Crime and Incident
Response and Investigation
Technological and Scientific Capacity and Support
Advances in communications technology and the rapid expansion of the internet are changing both the nature of crime, and the way agencies respond to it.
World-class research at The University of Nottingham has already contributed to significantly strengthening the capacity of police forces and other agencies to investigate and respond to new and emerging types of crime.
Our state-of-the-art facilities also enable us to provide technical and scientific support and drive forward advances in these areas.
Key research expertise includes:
- Cyber-enabled crime
- Serious and organised crime
- Racially motivated offending
- Data collection and analysis
- Forensics and evidence gathering
Case studies
Decision making under stress
Dr Matthew Brookes is undertaking research into the neuro electro-physiology of decision making under stress. This uses medical imaging techniques including magnetoencephalography (MEG)...
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MEG measures magnetic fields at the scalp surface that are generated by current flow through neuronal assemblies in the brain. Measurement and subsequent reconstruction of these magnetic fields allows generation of images showing current density in the brain, and how that current density changes when our brains undertake tasks.
These techniques have been used with hostage negotiators within Nottinghamshire Police to understand decision making processes.
Further research, in collaboration with Aston University, aims to build virtual reality simulations of conflict or stressful situations to develop further understanding of the neuroscience and build collaborations with police firearms and training units to develop simulation models.
Improved fingerprint analysis
A large body of work on the statistical analysis of shape conducted over the past 20 years by Professor Ian Dryden, Dr Huiling Le, and Professor Andrew Wood provides an important tool for achieving accurate shape recognition for difficult problems...
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This has been used by colleagues in Germany to underpin applications resulting in improved fingerprint modelling.
These have been used by the German Federal Police to model growth in adolescent fingerprints, resulting in lower error rates and a reduction in false matches.
Dr James Sharp is performing research into the fundamental interactions between fingerprints and surfaces. This work is being conducted using a broad range of surface science techniques, optical microscopy and infrared-based techniques.
As a result of this work, the University has entered into a formal collaboration with East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU), with whom we are also performing research into fingerprints that are linked to ballistics and the criminal use of firearms.