David Keatley

Social media (SM) platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (now ‘X’) have become primary sources of crime news information for many, with SM being used by both news organisations and police agencies as a means of information dissemination. As such, the sentiment of comments made on SM posts can provide a useful snapshot of attitudes about crime and justice. The present study examines whether sentiment on crime and policing-related posts differs between information sources. A sentiment analysis of comments made in response to crime and policing-related posts on Facebook and Twitter (X) from January to May 2022 was conducted. Sentiment scores of comments made on Australian news publishers’ posts were compared with comments made on the Western Australian Police Force’s posts. Overall, comments made on news posts were negative in sentiment whilst comments made on police posts were positive. This finding was true for all crime-related posts, as well as across subcategories of violent crime, non-violent crime and policing-focused comments. The distinct differences in sentiment expressed between the two information sources highlight how news and police audiences respond differently to crime and policing-related content on SM. Such differences in sentiment between the two groups pose implications for how SM users perceive issues of crime, justice and police legitimacy. Further research may examine other state police SM pages as sentiment is likely to differ across jurisdictions and socio-cultural contexts.

Tracking fugitives is an essential part of criminal investigations. When a fugitive is actively evading arrest, moving and hiding to escape, several issues arise. Technological advancements have greatly helped tracking individuals, yet still suspects are able to avoid arrest, sometimes for long periods of time. The current case study provides a review of an infamous fugitive case with modern decision-making analyses. The aim is to show how investigators can return to traditional investigative methods in situations wherein technology is lacking or ineffective. The outcome of the case study review shows the potential to track a fugitive’s behavior. It is suggested that this approach can be trialed and tested across other cold or historic cases to further improve the analyses. These desktop scenario sessions can provide effective training for real-time, current fugitive cases.

Police investigations often give rise to multiple hypothetical pathways for how the crime was conducted. Investigators may develop several hypotheses, often based on different pieces of evidence. It is often the case that investigators have too many potential hypotheses rather than too few. The current research shows a method of prioritizing hypotheses based on all evidence available and how this may help highlight and reduce bias in investigations. A real-world case of a homicide, that was originally misclassified as a death by natural causes is provided to show how Analysis of Competing Hypothesis (ACH) can be effectively used. Findings show support for the use of ACH in major crimes and cold case reviews. ACH allows investigators and reviewers to clearly show which hypotheses they have formulated and what evidence is consistent or inconsistent. In the case outlined, ACH may have led to consideration of poisoning rather than natural causes. This is the first paper to explore the use of ACH in major crimes and cold case reviews. While other authors have shown the importance of structuring decision making in police investigations, none have used the ACH framework.

No-body homicide cases are typically difficult to investigate, owing to the lack of forensics and leads. Researchers in the fields of forensics, criminology, and psychology have attempted to provide assistance to these investigations through their respective disciplines. The focus of the current case study review is on a combined approach to assisting in no-body homicides and cold cases. The proposed approach will outline a geographical profiling technique that has previously been used in no-body homicide investigations, Winthropping. Alongside this, forensic linguistic analyses will be outlined to show how a combination may provide fresh leads and investigative avenues for further exploration. A series of 4 real-world cases in which bodies were moved, dumped, and hidden by a suspect, who subsequently revealed knowledge of the clandestine grave are given. The aim is that readers from related fields and disciplines might synergistically collaborate to develop the area and further help in these cases.

Drink spiking in social settings is one of the most pervasive forms of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA). There are no current data in Australia on the rates of drink spiking or their associated assaults. There is also little known about the prevalence of different substances involved and how the current substance use trends compare to sexual assault trends. To explore this, a recalculation of sexual assault trends to estimate substance related sexual assault was performed. Data about recent trends of mental health prescriptions and sexual assault were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The analysis of these datasets highlighted that females are the highest consumers of antidepressants and benzodiazepines. Results also indicated a statistically significant positive correlation between females and a higher incidence of sexual assault (r = 0.996, p < .001). This paper demonstrates that females are at most risk of drug-drug interactions (e.g., diazepam and ketamine) with their medications due to the higher rate of prescriptions amongst this population, and therefore more vulnerable to both opportunistic and proactive DFSA. While these findings are preliminary and not causal, they highlight trends in need of further study.

The utilisation of emergency calls to stage false and misleading narratives can assist offenders in concealing their criminal activity. The majority of emergency call analyses focus on detecting deception; however, investigating the complex temporal ordering of verbal indicators with a measure of proximity may offer new inductive investigative insights. The current research took a novel approach to analysing emergency calls by focusing on the temporal placement of verbal indicators with a measure of proximity coefficients. Results showed that several important differences existed in the temporal ordering of indicators that occur at the start and end of staged and authentic calls. These findings offer an insight as to influence of saliency and the competing priorities that exist between staged and authentic emergency calls. This is the first research to explore the temporal ordering of indicators in emergency calls and to provide a basis for its tentative application to interview strategies.

Purpose
Intellectual property (IP) theft is an increasing threat that can lead to large financial losses and reputational harm. These attacks are typically noticed only after the IP is stolen, which is usually too late. This paper aims to investigate the psychological profile and the socio-technical events that statistically predict the likelihood of an IP threat.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses 86 IP theft cases found in court documents. Two novel analyses are conducted. The research uses LLMs to analyse the personality of these insiders, which is followed by an investigation of the pathways to the attack using behaviour sequence analysis (BSA).

Findings
These IP theft insiders scored significantly higher on measures of Machiavellianism compared to the normal population. Socio-technical variables, including IP theft via photographs, travelling overseas, approaching multiple organisations and delivering presentations, were identified. Contrary to previous assumptions that there is a single pathway to an attack, the authors found that multiple, complex pathways lead to an attack (sometimes multiple attacks). This work, therefore, provides a new framework for considering critical pathways to insider attacks.

Practical implications
These findings reveal that IP theft insiders may come across as charming, star employees rather than the stereotype of disgruntled employees. Moreover, organisations’ policies may need to consider that IP theft occurs via non-linear and multiple pathways. This means that sequences of events need to be considered in detecting these attacks instead of anomalies outright. The authors also argue that there may be a case for “continuous evaluation” to detect insider activity.

Originality/value
This paper offers a new framework for understanding and studying insider threats. Instead of a single critical pathway, this work demonstrates the need to consider multiple interconnected pathways. It elucidates the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and provides opportunities to reconsider current practices in detection and prevention.

Little is known about the prevalence of incapacitating substances present in drug facilitated sexual assaults (DFSA). Presented here is a literature review conducted to provide background information, such as symptoms, exacerbations, and drug interactions, on drugs typically implicated in DFSA, namely gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BD), ketamine, diazepam, oxycodone, methamphetamine, and alcohol.
Literature found through Scopus and Pubmed was reviewed to determine the current prevalence of these substances in DFSA with a focus on Australian data.
The global literature revealed that there is a wide variety of substances used in DFSA and the prevalence varied by country. For example, it was found that in Northern Ireland, opioids were most prevalent whereas in France, benzodiazepines were most prevalent. In Australia the review revealed a lack of contemporary data with the most recent report in Victoria using data collected during 2011–2013. The literature also revealed there can be an important difference between self-reported substance use and substances discovered via toxicological analysis. This can be due to the challenges of biological detection, reliability of self-reporting, and the possibility of a substance being introduced to a person's food or drink without their knowledge.
This review highlights the need for the collection and analysis of current data pertaining to DFSA reports and the drugs detected, and due to the constantly evolving picture of both licit and illicit drug use an assessment of the role of prescription medications in DFSA due to drug-drug interactions as well as potential to incapacitate is warranted.