V PROCEDURAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF TOC —POLICING, TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS, EFFICIENCY, EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION, ABUSE OF POWER, AND TACTICS FOR CONDUCTING INVESTIGATIONS

Table of Contents:

Policing TOC—The National Perspective. Challenges, Strategies, Tactics

Sheelagh Brady

Introduction

Globalization has contributed to the growth of transnational organised crime. That said, transnational organised crime (TOC) is not new, but what is new is the scope and magnitude of the problem.[1] Greater ease of access across physical borders through less restrictive visa regimes, cheaper airfares, and increased connectivity, compounded by improvements in telecommunications, technology, the growth of international commerce through enhanced flows of goods and services, and improvements in global banking have facilitated a greater level of accessibility.[2] Many of these factors have been exploited by criminals to build increasingly sustainable illicit trades, in a broad range of commodities, services, and goods. Globalization has empowered criminals with the necessary environment and tools to operate across borders more easily, thereby allowing them to capitalize on new opportunities available to them.[3] These factors have, in part, contributed to the creation of a vacuum for TOC to thrive where it is often difficult for policing agencies to distinguish between illicit and licit economies both within and across countries.[4] Despite considerable improvements in international enforcement responses, global governance and national policing responses to TOC have not kept pace with these developments.

  • [1] Caliber Associates, State and Local Law Enforcement Response to Transnational Crime, 2005, available at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffilesl/nij/grants/209521.pdf, accessed 1 September 2015.
  • [2] UNODC, The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organised Crime Threat Assessment, 2010,available at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tocta/TOCTA_Report_2010_low_res.pdf, accessed 28 August 2015.
  • [3] Vy Le, Peter Bell, and Mark Lauchs, ‘Elements of best practice in policing transnational organized crime: critical success factors for international cooperation’, (2013) 2 International Journal ofManagement and Administrative Sciences (3), 24.
  • [4] UNODC, Globalization of Crime, cited in note 2 above.
 
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