Collective intelligence in law enforcement – The WikiCrimes system

Collaboration is on the rise, primordially leveraged by the Web 2.0 in which the difference between information producer and consumer decreases significantly. In this paper we describe WikiCrimes, an example of a Web 2.0 application that offers a collaborative environment based on the use and direct manipulation of maps, in order to register and research criminal events. WikiCrimes is driven by three goals: (i) to give more transparency and publicity to criminal information, (ii) to provide means for citizen prevention, and (iii) to reduce the phenomenon of under-reporting (crimes that are not notified to authorities). In the paper we pay particular attention to the fact that in this context, finding the equilibrium between people’s participation and information credibility is crucial. Anonymous mass collaboration is the easiest way to receive information; however, the credibility of the received information is depreciated, because the source of information is unknown. We particularly concentrate on the ways we have created to keep the “participation vs. reliability of information” trade-off at good level. The reputation model is the main component created with this purpose. The experiences and the obstacles we are facing in the implementation of the project are the subjects of discussion and analyses.