Evolving threats of terrorism, drug abuse and human trafficking will be the top three challenges impacting U.S. law enforcement in 2018, according to new predictions by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
While these challenges are familiar, new techniques and technologies used by perpetrators will require agencies to share data, employ new intelligence technologies and work together more closely to combat the threats effectively, the company said.
Prediction 1: Terrorism Will Move Into Local Communities
Local communities are becoming the new battleground for both domestic and foreign-led terrorists, according to the latest data trends from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database1&[2].
Not counting last year’s high-profile attacks, there have been 85 deadly attacks by violent extremists in the U.S. since 9/11 linked to both radical Islamist and far right ideologies, killing 225 citizens.
From Sayfulo Saipov who used a truck to run down people along a Manhattan bike path to the Orlando nightclub shooting to the Las Vegas massacre, terrorists are increasingly targeting soft civilian venues within local communities to strike fear into the population.
Some are lone wolf attacks; others orchestrated by foreign-based extremist groups bent on carrying out attacks in the west.
(Learn More. Learn how Accurint for Law Enforcement real-time phones feature can assist you in finding the “who” in a criminal investigation. Courtesy of LexisNexis and YouTube)
Local communities will also continue to grow as breeding grounds for radicalizing future terrorists, fueled by local extremist groups operating under the radar as well as the use of the Internet and social media to recruit and train individuals.
“Local communities will increasingly become a first line of defense against violent extremism in 2018,” said Tom Sizer, Senior Director, Law Enforcement Solutions, LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
“Local, state and federal law enforcement will need to quickly adapt to the changing landscape of terrorism and partner more closely in sharing and analyzing intelligence to combat the threats.”
“For example, there is great promise in Records Management System data to identify ties between suspects and known extremist networks.”
Prediction 2: Millennial Mortality Rates Continue to Rise Due to Drug Addiction
Despite intensive efforts by local, state and federal organizations, the opioid crisis will continue to worsen in 2018 before we see reversing trends.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)3&4 indicate that the opioid epidemic is the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history, killing an average of 115 per people day.
A key cause is the increasing heroin and fentanyl addiction among millennials, who have become the first generation since Vietnamto face higher mortality rates in young adulthood than the generation that preceded it5.
Recent research6 suggests that better access to healthcare among millennials has had an unfortunate side effect of increased use of prescription painkillers to treat injuries, which then develops into over-prescribing and ultimately addiction to narcotics.
Combining multiple data sources and being able to gain insights from connections and intersections is becoming an increasingly important tool that law enforcement, health and human services and other organizations can use to understand where drug abuse and drug crimes are occurring in the community so they can develop more effective strategies to contain it.
Prediction 3: Human Trafficking Will Continue to Grow
Human trafficking is one of the world’s fastest growing crimes according to data from the advocacy group Polaris Project7, with more than 20 million victims trapped into forced labor and forced sex crimes.
(The Blue Campaign is the unified voice for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to combat human trafficking. Working in collaboration with law enforcement, government, non-governmental and private organizations, the Blue Campaign strives to protect the basic right of freedom and to bring those who exploit human lives to justice. Courtesy of DHS and YouTube. Learn More at https://americansecuritytoday.com/national-slavery-human-trafficking-prevention-month-videos/)
That global trend will continue to impact local U.S. communities in 2018 as criminal organizations and gangs expand their enterprises beyond drug and firearm trafficking to profit from the sales of human beings, often young children.
Because of the frequent movement of criminals and their victims from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, law enforcement data sharing and analytics platforms are proving to be effective weapons to counter the trend.
For example, Accurint® Virtual Crime Center technology from LexisNexis Risk Solutions utilized by the Stockton Police Department, won the Platinum Award for Best Crime Prevention Program in the 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, enables multiple law enforcement agencies across jurisdictional lines to share law enforcement data and link it with public records to discover criminal patterns that human traffickers follow.
(Learn how Stockton Police utilize LexisNexis in Evidence Based Policing to identify Focus Areas and create Deployment Strategies designed to form community partnerships and reduce crime. Courtesy of the Stockton Police Department and YouTube)
Leading IT market research and advisory firm IDC8 recently included the Accurint Virtual Crime Center in its IDC PlanScape: Real-Time Intelligence Centers report, citing its value as a virtualized intelligence center that enables law enforcement agencies to amalgamate, analyze and share data and insights across agencies and jurisdictions in a single platform.
“LexisNexis’ Accurint Virtual Crime Center is an example of this type of offering that links available data sources in context,” the report said.
“LexisNexis has a virtualized offering for data collection, ingestion, discovery and cleansing, integration, analysis, delivery, and sharing.”
“Our top three predictions indicate local communities are increasingly becoming home to new kinds of terrorist threats, drug crimes and human trafficking enterprises,” added Sizer.
“It’s urgent that we give law enforcement agencies greater visibility into crime within their communities as well as state- and nation-wide so they can better target investigations, identify patterns, predict upcoming events and deploy resources more efficiently.”
(Fraudsters don’t make it easy for fraud investigators to put the pieces together. But the right investigative tools can make it easier. Discovering fraud in your jurisdiction involves seeing connections that might otherwise remain hidden for the identity that matters to you. Courtesy of LexisNexis and YouTube)
LexisNexis Risk Solutions for Government
By linking LexisNexis public records and unique data sets with customer data and displaying it visually, they help customers see non-obvious relationships between people, businesses and assets.
The company helps law enforcement connect with other agencies for crime solving through Accurint Virtual Crime Center, supporting health and human services agencies in helping benefits go to those who need them- as well as helping ensure provider and patient data validation, and they help tax and regulatory agencies connect people, businesses and assets for tax revenue management.
LexisNexis Along with the Stockton Police Department Takes Platinum in the 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program
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Stockton Police Department, Stockton, CA
- Platinum ‘ASTORS’ Award Winner
- LexisNexis Accurint Virtual Crime Center
- Best Crime Prevention Program
Over 100 distinguished guests from National, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Executives from companies allied to Government, gathered from across North America and the Middle East to be honored from disciplines across the Security Industry in their respective fields which included representatives from:
- The Department of Homeland Security
- The Department of Justice
- The Security Exchange Commission
- State and Municipal Law Enforcement Agencies
- Leaders in Private Security
Recognized for their Innovative Training and Education Programs, Outstanding Product Development Achievements and Exciting New Technologies to address the growing Homeland Security Threats our Nation is facing.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards at https://americansecuritytoday.com/ast-awards/.
American Security Today will be holding the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Presentation Luncheon to honor Nominees, Finalists and Winners in November 2018, in New York City.
Every day, LexisNexis helps customers meet their agency missions to find missing children, prevent fraud in government programs, recapture lost revenue, keep communities safe and to further national security initiatives.
At LexisNexis Risk Solutions, they believe in the power of data and advanced analytics for better risk management.
With over 40 years of expertise, the company is a trusted data analytics provider for organizations seeking actionable insights to manage risks and improve results while upholding the highest standards for security and privacy.
For ‘ASTORS’ Sponsorship Opportunities and More Information on the AST 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, please contact Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at: mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com or call 732.233.8119 (mobile) or 646-450-6027 (office).
1 The Terrorism and Extremist Violence in the United States (TEVUS) Database, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)
2 Numbers from 2015 through 2016 are still being verified by the ECDB
3 Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths — United States, 2010–2015, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dec, 16, 2016.
4 Drug Overdose Death Data, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
5 The Unseen U.S. Heroin Epidemic with Millennials, Press Web Media Digs Deeper to Determine the Root Cause, PressWeb Media and CoupleRehab.org, Aug 31,2017
6 The Unseen U.S. Heroin Epidemic with Millennials, Press Web Media Digs Deeper to Determine the Root Cause, CouplesRehab.org., Aug 31, 2017
7 Human Trafficking, Polaris
8 IDC, IDC PlanScape: Real-Time Intelligence Centers, IDC #US41441717, August 2017
Learn More…
Stockton PD in ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards (Learn More, Video)
