Investigating waste crimes: EMERITUS presented at ASC 2024

ASC Annual Meeting

How do national jurisdictions tackle the growing challenge of waste crime? The answer came from EMERITUS partner Crime&tech, spin-off company of Transcrime-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, which presented the results of the project at the ASC Annual Conference. Researchers Phillip Screen and Serena Favarin presented their study titled The Anatomy of Enforcement: A Comparative Analysis of Waste Crime Investigation. The research provided a detailed breakdown of the key investigative stages across different national jurisdictions and highlighted the potential for technological innovations to enhance enforcement efforts.

ASC Conference

The American Society of Criminology (ASC) Annual Meeting, now in its 79th year, is one of the most prestigious global gatherings of criminologists, attracting hundreds of researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and students from around the world. This year’s conference, held in San Francisco at the Marriott Marquis, from November 13 to 16, featured the theme Criminological Research and Education Matters: People, Policy, and Practice in Tumultuous Times.

Investigation Phases: Common Practices and Current Gaps

Crime&tech’s research found that waste crime investigations tended to fall into four distinct phases:

  1. Detection typically relied on public complaints directed to regulatory bodies such as Environmental Protection Authorities (EPAs) or Law Enforcement Authorities (LEAs). These complaints were not necessarily formal reports of a crime but rather informal allegations of possible violations. This was a consistent pattern among different countries analysed.
  2. In the preliminary investigation phase, EPAs or local LEAs such as local police conducted site visits, reviewed documentation, communicated with stakeholders, and frequently attempted to resolve issues before escalating them further.
  3. Formal investigations, usually triggered when regulatory measures proved insufficient or companies fail to make the required adjustments, saw the involvement of police. Law enforcement efforts focused on desk-based research, evidence collection, and stakeholder interviews initiated by earlier regulatory action.
  4. The final stage of prosecution often faced challenges, including fragmented responsibilities between regulatory and enforcement bodies and the transnational complexity of many waste crimes. Additionally, there was a critical need to store evidence in secure environments and enhance the strength and reliability of evidence for prosecution purposes.

Despite the structured nature of the phased investigations, the Crime&tech analysis revealed some difficulties and possible challenges in the investigation of waste crimes across different countries and jurisdictions. The EMERITUS project aims to improve the efficiency of certain investigative phases by providing a range of proactive and innovative technological solutions for the early identification of waste crime. EMERITUS emphasises the use of advanced technologies to enable more cost-efficient investigations and automate processes that are currently conducted manually or require the constant involvement of law enforcement personnel in the field. For example, satellite monitoring permits to assess large areas and identify changes indicative of illegal waste dumping, and drone surveillance enhances evidence collection during preliminary and formal investigations, enabling detailed and covert data gathering without extensive reliance on personnel or resources. Automated water monitoring systems can enhance the early detection of water pollution in rivers and water springs within protected areas, as well as estimate the release point of pollutants to support improved prosecution. By leveraging these technologies, enforcement efforts could more effectively address the complexities of waste crimes and protect Europe’s environment and public health.

 

Crime&tech (https://crimetech.it/) is the spin-off company of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Transcrime – Joint Research Centre on Innovation and Crime (www.transcrime.it/en), founded in 2015. It translates Transcrime’s academic research into crime prevention solutions for the public and private sectors, by developing analyses, solutions, and tools to assess, prevent and reduce security and crime risks.