The UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science (informally the Jill Dando Institute or the JDI) is an institute of crime science located in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and a part of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL). It was founded in 2001, becoming the first university institute in the world devoted specifically to crime science. The institute's current director is Richard Wortley.

History

In April 1999 the broadcaster

Jill Dando Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961 – 26 April 1999) was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC and was the corporation's Personality of the Year in 1997. At the time of her death, her ...

was murdered outside her home in west London. Her colleague and co-presenter of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

programme ''

Crimewatch ''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was o ...

'',

Nick Ross Nicholas David Ross (born 7 August 1947) is a British radio and television presenter. During the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters but is best known for hosting the BBC TV programme ''Crimewatch'', whi ...

proposed a memorial to her in the form of a new university institution in her name, for which he was awarded an OBE in 2021. Ross had already conceived of crime science as a new discipline which distinguished itself from criminology by focusing on crime prevention, scientific methodology and multidisciplinary approach. He and Dando's fiancé, Alan Farthing, established the Jill Dando Fund with the help of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner

Sir John Stevens John Arthur Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, (born 21 October 1942) was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (head of the Metropolitan Police Service) from 2000 until 2005. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Constable of Northum ...

, the Countess of Wessex, and her family and friends. On 15 March 2000 the Jill Dando Fund was launched in London at

Claridge's Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to Buckingham Palace". Claridge's Hot ...

hotel, followed by the launch of the Jill Dando Fund Appeal on 12 September 2000. The appeal raised £1.5 million and UCL was selected to host the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science. Gloria Laycock, OBE was appointed as the first director of the institute in January 2001. The institute was opened on 26 April 2001, the second anniversary of Jill Dando's murder.

Scholarship

In May 2004 the institute established new scholarships for its MSc in crime science. In 2005 a Security and Crime Science Centre was established at the institute to work with industry partners in creating new approaches to counter

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. In the same year the International Crime Science Network was established. The institute published research in May 2006 which showed that the UK and France are perceived to have the worst problems with anti-social behaviour in Europe. The Centre for Security and Crime Science opened in October 2006. In 2009 UCL established the Department of Security and Crime Science as a separate entity from the institute in order to enable the offering of post-graduate taught and research courses in security and crime science. The institute continued as a cross-departmental research institute in security and crime science. In September 2009 the Home Office was criticised after it drew up timescales for how long DNA samples should be retained based on research by the institute that had not yet been finished.

References

External links

UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science
{{coord, 51.524853, -0.129594, display=title Departments of University College London Criminology in the United Kingdom

History

Scholarship

See also

References

External links