RUSI Holds Its Inaugural Serious and Organised Crime Conference
On Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th December, RUSI hosted its inaugural Serious and Organised Crime Conference, in partnership with the National Crime Agency (NCA).
The conference brought together law enforcement officers, policymakers, academics, researchers, analysts and industry experts to identify key and emerging aspects of the threat to the UK from serious and organised crime.
It provided a unique opportunity for these stakeholders to refine current and future research requirements, as well as to assess how practitioners and researchers can collaborate to enhance the effectiveness of the UK’s response and better measure the impact of law enforcement activity.
The conference included three core sessions, with the aim of building cross-sector collaboration:
- Upstream: Degrading the most harmful crime groups and networks, and those who enable their activities.
- Overseas: Protecting the integrity of the UK against organised criminal networks operating internationally.
- Online: Addressing the evolving criminal use of technology as an enabler of all serious and organised crime threats.
In his opening address to the conference, NCA Director General Graeme Biggar said:
It is great to be back again at RUSI, and I am delighted to be opening your inaugural Serious and Organised Crime conference today. The first of what I hope will be many. Why? Because this conference – this mix of minds – brings together experts from a range of different professions and disciplines who can help improve our analysis of serious and organised crime and thus our response to it.
Director General of the National Crime Agency, Graeme Biggar
Mr Biggar set out seven key challenges for participants at the conference, linked to efforts to enhance cross-sectoral collaboration to support the analysis of, and response to, serious and organised crime. These were discussed and debated by participants throughout the two days of deliberations.
Closing the conference, Shadow Security Minister Dan Jarvis MBE MP said:
RUSI is an unrivalled leader in facilitating the must-have conversations on how to tackle our world’s most pressing challenges… I want to thank the excellent Cathy Haenlein, Director of the Organised Crime and Policing Research Group for organising this very successful conference.
Shadow Security Minister, Dan Jarvis MBE MP
Reflecting on the conference, Cathy Haenlein said:
We were pleased to be able to host these vital discussions across two days on how government, academia, industry and other key stakeholders can collaborate to tackle serious and organised crime in the UK. Building stronger consensus and commitment around joint approaches will be essential to tackling these threats moving forward.
Cathy Haenlein
Director of Organised Crime and Policing Studies
RUSI’s Organised Crime and Policing Research Group aims to deliver high-quality and meaningful research, policy and capacity-building activities on crime, policing, and environmental and climate security, including where they intersect. For more information about the Group’s work, see here.