- Police will be able to share information, recreate crime scenes, and plan tactics
- Metaverse apps can be used to replicate crime scenes in VR
- Metaverse tools tap into people’s spatial memories and reasoning
Tools available in the metaverse can help law enforcement improve training and crime scene analysis and preservation, a white paper released by Interpol states, cited by Cointelegraph.
The international police organization looked into the different aspects of the metaverse and considered a number of use cases that could help police across the globe. These cases tap into the physical, virtual, and augmented reality aspects of metaverse apps.
More effective response
According to the report, different agencies will be able to share information, recreate crime scenes, and plan tactics to respond more effectively to various situations. This will have a positive effect on frontline policing competence.
Replicating crime scenes
Metaverse apps can also be used to replicate crime scenes in VR. This would enable investigators to inspect crime scenes more carefully. It would also allow cross-examination of evidence. Judges or juries will be able to visit crime scenes in VR and grasp the context of cases better.
Enabling 3D workspaces
Metaverse tools tap into people’s spatial memories and reasoning through a 3D user interface, giving police a unique method to rise to complex knowledge challenges. Services like Chainalysis are already using extended reality tools to provide investigators with a virtual environment where they can view transactions and token movements.
Defining the most common crimes
Interpol’s report attempts to define the most common crimes and harmful actions in the metaverse to make law enforcement more effective. Among them are digital asset theft, NFT fraud, impersonation by theft of digital identities, sexual harassment, cyberattacks, grooming children, stalking, etc. Metaverse crimes can get worse as its users increase and it becomes more popular for shopping and entertainment.
Challenges in implementation
Interpol points out that investigators would need to learn how to recover evidence from metaverse infrastructure, access data from virtual reality headsets and haptic devices, and acquire data from third-party service providers. Forensic specialists and first responders will need to undergo training as well.
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