“Techno risk” ‐ technology and intelligence data need to be pushed
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13590790410809266 |
| Pages | 322-324 |
| Date | 01 October 2004 |
| Published date | 01 October 2004 |
| Author | John Sliter |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal of Financial Crime Ð Vol. 11 No. 4
`Techno Risk' Ð Technology and Intelligence Data
Need to Be Pushed
John Sliter
INTRODUCTION
On 1st August, 2003, a 15-year-old boy in the State of
New Jersey foiled an abduction attempt when he
pulled out his mobile camera and snapped photos of
a man trying to lure him into a car. The teen also
photographed the vehicle's licence plate and gave
the evidence to police, who arrested a suspect the
next day.
This is an example of the use of modern day tech-
nology to report crime, to exemplify a great `techno
risk' to international law enforcement.
When considering intelligence and risk, there have
been numerous media articles about the failure of
intelligence in the 11th September, 2001, attacks.
This was the topic of discussion at the past two Cam-
bridge International Symposiums on Economic
Crime. How does the discussion around intelligence
and the 11th September attacks ®t into techno risk?
The issue here is on how electronic intelligence is
stored and subsequently used. `Passive databases that
simply record information are no longer appropriate,
the database also needs to be designed so that it can
push key information to relevant parties.'
1
It is worth re¯ecting for a moment on the old adage
that `information is only data until it is shared'. This
should include `shared quickly' and `shared widely' Ð
with all law enforcement, regulators, and private
sector investigative agencies.
RECOL Ð REPORTING ECONOMIC
CRIME ON-LINE
The law enforcement community is well aware that
international ®nancial crime uses regulatory borders
and concern for sovereignty to its advantage. Quite
simply, criminals are well aware that the more
borders they can cross, either physical or virtual, the
less the likelihood that law enforcement will be able
to catch up with them. The Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP), together with some key
partners, are developing a new tool that will allow
victims of crime and other concerned citizens to
keep pace with international organised crime. The
initiative is entitled RECOL and the objective is to
oer citizens a single point of entry, via the internet,
to lodge a complaint concerning any fraud, traditional
or internet-based, and have it directed quickly and
eciently around the globe to the appropriate law
enforcement or investigative agency for action.
The integrated policing philosophy involves all
levels of law enforcement working cohesively with
one another, exchanging strategic and criminal intelli-
gence, sharing tactical and operational knowledge,
planning joint and individual actions, and communi-
cating eectively. Using this philosophy and looking
towards the future, it was possible to foresee a require-
ment for an internationally coordinated web-based
complaint reporting system. Such a system would
provide for strategic intelligence reports to ensure
there is a national and international strategy, as well
as tactical intelligence reports that are compiled and
sent to the law enforcement agency (or investigative
agency) of local jurisdiction to enable the targeting
of speci®c organised crime groups.
Another key element of RECOL is the recognition
of the need to partner with the private sector. If com-
plaint information can be sent to the police force of
local jurisdiction, why not to regulators or even to
private agencies that have an interest as well? After
all, global organised crime involved in international
fraud does not pay heed to these `boundaries'. To deal
with this particular aspect the RCMP has partnered
with an agency called the National White Collar
Crime Center of Canada (NW4C). This agency was
based, at least in part, on principles that stem from
the NW3C (US-based National White Collar Crime
Center).
One of the key components of RECOL consists of
automating much of the functionality in the `cluster-
ing, pro®ling and packaging' process. The RCMP
uses an automated system of prioritising national
investigations by scoring each incoming complaint
using a system entitled PROOF (Prioritisation of
Operational Files). Each ®le is assigned a score out of
a possible 100 that is based on a comparison of each
active investigation against a set of weighted criteria.
Similarly, RECOL will continuously assess and reas-
sess each incoming complaint in an eort to determine
Page 322
Journalof Financial Crime
Vol.11,No. 4, 2004,pp.322±324
#HenryStewart Publications
ISSN1359-0790
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