Transnational Organized Crime

Abstract

In today’s complex and ever-changing criminal environment, law enforcement agencies have become increasingly aware that their capabilities have been substantially surpassed by the number of criminal acts and rapid expansion of globalized crime. However, despite the growing impact of transnational organized crime (TOC), our understanding of the role of strategic intelligence in combating such crimes remains limited. This chapter reviews the current literature, exploring the definitional issues that plague academics and practitioners alike. Touching on the structures of TOC, the chapter identifies TOC’s increasingly networked structure and the impact this has on law enforcement responses. The authors discuss current issues surrounding the use of strategic TOC intelligence, particularly within intelligence-led policing methodologies. TOC is presented as providing an excellent context to explore the use of strategic intelligence in law enforcement given its complex nature and interaction with national and transnational policing.