On 26 September, Europol announced the winners of the 2023 Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation at its annual European Police Chief Convention.
In the third edition of these prestigious awards, the Dutch Police, the French National Gendarmerie and the Estonian Police were recognised for their achievements in three categories: Innovation initiative in ethics, diversity and inclusion; Innovative operation and Innovative Technical Solution.
The winners were carefully selected by a panel composed of the European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, the Police Chiefs of Spain, Belgium and Hungary, and Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle.
The Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation highlight how effective modern day law enforcement requires partnership and collaboration, whether in teams of officers, between forces, in multi-agency operations or through wider public sector involvement.
The Awards also recognise that accomplishments arise from a diverse blend of innovative, committed and well-trained personnel, serving, engaging and protecting the public while using technology efficiently and effectively.
Europol received this year 69 nominations from 18 countries.
Meet the 2023 winners
Category 1: Innovative initiative in Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion
This award went to the Dutch National Police (Politie) for its use of virtual reality and deepfakes to assess and discuss implicit bias in law enforcement. Implicit bias refers to the unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that can affect behaviour and decisions. It can manifest itself through ethnic profiling and the unequal treatment of certain groups of people. The Dutch Police have developed a virtual reality simulation which allows its officers to experience and reflect on simulations of real-world scenarios that may elicit bias.
Category 2: Innovative Operation
This award went to the French National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale) for its Operation CRYPTOSTORM which took down the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitzlato. This platform facilitated the laundering of over €2.1 billion in criminal proceeds into Russian roubles. As a result of this operation, the digital infrastructure of the service was taken down, and 8 suspects were arrested in Europe and the United States of America. The innovative approach lies in the investigative approach, which saw law enforcement officers extract live data from the platform’s servers so as to not alert the suspects. This data was then used to identify criminal transactions which totalled 7 000 hits on Europol’s databases, triggering numerous investigations worldwide.
Category 3: Innovative Technical Solution
This award went to the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (Politsei- ja Piirivalveamet) for the development and implementation of the Drug Hunter Narcotic Analyzer. Through leveraging advanced technologies, ensuring portability and addressing regulatory considerations, this tool has the potential to revolutionise drug testing practices and improve public safety.
Innovation at Europol
Innovation is at the heart of modern policing, and Europol is striving to ensure that the European law enforcement community benefits from the most innovative technologies and tools to keep European citizens safe.
Europol’s Innovation Lab aims to identify, promote and develop innovative concrete solutions supporting EU Member States’ operational work.
The Innovation Lab has set up the Europol Tool Repository (ETR), a secure online platform to share non-commercial, cost-free software developed by law enforcement and research and technology organisations. These are shared under licence with Europol for distribution to other law enforcement authorities. Around 30 tools are currently available to all national police forces on ETR. These tools have already supported several operations across Europe.
Find out more about the work of Europol’s Innovation Lab.
Source – Europol