The development of an educational module that introduces the FERMI tools and technologies to all European Law Enforcement Authorities started in August 2024 at the Police University College (PUCF), Finland. While the focus is on the technological advances that culminate in the creation of the FERMI-tools, we also plan to design a type of pedagogical ‘stem cell’ capable of becoming a truly encompassing educational module both for the introduction of the results of the FERMI project, but also other predictive policing tools developed in current and future EU-funded projects. The platform will emphasise the larger context from the LEA perspective and not be solely focused on new tools and technologies. We will start by looking at the historical perspective and explore just how predictive tools and tactics have developed over time and how they have been used by law enforcement agencies (LEA). 

We will of course also explore the unforeseen potential in the forthcoming new tools for predicting criminal incidents as they are related to detecting and monitoring the spread of disinformation. We aim to explain how new technology can be used to estimate the risks related to disinformation and support LEA’s decision-making on proper counter measures. New AI based technologies can create unforeseen opportunities to boost up preventive work at LEAs across Europe.

PUCF will design an encompassing educational module and produce an online course culminating in the use of FERMI-Tools. We are looking for possibilities to co-operate with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) to make the specific module and the related training material widely available to all European LEAs. The aim is to make the training available to a wide audience of law enforcement agencies. Our vision is that the module will eventually include an increasing number of tools and technologies that focus on crime prevention in a context that both supports technological understanding and digital competency in law enforcement, and highlights the organisational challenges related to their effective use in LEAs. We try to address questions related to the effective use of the technologies from the perspective of the LEAs interested in their use and effectively explain why these technologies and new ways of working can be of great service. The use of AI and Machine Learning has been explored in multiple professional fields and it is most certainly part of the future of law enforcement as well. Thus, effective crime prevention is not just about the development of better tools, but also about the emergence of unforeseen organisational opportunities for their use at LEAs.