Innovation is at the heart of modern policing, and Europol is striving to ensure that the European law enforcement community benefits from the most innovative technologies and tools to keep European citizens safe. The Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation have now been running for three consecutive years. With this award, Europol aims to put a spotlight on the law enforcement community's most innovative initiatives and operations. Since 2021, the awards have highlighted how effective modern-day law enforcement requires partnership and collaboration, whether in teams of officers and staff, between forces, in multi-agency operations or through wider public sector involvement.
The Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation 2024
The fourth edition of the Awards highlights how effective modern-day law enforcement requires partnership and collaboration. The Awards demonstrate the positive impact of working together to improve our work through taking new, creative approaches. From teams of officers and staff, to cooperating between forces, in multi-agency operations or through wider public sector involvement, successful innovation requires cooperation.
We are pleased to reveal the nine shortlisted projects, three under each of category: an innovative technical solution, an innovative operation and an innovative initiative demonstrating a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
1. The Europol Excellence Award in Innovation for a Technical Solution
- Blue Focus (The Netherlands)
BlueFocus is a pioneering service that enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the Netherlands Police by integrating advanced technology and innovative processes to identify suspects. The BlueFocus application allows police officers to upload and share photos and videos for recognition, leveraging AI to improve accuracy and speed in identifying individuals, goods, and locations. - Grand Theft API (Germany)
This project, a collaboration between Münster police headquarters and Münster University of Applied Sciences, aims to enhance vehicle forensics by developing methods to access vehicle cloud data using API-based techniques. This approach allows for permanent access to cloud data, providing valuable insights for future digital forensic investigations. - The Nordland Omegle Case - use of facial recognition technology in the prevention and investigation of sexual abuse against children (Norway)
The Norwegian project aims to identify victims of child sexual abuse online (CSA) using facial recognition technology linked to the Norwegian national ID-database. This system significantly improves speed and accuracy of the identification of CSE victims. This method has already shown promising results in major investigations, helping to identify a large number of victims quickly and efficiently.
2. The Europol Excellence Award in Innovation for an Operation
- Operation ENDGAME (Germany)
OP ENDGAME aimed to dismantle key Dropper cybercrime groups through a coordinated, multilateral approach during an Action Week, promoting international cooperation in cybercrime investigations. This innovative operation targeted technical infrastructure, criminal actors, and their financial assets, setting a precedent in the field. - Operation DRF: Drone as First Responder (Sweden)
During the OP DRF Swedish Police deployed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to strategic urban locations to quickly provide situational awareness and guide patrol officers, enhancing response times and operational efficiency. The UAVs are controlled remotely from the operations centre, allowing for real-time surveillance and early intervention. - Operation Phish OFF (Estonia)
OP PhishOFF permanently dismantled the Phishing-as-a-Service service "LabHost" through an international joint operation, while also influencing criminals to abandon their activities by creating a sense of immediate pursuit. Estonia played a key role in this effort, creating a series of innovative tools to identify the malicious services, take down the infrastructure, and send personal messages to the users of the service. This innovative method is transferable to other LEAs for future use.
3. The Europol Excellence Award in Innovation in Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion
- Project: Inside Out (Ireland)
The Inside Out project aims to create a safer society by raising awareness about the impact of crime on people with disabilities and older individuals. It involves collaboration between HSE Disability Services, An Garda Síochána, and other partners to provide resources, support, and training for disability advocacy, victim support, and community engagement. One of the innovative aspects of the project is its use of storytelling and theatre as a medium for conveying the experiences of victims and exploring the underlying factors that contribute to criminal behaviour. - Project: re_BOOTCMP (The Netherlands)
Project re_B00TCMP educates young IT enthusiasts about risks and opportunities, providing support tools for parents and teachers to reduce cybercrime. It raises awareness and guides young talent towards ethical IT use, fostering inclusion and diversity, and ensuring all youth can safely pursue IT careers. - Project: "I Can Like You" (Croatia)
The "I Can Like You" project by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia aims to include underrepresented groups and individuals, promote equal opportunities, and foster a sense of belonging through crime prevention, employment initiatives, and community engagement. It targets both external groups and the internal structure of the Ministry to enhance security and inclusion.
The 2023 Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation
In the 2023 edition of these prestigious awards, the Dutch Police, the French National Gendarmerie and the Estonian Police were recognised for their achievements in three categories:
Category 1: Innovative initiative in Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion
This award went to the Dutch National Police (Politie) for its use of virtual reality and deepfakes to assess and discuss implicit bias in law enforcement. Implicit bias refers to the unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that can affect behaviour and decisions.
Category 2: Innovative Operation
This award went to the French National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale) for its Operation CRYPTOSTORM which took down the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitzlato. This platform facilitated the laundering of over EUR 2.1 billion in criminal proceeds into Russian roubles.
Category 3: Innovative Technical Solution
This award went to the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (Politsei- ja Piirivalveamet) for the development and implementation of the Drug Hunter Narcotic Analyser. Through leveraging advanced technologies, ensuring portability and addressing regulatory considerations, this tool has the potential to revolutionise drug testing practices and improve public safety.
This year Europol received 69 nominations from 18 countries. The winners were carefully selected by a panel composed of the European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, the Police Chiefs of Spain, Belgium and Hungary, and Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle.
The 2022 Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation
Category 1: Most Innovative Project
The award for the most innovative project went to the French Gendarmerie for the creation of an Artificial Intelligence Tools Platform. The platform provides a suite of advanced criminal analysis tools specifically developed to enable police officers to benefit from artificial intelligence when processing criminal information.
Category 2: Most Innovative Operation
The most innovative operation was awarded to the German Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) for Operation HYDRA. In April 2022, the BKA, in partnership with the United States and Europol, took down the largest ever darknet market place in the world with more than 16 million users and an estimated annual turnover of more than EUR 1.23 billion. As a result of the BKA's innovative approach, the entire criminal infrastructure was rendered unusable and led to the seizure of more than 50 servers and 1.9 petabytes of data.
A total of 70 entries were submitted from law enforcement authorities across 14 countries. The winners of the two awards were carefully assessed and selected by a dedicated panel, which included the European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson; the Police Chiefs of France, the Czech Republic and Sweden; and Europol’s Executive Director.
The 2021 Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation
Category 1: Most Innovative Project
Fortnite undercover avatar: an innovative tool to fight child abuse online (French Police Nationale) – a creative approach based on the creation of an online avatar in the video game Fortnite to which children could report if they were sexually harassed at home.
Category 2: Most Innovative Operation
EMOTET: world’s most dangerous malware disrupted through global action (US Federal Bureau of Investigation) - from 2014, the Emotet malware-infected millions of computers worldwide—enabling cybercriminals to steal victim information, cripple compromised networks and cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
