The Organised Crime and Policing group provides research, analysis, consultancy and evaluation services for governments, law enforcement agencies, international institutions and the private sector. We focus on facilitating dialogue between stakeholder communities, synthesising existing research evidence to inform high-level decision-making, and bridging gaps between siloed responses, so as to inform a more holistic, effective and forward-looking response.
Across the UK and globally, the damaging impact of organised crime is felt by individuals, communities, and the public and private sectors. Yet the national and global response has failed to keep pace with an evolving and technologically enabled threat. The rapidly changing environment has placed the public and private sector under unprecedented pressure to both comprehensively understand these complex issues and to respond in real time to the threat to national security.Â
In parallel, the group’s policing and security research explores the challenges facing law enforcement agencies and the role of the police in the UK’s national security infrastructure. We conduct timely evidence-based research to advise law enforcement agencies on how best to take advantage of new opportunities, such as those presented by emerging technologies; how to bridge the gap between policy and practice; and how to overcome barriers to transformational change.
Â
Our team
Keith Ditcham
Acting Director / Senior Research Fellow
Organised Crime and Policing
Cathy Haenlein
Director, Organised Crime and Policing (on maternity leave)
Organised Crime and Policing
Anne-Marie Weeden
Senior Research Fellow
Organised Crime and Policing
Lauren Young
Research Analyst
Organised Crime and Policing
Ardi Janjeva
Research Fellow
Organised Crime and Policing
Genevieve Kotarska
Research Analyst
Organised Crime and Policing
Mark Williams
Outreach and Implementation Coordinator
Organised Crime and Policing
Fellows
Dr Felia Allum
Associate Fellow
Dr Lindsey Bell
Associate Fellow
Rohan Burdett
Associate Fellow
Samuel Coates
Senior Associate Fellow
Giles Herdale
Associate Fellow
Dr Sasha Jesperson
Associate Fellow
Professor Sir Jon Murphy QPM DL LLB (Hons)
Senior Associate Fellow
Dr Georgina Sinclair
Associate Fellow
Martin Verrier
Associate Fellow
Professor Alison Wakefield
Senior Associate Fellow
Dr Timothy Wittig
Projects
Access a range of project work undertaken by the Organised Crime and Policing research group
Climate Change
View current programmes and projects
The programme investigates the evolving impact of global warming on the criminogenic dynamics behind large-scale environmental crime.
Illegal Wildlife Trade
View current and completed projects
Commissioned by the Home Office, RUSI is leading an independent assessment of the UK’s performance on tackling financial crime related to illegal wildlife trade (IWT).
Strengthening enforcement capacities and improving synergies to combat international and trans-border wildlife trafficking in and between Peru and Ecuador.
This project aims to strengthen key Ugandan stakeholders’ capacity to detect, deter and prosecute wildlife crime, working with security and law-enforcement agencies in the country.
This project conducted the first regional knowledge and capacity assessment on illicit financial flows connected to the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in West and Central Africa.
This project piloted a strategic threat- and needs-assessment around the financial dimensions of wildlife trafficking, to inform tailored, multi-agency and cross-sectoral capacity building in East Africa.
This project delivered tailored cross-sector capacity-building information on disrupting wildlife-linked illicit financial flows in East and Southern Africa, accompanied by rapid-reference guides and an e-learning resource.
RUSI contributed to the establishment of the United for Wildlife IWT Financial Taskforce, which – through high-level commitments and actionable intelligence sharing – has mobilised over 40 global banks against wildlife trafficking.
This project generated new financial intelligence and investigative opportunities by reviewing two closed ivory trafficking cases in Lao PDR.
Primary research in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia calls for anti-corruption efforts to be placed front-and-centre of our collective response to wildlife trafficking.
This project conducted a cross-regional analysis to establish the factors behind the collective failure to provide an adequate global response to large-scale illegal fishing.
Illicit Trade and Trafficking
View current and completed projects
This project examines criminal risks in free-trade zones, also known as freeports, and highlights best practice in tackling those risks.
The project explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on modern slavery and human trafficking in Sudan.
The On Tap paper series presented ground-breaking research on the role of organised crime groups in illicit trade in tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceuticals across Europe.
Cybercrime and Audio-Visual Piracy
View current and completed projects
Data and Surveillance
View completed projects
OMDDAC provides a public space for the consolidation of knowledge and understanding of data-driven approaches to COVID-19, focusing on legal, ethical, policy and operational challenges.
RUSI conducted research into the potential use of big data analytics by UK policing, providing insights into current limitations and priorities for expanding these capabilities.
RUSI partnered with the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to conduct research into the use of data analytics by police in England and Wales.
RUSI was commissioned by the UK government to lead the Independent Surveillance Review, which informed the government’s thinking on the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
RUSI partnered with the University of Winchester in September 2018 to conduct research into the application of machine learning algorithms to police decision-making.
Related programme
Technology and National Security Research Programme
A programme at the forefront of national and international debates on the role of technology in transforming the global security landscape.