CEPOL engages top HRCN researchers and law enforcement practitioners

Fifteen parallel sessions featuring 54 papers await the participants of CEPOL’s 2024/2025 Research & Science Conference “Tackling the world of High-Risk Criminal Networks (HRCN)” in Ostia (Italy). The sessions will allow a deep dive into urgent themes, including emerging threats, mitigation and prevention measures, the social impact of HRCN, and innovative technologies. They will also facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices while fostering international law enforcement cooperation.

“This year’s CEPOL Research & Science Conference is a unique platform for collaboration, supporting the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) priority in combatting high-risk criminal networks in its current cycle. Scientific research has been helping design our response strategies, including identifying detailed training needs. The case studies and research findings presented by internationally recognised academics range from law enforcement operations to prevention and training activities,” says Alexandru Caciuloiu. The deputy head of the CEPOL EU Training Hub Unit, explains that “the conference not only serves as a bridge between researchers and practitioners, but also fuels CEPOL’s training portfolio, for example, in the area of emerging threats, including hybrid threats. Discussions around global policing and cooperation with international partners and third countries are especially beneficial for law enforcement practitioners in today’s world where organised crime crosses borders.”

In response to the call for papers launched last year, CEPOL received 150 abstracts. Only a third could be presented during the 25 – 27 March 2025 event that will take place at the Economic and Financial Police School of the Italian Guardia di Finanza. The highest-scored papers addressed challenges in combatting organised criminal networks, including implementing ethical interrogation practices, effective interviewing and information gathering, and leveraging knowledge graphs for disrupting criminal networks.

Awards for the best papers will be presented at the conference.

In continuation of the conference’s good practice, CEPOL will disseminate the key presentations on its Law Enforcement Education Platform (LEEd). Later on, a Special Conference Edition of the European Law Enforcement Research Bulletin will be produced, showcasing papers from the conference.