The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science is the only university centre dedicated to reducing crime.

Crime Science is a new and truly multidisciplinary approach which investigates patterns in crime so as to find new ways to disrupt crime patterns. Crime is not just a series of isolated cases and nor is it helpful to regard it simply as a battle between good and evil. Crime science explores ways of reducing opportunity and temptation, as well as increasing the likelihood of detection.

The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science is named after Nick Ross's co-presenter whowas shot dead by a deranged man on the doorstep of her home on Monday 26 April 1999. It was founded at University College London in 2000 and officially inaugurated on the second anniversary of Jill Dando's death, 26 April 2001. The Jill Dando Institute's Crime Science Laboratory was opened by Nick Ross in Sandwell in the West Midlands on 1st November 2002. .

The Institute has been involved in a whirlwind of initiatives including formal briefings with key opinion-leaders, training of large numbers of police crime analysts, inspiring and designing new government policies for reducing car crime, redesigning goods and services to make them less vulnerable to crime, and undertaking a variety of research projects. The Institute has trained police staff in Northern Ireland and elsewhere and created the first manual for crime analysts. The world's first MSc course in Crime Sceince started in September 2003. The Institute also provides a Certificate in Crime Prevention and Community Safety intended for anyone, such as local authority staff, with an interest in the delivery of immediate reductions in crime. The intention is to expand to the full range of undergraduate teaching.

The brainchild of Nick Ross the Institute was funded through a campaign chaired by Jill Dando's fiance Alan Farthing along with Sir John Stevens (London's police commissioner), Sir John Wheeler (former Home Office minister and now chairman of the National Crime Squad and the National Criminal Intelligence Service), and Mark Wood (now head of Prudential insurance).

Prof Ron Clarke of Rutgers University in New Jersey, the first exponent of systematic crime reduction research, teaches for part of the year at the new centre and described the foundation of the Jill Dando Institute as, "The most exciting development ever in this field." Another visiting professor is the British academic and Home Office adviser Ken Pease, one of the most authoritative figures on crime in the world.

The Director, Gloria Laycock spent three years (1998-2000) with the US Department of Justice in Washington, and was seconded to the Australian Institute of Criminology in Canberra (2000-2001). She has extensive experience with offenders in prisons and was for many years a leading researcher with the Home Office in charge of the Policing and Crime Reduction Unit.

Her appointment was warmly welcomed by the prime minister, the home secretary and other leading politicians, police chiefs and others involved in tackling crime. Tony Blair described the Institute as, "an exciting development to bring people together across a whole range of disciplines to create a world centre of excellence and to stimulate a whole new range of solutions to crime."

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said, "Police everywhere will look to the new Institute for fresh ideas and fresh approaches. This is exactly what police need, not just here in the UK but everywhere around the world."

University College London is consistently rated as one of Britain's top three universities, and offers teaching and research in Crime Science along with specialist courses for police, business leaders and public officials.

The Institute was created in near record time with well over £1m raised from public donation, largely through forget-me-not badges, with the help of Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, the Co-op, and other stores, and forget me not seeds through the Radio Times. Since then other companies, notably HSBC, have been very supportive. However, if it is to fulfill its ambitions it will require substantially more money. The Institute is loooking for substantial donations from named donors, corporations and charitable trusts. No other donation is more likely to have a direct impact on reducing crime.

For more information please contact:

The Director of Development,
UCL,
Gower Street,
London WC1E 6BT, UK

Please help if you can. To make a personal donation please send a cheque or PO to:

'The Jill Dando Fund'
Lloyds TSB
50 Notting Hill Gate,
London W11 3JD, UK

Sort code: 30 96 19
Account No: 0840689

Registered Charity No: 1079824