Blockchain-Enabled Secure Management of Crime Investigations: A BPMN Perspective

The management of violent crime in Italy is a complex process that requires a great deal of attention. In particular, the preliminary investigation phase requires intensive communication between police and prosecutors and the management of all information useful for solving the crime. However, currently, there is no system in place to support the stakeholders involved in effectively coordinating processes, events and documentation. For this reason, in this paper, we propose an integrated system designed to optimize the operational process of managing preliminary investigations. It aims to facilitate more efficient and timely communication between stakeholders, while ensuring the security and integrity of information through the use of blockchain technology for the storage of data. Due to its capabilities in managing immutable and transparent transactions, the blockchain represents the ideal solution to ensure that data remains unchanged during the preliminary investigation. Moreover, we propose a proper representation of processes through BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation). More specifically, we present the current investigation process, by also identifying how to overcome issues according to a (semi-)automated process based on the proposed system.