Saturday, August 18, 2007

Criminal Intelligence Service 2007 Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada

Canada's Criminal Intelligence Service has just released its latest annual report on the activities of organized crime in Canada. This year's report contains a special feature section on the illegal firearms market.

The Service coordinates the criminal intelligence units of Canadian law enforcement agencies at the federal and provincial levels of government. It is chaired by the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

According to the report, Canada now has 950 identifiable organized crime groups operating across the country, a jump of 20% from the 2006. This may look like bad news but police intelligence authorities attribute the number to better reporting practices.

Organized crime groups come in a wide variety of forms, from highly structured motorcycle gangs to loose street gangs. 80% of them are active in narcotics.

The report notes the increased use of technology by organized crime groups: Blackberries and Windows are becoming as important as Magnum .357s and machetes. According to police, there is a growing trend towards techno-crime involving identity theft, telemarketing fraud, stock and mortgage fraud, committed using a variety of techniques ranging from dumpster diving, modification of bank machine card readers, and online data mining to hacking into corporate databases.

Despite these new trends, narcotics continue to be the major source of profits for Canadian crime groups.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:38 pm

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