Workshop on Law Enforcement Operations, their Impact and the Darknet

To prevent and disrupt illicit activities, law enforcement agencies use a wide array of interventions from public service announcements to large-scale investigations. Past research has found, for the most part, that police interventions may slightly decrease the frequency and intensity of offenses for a limited period of time, and for a specific area. Offenses however usually move back to their pre-intervention levels rapidly, or are simply displaced to new areas. With the development of computer-mediated communications, more and more illicit activities are either moving to the internet or are created in a purely digital form. This shift to an online setting has brought new challenges for law enforcement agencies who, for instance, have to learn to adapt to anonymity technologies that are now openly available and that make it difficult to identify the individuals responsible for offenses. For many law enforcement agencies, the adaptation translates into the creation of cybercrime units or task forces. Despite all these changes in policing, scant research has been performed on the impacts of operations and investigations targeting online offenders and on the work that cybercrime investigators do on a daily basis.

This workshop brings together law enforcement officials, cybersecurity practitioners and academics in order to discuss this issue. Our aim is to facilitate the sharing of experiences and research findings in order to understand the work law enforcement officers do online as well as to assess and explain the impacts of their operations/investigations on cybercrime and Darknet illicit markets. We wish to address current results and thoughts about policing cybercrime and Darknet illicit markets in order to provide a comprehensive overview of what works in police cyber-investigations and Darknet operations which would allow us to better understand the best approaches for law enforcement to adapt to the growing threat of cybercrime.

More specifically, during this one-day workshop, we will hear about the impacts that cryptomarket shutdowns by law enforcement have on Darknet users in terms of deterrence, displacement and community cohesion. We will also discuss how cybercrime investigations: 1) are designed and how they unfold; 2) have their impacts assessed, and; 3) impact the morale and practices of cybercrime practitioners.

This workshop will improve the readiness of law enforcement agencies, and will foster new ties between practitioners and academics interested in the future of regulation for Darknet illicit activities.

The workshop will be featuring incredible speakers such as Dr. David Weisburd, Dr. Benoit Dupont, Dr. David Décary-Hétu, Dr. Camille Faubert, Austin Berrier, and Dr. Aili Malm.

We thank PMI Impact for making this Workshop possible through their second round of funding.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Palmer House a Hilton Hotel, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago, United States