2026 Conference on Violent Crime

This course provides participants with an overview of a variety of cipher systems and cryptic communications commonly used by gangs, other organizations, and sometimes non-affiliates to disguise and confuse authorities and avoid detection. Through real-world examples and practical analysis, attendees will have the opportunity to decipher examples of coded communication. This course will also explore how specific subcultures and geography contribute to the use of coded communication.

Based on the “Maryland Model” and the research by Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell, Virginia’s Lethality Assessment Program (LAP) is an innovative strategy to prevent Intimate Partner Violence homicides and serious injuries. Using an 11-question, evidence-based Lethality Assessment field tool, law enforcement can assess the risk of serious injury or homicide by an intimate partner and immediately connect the victim, via a hotline call, to the local domestic violence service program (DVSP) for emergency safety planning and enhanced service provision. This session will provide an overview of LAP and its implementation throughout the Commonwealth since 2015.

This block of instruction provides the audience with an overview of serial offenses such as homicide, sexual assault, and robbery. The audience will be given insight into the offender behavior, investigative techniques for these cases, and case linkage.

This presentation will provide the audience with an overview of Uber’s Global Public Safety team and how we work with law enforcement to support investigations, critical incidents, and community safety. The audience will learn more about Uber’s various lines of business, data collection and privacy, and how to submit requests to obtain information for criminal investigations. The presenter will demonstrate Uber’s in-app safety features and highlight cases that resulted in successful location, recovery, and arrests.

The primary purpose of this block is to provide instruction on the behavioral dynamics of sexually motivated child abductions and insights into offender behavior and victimology in order to support investigative best practices and considerations.

This breakout session will build upon the methodologies discussed during the keynote, providing additional approaches and case studies that highlight the techniques in practice.

This presentation provides an overview of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Attendees will gain insight into the types of online child exploitation cases ICAC investigates, how the task force network operates, and how investigators can effectively leverage ICAC resources for CyberTip triage, digital forensic support, and multi-state coordination. It also highlights current challenges, such as rising case volume and cross-platform offender behavior, and includes a gaming platform case study demonstrating how offenders contact minors and how these investigations unfold.

This presentation reviews key legal updates from the Virginia General Assembly that affect law enforcement, Departments of Corrections (DOC), and Departments of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). This session highlights new laws, focusing on the practical implications of these updates and how agencies can maintain compliance with current legal standards.

This block of instruction identifies common themes, technical gaps, and recommendations found across completed NFS and homicide reports across all National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) sites. The presentation will provide stakeholders with an understanding of the types of recommendations made to PSP sites through non-fatal shooting and homicide assessments. The presentation will identify common gaps in non-fatal shootings and homicide investigation capabilities and practices to strengthen investigative capacity.
Some common findings and recommendations include:
• Identifying the impact on investigations with delayed submission of evidence to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) for analysis.
• Identifying proven requirements and establishing policies, protocols, and practices involving homicide and non-fatal shooting investigative practices.
• Identifying the impact of designating investigators with specialized knowledge of and techniques involved with homicide and non-fatal shootings investigations.
• Importance of partnering with federal law enforcement agencies to strengthen investigations.
• Recognizing how investigator outreach to neighborhoods experiencing high rates of homicides and non-fatal shooting incidents can promote victim-witness safety and cooperation, promote public safety, and reduce fear and violence.

Mental health problems are often linked to violence risk, and mental health treatment to violence risk reduction. This formulation allows people with different perspectives to come together and pursue shared goals. However, the rationale behind these linkages is based on both accurate and inaccurate appraisals of the nature of those associations. Productive policy and supportive responses to students in crisis or suspected of being at risk for violence will come from a solid understanding of the relationship between mental health problems and violence risk; this presentation will provide information on the nature of that relationship. Audience members will then be challenged to consider the tensions and conflicts that may arise when navigating a landscape that involves real and perceived threats, and shared obligations to individuals and the public safety.