Dr Paul Mulholland

The National Crime Agency (NCA) makes use of an Organised Crime Group Mapping (OCGM) process to capture information about active Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) in the UK. A scoring mechanism is then used to translate the set of captured OCG features into a risk of harm assessment score. The risk of harm of each OCG is then use to assist with the prioritization of police activity and strategic reporting. The OCGM was originally developed in 2007. Currently, over 50 police forces and agencies submit information on OCGs on a quarterly basis. The reports describe each OCG according to a number of features. Each feature is broken down into a series of sub-questions. The aggregated data from the contributing forces and agencies is used in a risk of harm calculation process that produces a score for each OCG. The risk score weights a number of factors related to intent, capability and criminality of the OCG. At the request of practitioners, the aim of the current project is to analyse both parts of the process by looking at: 1) The method currently used by OCG contributors to describe the features of the OCGs 2) The method currently used by the NCA to determine risk of harm from the aggregated OCG data. Findings will be used to recommend improvements to how OCGs are described (i.e. how data is captured) and how those descriptions can be used most effectively in order to calculate risk.