MAYOR'S OFFICE FOR POLICING AND CRIME

Their core work

MOPAC is the governance body overseeing London's Metropolitan Police Service, one of the world's largest police forces. In EU research, they serve as an operational end-user bringing real-world policing requirements to technology development — from forensic DNA analysis and counter-terrorism surveillance to fleet decarbonization. Their participation provides projects with access to a major law enforcement agency's operational environment, testing grounds, and practitioner expertise in public safety.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

All four of MOPAC's H2020 projects launched in 2017, making a temporal evolution analysis limited. However, the keyword data reveals a thematic spread: early involvement centered on research leadership, interdisciplinary training, and cross-sectoral mobility (WIRL), while later activity shifted toward applied technology deployment with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and zero-emission transport (ZEFER). This suggests a move from capacity-building participation toward concrete operational technology adoption.

MOPAC appears to be increasingly interested in greening its operational fleet, making them a valuable end-user partner for clean transport and smart mobility projects targeting public sector adoption.

How they like to work

MOPAC never coordinates projects — they join as a participant or third party, which is typical for a public authority that provides operational context rather than research leadership. With 90 unique partners across just 4 projects, they work in large, multi-national consortia (averaging 22+ partners per project). This means they are comfortable in complex consortia but function as an end-user validator, not a project driver.

Despite only 4 projects, MOPAC has collaborated with 90 unique partners across 19 countries, reflecting participation in large Security and Transport consortia. Their network spans most of the EU, consistent with London's position as a major European capital for policing cooperation.

What sets them apart

MOPAC offers something few organizations can: direct access to one of the world's largest metropolitan police forces as a testing and validation environment. For any security, forensic, or smart mobility project, having London's police authority as an end-user partner adds immediate credibility and real-world deployment potential. Post-Brexit status should be verified for future EU project eligibility.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RED-Alert
  Addressed the high-priority challenge of real-time online terrorist content detection using NLP, with MOPAC providing direct law enforcement perspective and the largest single funding share (EUR 272,250).
• ZEFER
  One of Europe's flagship hydrogen fuel cell fleet deployment projects, running until 2023 — positions MOPAC as an early adopter of zero-emission police vehicles.
• VISAGE
  Pushed the frontier of forensic genomics by developing DNA-based physical appearance prediction for law enforcement use, raising both scientific and ethical dimensions.