINT techniques and tricks that enable the discovery of numerous digital fingerprints related to the target across the internet, including social media activity, online forum posts, and other publicly accessible data sources.

Nicolas De Rycke

In the Line of (Digital) Duty: Prioritizing Cyber Literacy in Police Education

Let's face it, the landscape of social interaction in general - and crime in particular - has become heavily dependent on digital tools, data, and networks. As society becomes continually entwined and enamored with ever-evolving digital technologies and online/connected everything, the need for public safety workers to effectively navigate digital tools, environments, evidence, and information sources has never been more important to the role of frontline police first responders. No longer the exclusive purview of specialized units and expert civilian members, today’s frontline officers are expected to competently navigate connected environments and tools - such as social media sites, geospatial intelligence, and OSINT - in their every call for service. This presentation explores the evolving landscape of police officer education and the critical need to build digital literacies, online skills, and technological competencies among every police officer. In particular, we discuss the role post-secondary education can play in preparing officers to meet the dynamic and digital requirements of their role. We highlight methods of infusing digital competencies in officer education and explore the need for curriculum that is both practical and academic (pracademic).

Dr. Oliver Stoetzer

Python for OSINT - Leveraging AI and Machine Learning

Join us for an insightful presentation tailored for intelligence professionals looking to enhance their OSINT capabilities with Python and machine intelligence. This talk will explore the integration of Machine Intelligence into OSINT practices, including computer vision, generative audio, and the use of local large language models (LLMs) to boost coding and debugging efficiency. Designed to benefit both novices and seasoned experts, the session will cover key topics such as OSINT capability development, de-risking software environments, managing version control with GitHub, and automating OSINT tasks.

The highlight of the presentation will be a discussion on a real-world capstone project, where we'll showcase the development of applications leveraging the latest AI tools and open-source neural networks. This talk not only aims to build technical proficiency for investigators but also emphasises practical applications in intelligence, business analysis, and investigations.

As a recognised authority in pioneering OSINT techniques using AI, Ben has had the honour of training key personnel from esteemed organisations, including the Metropolitan Police, the Home Office, and Buckingham Palace. His extensive investigative experience and unique insights into the convergence of AI and OSINT will offer valuable perspectives that are both current and actionable. Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your OSINT toolkit and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving landscape of intelligence and security.

Ben M.

Hybrid threats, AI and new technologies affecting Community Policing and Social media: A European research perspective

The European Commission is enabling research activities involving Police Forces in order to prevent and find innovative solutions to security challenges.

This is a great opportunity for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to collaborate with other LEAs, Industry (companies, developers...) and Academia (Universities, security research entities...) so they can get valuable knowledge, provide user requirements, test new prototypes and uptake new technologies on security management.

These research projects and activities provide added value and relevant outputs to the European Police forces: Engagement with the community, prevention of disinformation campaigns and polarization, countering hate speech, networking & sharing best practices with other entities in Europe facing these same challenges, etc.

Some of the results that could be presented to the audience are: the European Network to counter Hybrid Threats, the community policing & social media management platform and strategies, the TAHCLE hate crime & hate speech police training programme (designed by the OSCE).

José L. Diego