This work package will map and update existing tools and develop new tools to support law enforcement agencies in executing enforcement actions, investigations and prosecution. The tools will serve all agencies involved in the enforcement chain. The developed tools will be used and disseminated through the app and the training and webinars.
Activities
Description of work and role of partners
Revision and improvement of the WATCH-IT APP
A dedicated application has been developed in 2017 with the support of UNU, the REN Network and GRID-Arendal, offering guidance to law enforcement officers when performing inspections and enforcement actions of shipments of waste (and chemicals). The app covers International and European provisions, like the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the European Waste Shipment Regulation and the European List of Wastes. It includes many practical references, interactive decision taking schemes and searchable databases of wastes and chemicals. For now the app is available in English only. The app is available for all three operating systems (Apple, Android and Windows) and most of its content is available offline as not all officers have access to the internet when performing their controls. Under this activity, this app will be further developed.
Prototype of a forensic tool for data collection, retrieval and analysis
Environmental crime, including waste crime, has many different manifestations with a strong connection to economic activities in different regions. As a consequence environmental forensics is multidisciplinary and the usefulness of tools varies among countries and types of crime. Moreover the exact nature of waste crime evolves quickly. This activity aims to facilitate the use environmental forensics by the development of a prototype of a forensic tool for data collection, retrieval and analysis. The tool should improve access to historic data to be used in future casework and assist to obtain intelligence information. Data generated by forensic research hold information about vulnerability of specific waste streams to criminal activities, how it occurs, and how this could be detected.
Clearing House mechanism
Over the recent years, a number of EU funded projects were carried-out in relation to waste and environmental crime. This information is currently scattered over the web. By the development of a clearing house mechanism in the form of a web portal for the collection of existing resources and information from previous EU funded projects on waste and open source information, this information be will made easier accessible and searchable. The clearing house will also be used as a hub to collate, develop, analyse and disseminate the information. IMPEL will host the portal; in this way the portal will remain available and running after the project has ended.
