Skip to main content
Log in

Policing organized crime

A new direction

  • Published:
European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Conclusions

Recent criminological research in the Netherlands underscores the fact that organized crime is embedded in society and the overall picture makes it clear that police emphasis on a crime fighting model of the police, based solely on criminal law will not be entirely effective. Therefore, the Twente police force developed a new strategy of policing organized crime in their region. This strategy is based on criminological knowledge and on the approach of community policing: preventive, pro-active and integrated actions taken by various partners of the police in order to reduce illegal activities of organized crime groups. This strategy, however, can only succeed when two conditions are satisfied. First, this approach can only function in an open democratic society in which numerous public and private organizations and the public feel responsible for the emergence of organized crime in their environment. Secondly, the police force and their partners must be (relatively) free of corruption. This implies that this strategy can only be effective in societies in which organized crime has not deeply penetrated democratic institutions and business organizations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bruinsma, G.J.N., H.G. van de Bunt De georganiseerde criminaliteit in Nederland; een analyse van de lokale situatie in Enschede, Nijmegen en Arnhem The Hague, Sdu, 1996

    Google Scholar 

  • Divisie Georganiseerde Criminaliteit Elimineren en adviseren Enschede, Politie Twente, 1996

    Google Scholar 

  • Dombrink, J., J. Huey-Long Song Policing emerging organized crimegroups. In: R.J. Kelly et al. (eds.),Handbook oforganized crime in the United States Westport, Greenwood, 1994, pp. 415–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Fijnaut, C., J. Jacobs (eds.)Organized Crime and its Containment; A Transatlantic Initiative Deventer/Boston, Kluwer, 1991

    Google Scholar 

  • Fijnaut, C., F. Bovenkerk et al.De georganiseerde criminaliteit in Nederland: eindrapport The Hague, Sdu, 1996 (this study will be published in English in the beginning of 1998 by Kluwer International)

    Google Scholar 

  • Geerdink, H.F.X. Aangepakt & uitgepakt (doctoral thesis) Enschede, IPIT-scriptie, 1997

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstock, R. Organized crime and anti-organized crime efforts in the United States: an overview. In: C. Fijnaut, J. Jacobs (eds.),Organized Crime and its Containment; A Transatlantic Initiative Deventer/Boston, Kluwer, 1991, pp. 7–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, J. The failures of American law enforcement in combating organized crime. In: C. Fijnaut, J. Jacobs (eds.),Organized Crime and its Containment; A Transatlantic Initiative Deventer/Boston, Kluwer, 1991, pp. 121–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroes, L., H.N. Scholtens Politie en de zorg voor veiligheid Enschede, IPIT, 1996

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, G.T. Notes on the discovery, collection, and assessment of hidden and dirty data. In: J.W. Schneider, J.J. Kitsuse (eds.),Studies in the Sociology of Social Problems Ablex, Norwood, 1984, pp. 78–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, G.W. Criminal Organizations; Vice, Racketeering and Politics in an American City Prospects Heights, Waveland Press, 1994

    Google Scholar 

  • Reuter, P. Disorganized Crime; Illegal Markets and the Mafia Cambridge, MIT-Press, 1986

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Additional information

Respectively Commissioner of Police and head of the Division Organized Crime of the Twente Police force and Professor of criminology and director of the International Police Institute (IPIT) at the University of Twente. PO Box 217, 7500 EA Enschede, The Netherlands. We would like to thank Alexis Aronowitz of the IPIT for her comments on an earlier draft of this paper and for her grammatical corrections, as well as the members of the editorial committee for their suggestions for improvements.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jansen, F.E., Bruinsma, G.J.N. Policing organized crime. Eur J Crim Policy Res 5, 85–98 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02677664

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02677664

Keywords

Navigation