Walking the walk: practical measures to undermine the business of organised crime
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-05-2014-0024 |
| Date | 05 May 2015 |
| Pages | 199-207 |
| Published date | 05 May 2015 |
| Author | Kenneth Roderick Murray |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & Finance,Financial risk/company failure,Financial crime |
Walking the walk: practical
measures to undermine the
business of organised crime
Kenneth Roderick Murray
Forensic Accountancy, Police Scotland, Glasgow, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article was to argue that developing an understanding of organised
crime business structures is a necessary component of a modern effective law enforcement response and
this must found on initiatives to improved capture of relevant business intelligence and developments
of suitable methods to analyse it.
Design/methodology/approach – Consideration of the dynamics of the challenge set by the
business of organised crime, review of relevant academic studies; adaption of a template model to assess
organised crime business structures; description of how this informs a new initiative being currently
undertaken within Police Scotland under the name of “Project Jackal”.
Findings – Project Jackal rolled out in the summer of 2014. Report on experience will follow in
subsequent papers.
Research limitations/implications – Further research and reporting on eld experience is implied.
Practical implications – Development of more effective business intelligence capture by law
enforcement and of analytical methods to exploit this intelligence against organised crime.
Social implications – Protection of communities and commerce from the corruptive inuence of
organised crime.
Originality/value – To stimulate discussion on methods and responses to tackle the challenges
outlined.
Keywords Business, Intelligence, Law enforcement, Organised crime, Strategic analysis
Paper type Viewpoint
Organised crime is a business activity. This is an obvious truism, but the engagement
by law enforcement of the tools of business strategy analysis to combat this kind of
business on the ground is not that common. There have been academic studies,
suggesting it might be a good idea, but in times of budgetary constraints and scal
uncertainty, an understandable reaction of law enforcement might be to stick to its
knitting, concentrate on the things that it knows and is good at. Until recently, applying
the business tenets of competitive advantage to understand the distinctive capabilities
of an organised crime group (OCG) were unlikely to feature prominently on any list of
police priorities. If not exactly a “no-go” area, the tendency of law enforcement when
confronted with the business structures and practices of organised crime was to try and
nd ways of working around them rather than looking deep and making serious efforts
to understand them. As public awareness grows of the nefarious impact organised crime
has on enterprise and competitiveness and how it uses the footholds it achieves in
legitimate markets to subvert and corrupt them to their own ends, the business of
organised crime is now becoming an essential part of law enforcement’s remit. The
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1359-0790.htm
Business of
organised
crime
199
Journalof Financial Crime
Vol.22 No. 2, 2015
pp.199-207
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/JFC-05-2014-0024
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