Big Data and Serious Crime Investigations

Al-Ali, K (2026) Big Data and Serious Crime Investigations. Doctoral thesis, Liverpool John Moores University.

Preview

Text 2025KhalidPhD.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

The growing complexity of criminal activity has encouraged policing to explore and adopt advanced methods to support their operations in crime detection, investigation and prevention. Given the increased risks and harms associated with serious crimes for victims, individuals, communities and countries, these types of crime have become a central focus for policing. At the same time, big data has expanded and there have been developments in the artificial intelligence tools that support its analysis and applications across multiple disciplines where its advantages are perceived. This area has become an interesting focus for research within policing, aiming to advance operational practices. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore what is known about big data and if it can be useful in serious crime investigations for policing. A scoping review was conducted to explore and map the existing literature, clarify key concepts and gaps, and guide the focus of the empirical research. This study adopted a qualitative research approach, collecting data through semi-structured interviews with two groups of participants, one comprising policing professionals and the other of big data experts. The findings reveal the strong potential for big data to be useful in serious crime investigations by providing strategic and operational advantages. However, effective implementation was viewed as complex, with challenges in terms of conceptual, cultural, financial and technical aspects and in employing skilled human resources, along with key privacy and bias concerns. This thesis contributes to the field by clarifying the concept of big data and proposes a definition of its application in the context of serious crime investigations, which can be used by policing internationally. Collectively, the findings offer insights into the core elements that need to be addressed by policing to be able to achieve the strategic and operational advantages.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Artificial intelligence; Big data; Crime detection; Crime prevention; Criminal investigations; Policing and big data; Serious crimes
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General) Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV7231 Criminal Justice Administrations H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV7231 Criminal Justice Administrations > HV7551 Police. Detectives. Constabulary
Divisions:	Law and Justice Studies
Date of acceptance:	4 June 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	2 July 2026
Date Deposited:	02 Jul 2026 12:17
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2026 12:17
DOI or ID number:	10.24377/LJMU.t.00028929
Supervisors:	James, A, Towers, J and Selby-Fell, H
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28929

View Item