Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain win awards for innovation in law enforcement
Europol has awarded Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain Europol’s 2026 Excellence Awards in Innovation for new and innovative approaches to law enforcement.
The countries received awards in separate categories, highlighting projects that introduce technological solutions and new investigative methods to address law enforcement challenges, thereby shaping the future of European law enforcement.
The Spanish National Police received the Catherine De Bolle Innovation Award for Law Enforcement Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion for its UFAM Pictogram-Based Sexual Violence Disclosure Toolkit.
The toolkit uses over 700 pictograms to help children and adults with communication needs disclose sexual offences.
Denmark was awarded the Award for Innovative Operation for its Roadside Nitrous Oxide Screening Pilot. Danish police officers are testing portable breath-screening technology to detect nitrous oxide-impaired driving at the roadside.
According to Europol, this initiative strengthens road safety, reduces unnecessary medical transports, and can deter dangerous driving through rapid and on-site interventions.
Lastly, the Dutch National Police were handed the Award for Innovative Technical Solution for EnhanceOCR.
Instead of enhancing a blurry image, this system uses AI technology, image-processing techniques, license plate recognition technology, and vehicle registration intelligence to extract useful information from poor-quality camera footage, which is then checked by human investigators.
Europol believes that EnhanceOCR reduces manual effort and maximizes the value of existing unchanged evidence.
The winners were selected from 9 finalists. Other finalists included projects from Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Italy, and Switzerland, covering topics like online child safety, youth engagement, environmental crime, immersive training, and cybercrime investigations.
This year, Europol received a total of 93 nominations from law enforcement agencies across 25 countries.
“Europol’s Innovation Lab serves as a platform for collaboration between law enforcement, industry, and academia, addressing the challenges of modern policing. Through the development of advanced tools and technologies, it strengthens investigations and improves security across Europe,” Europol concludes.