Regional Crime Observatory

The RSS, given its regional nature, and its cross-fertilisation of policies, operations and information across various member territories, constitutes the best possible mechanism to perform this function. The RSS RCO continues to build the data infrastructure required to conduct national and regional system-wide analysis to expand knowledge and inform public policy in the RSS Member States, serve as a major link for criminal justice agencies in the Regional Security System to exchange data and conduct research and analysis with Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) among the participating organisations, and conduct research and engage in analytical work that is relevant to criminal justice policy and data driven strategic and tactical crime control activities.

The RSS RCO was birthed out of the CARISECURE project and has laid the foundation for standardised disaggregation, collection and analysis of crime data across the RSS Member States. In efforts to advance the cross-border analysis of crime and uncover the risk and protective factors related to criminogenic environments, the RCO has undertaken efforts to extend its analytical framework to include education, occupation and other socio-demographic indicators.