Research Initiative on Organised Crime ry
RIOC
Yhdistyksen tarkoituksena on tuottaa tietoa keskeisistä turvallisuusuhista mukaan lukien järjestäytyneestä rikollisuudesta sekä työkaluista, joilla järjestäytyneen rikollisuuden ryhmien toimintaa voidaan vaikeuttaa.
ID: 530971937283-19
Lobbying Activity
Response to EU Agenda to tackle organised crime (2021-2025)
11 Mar 2021
Research Initiative on Organised Crime (RIOC) would like to highlight the following points:
1. There have been concerns that not all Member States contribute to Europol SOCTA. Important to reflect on how to be sure that the picture is genuinely comprehensive. Also, not all neighboring EU countries are providing the necessary information. Current support (Commission projects and CSDP) to the Eastern and Southern neighbors crucial.
2. The SOCTA 2017 report provided a comprehensive picture of serious and OC. The findings and (more important) policy, as well as enforcement responses, should be carefully analysed from the perspective of 2021. Using the SOCTA 2021 alone will not contribute to the development of sustainable policy document, but assessment of the effectiveness of the response by the EU to the 2017 threats, will give a good basis for progress tracking and strategic policy planning.
3. In the Civilian Compact 2018 OC was highlighted as one new priority areas for CSDP Missions. There is no operational plan on how the EU could exploit its own capacities and coordinate actions with CSDP Mission staff and JHA agencies in order to jointly contribute to combating OC. See Mini-concept on OC, SECDEFPOL, EEAS 9845/19, Brussels 2019. See also https://www.cmcfinland.fi/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CMC-Finland-Organized-Crime-Handbook.pdf
4. Linkages between OC and corruption: The Rule of Law Reports present the rule of law situation in the EU. These reports should be used to encourage Member States to follow the link between OC and corruption considering anti-corruption frameworks as a part of the strategy to manage system enablers and facilitators of OC. See our research at https://www.rioc.eu/news/rioc-experts-publish-on-measuring-corruption-in-finland/
5. The number of OCGs identified or under investigation might not reveal the picture of the scale of OC. The overall OC threat level tendencies could be identified together with the number of OCGs of the highest threat, medium, and low threat together with a clear methodology of evaluation (example of MoRiLE based scoring of OCGs https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/679814/Tactical-MoRiLE-Scoring-Standards-v1.0EXT.pdf) and monitoring.
6. We also recommend moving from data-centric to model-centric OC policing: Reinforce the adoption rate of Industry 4.0 technologies (e.g Artificial Intelligence, Blockchains, Big data, privacy preserving analytics) in the existing mechanisms for cooperation/training to enable near real-time detection of crimes, improve LEA capacity, and enhance situational awareness. New technologies like Federated Learning can deliver effective privacy preserving analytics by sharing models instead of the original sensitive data. Models can be shared instantly across jurisdictions, domains, and actors without jeopardizing rights and freedoms of the data subjects. Furthermore, wearable technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality devices can provide significant capacity building for tactical training, enabling a sustainable, cost-effective and low carbon exchange of knowledge across the MS.
7. We encourage cooperation with Civil Society, Private-Public Partnerships and Strategic Partners: Tackling OC is not only problem of LEAs. Tolerance by society can block activities intending to disrupt OCGs. A holistic approach is advised: NGO support should be encouraged whenever possible (awareness raising, training, youth engagement, policy advocacy, public discussions, support investigations, participation in task forces, research and innovation and bridging strategies with the grass-root level). Combating the social ills that stem from OC and focusing efforts to re-distribute the seized assets to directly benefit the ones effected by OC activities should not be forgotten. We also remind to strengthen cooperation with UNODC. EU could encourage a strategic approach to OC in the whole OSCE area.
Read full responseMeeting with Ville Itala (Director-General European Anti-Fraud Office)
3 Mar 2020 · Anti-Fraud Strategy