European law enforcement groups are setting up a data sharing system to improve the identification and tracking of organised criminals and weapons.

The Odyssey system will allow security staff to flag up ballistics data that fits with similar crimes around Europe so that, for example, a single gun used in multiple crimes can be tracked across the continent.

The development is being co-ordinated by Sheffield Hallam University and developed by a consortium of police forces, government organisations, IT companies and research centres.

"Security agencies have been using ballistics data for many years, but until now cross-referencing that data has been a long process. This system automatically alerts relevant agents in other countries when there is a match on gun and bullet signatures," said Professor Babak Akhgar, co-ordinator of the Odyssey project at Sheffield Hallam University.

"Criminals use guns as currency, and Odyssey allows agencies to build profiles of crime networks by tracking the unique 'signature' that guns and bullets produce when they are fired."

Other Odyssey partners include Atos Origin, Forensic Pathways, Europol, XLAB, SESA, Politecnico di Milano, National Ballistics Intelligence Service, Royal Military Academy, An Garda Siochana, SAS and other European security agencies.

Ealier this month, a House of Lords report criticised the information sharing practices of European law enforcement agencies, and in particular their failure to engage with Europol, the agency set up to share crime intelligence across EU member states.