RITHMS Digital Platform: Social Network Analysis for Intelligence-Led Policing of Cultural Heritage Crime

The European Union-funded project RITHMS (Research, Intelligence and Technology for Heritage and Market Security) offers a network-focused approach to tackling cultural heritage crime, particularly trafficking. The project brings together a consortium of researchers, data analysts, law enforcement agencies, and scientific institutes across Europe to integrate interdisciplinary data in a platform to address the illicit trade using social network analysis (SNA). Data have been gathered from a range of open sources to enable reconstruction and examination of a sprawling network of actors involved in the circulation of cultural goods. Analysis of this network has the potential to reveal valuable information and insights about the circulation of cultural goods and the character of individual transactions. This chapter first offers theoretical background for the core concepts at the root of the project, namely trafficking, SNA, and the collection of open data. It then explores three case studies that highlight diverse approaches to data analysis which emphasise the value of open-source intelligence and promising methods for intelligence-led policing of and research into cultural goods crimes. This research reinforces the importance of an interconnected analysis among isolated datasets and encourages a broader approach to studying the circulation of cultural goods using these open sources.