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New Centre for Information and Research on Organised Crime The
departments of criminology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam in the Netherlands have founded in 2001 a Centre for Information and
Research on Organised Crime (CIROC). The
mission of CIROC is to contribute to international co-operation and information
sharing about current developments and trends regarding transnational organised
crime. CIROC
has set forward following aims: - Gathering
information about current developments and trends regarding transnational organised
crime;
- Production
and dissemination of knowledge;
- Facilitation
of training programmes abroad for Dutch crime analysts, police officials, professionals
and students.
The
Centre is headed by Prof. Henk van de Bunt. He writes in CIROC's first newsletter: Organised
crime is an intriguing phenomenon. It is very much in the minds of ordinary citizens,
policymakers, politicians, journalists and scientists. Their feelings and perceptions
are often guided by mystification, mistaken assumptions and exaggeration, but
this is not to say that organised crime does not exist. It is really out there.
Serious contemporary social and political problems are influenced by its existence:
the problem of migration to Western Europe is to a considerable extent the result
of large-scale human trafficking; the international smuggling of drugs has a profound
impact on local drug-problems; and without trafficking in women there would be
less brutal exploitation of prostitutes. Organised
crime is also closely related to modern global developments. Open borders, corporate
governance, modern information technology, globalization, increasing mobility,
all these processes offer a wide range of illegal opportunities for organised
crime. But does
organised crime actually take advantage of these new opportunities? What can we
learn from experience gained elsewhere? Is it possible to make educated guesses
about future problems resulting from organised crime? These questions are difficult
to address, nevertheless some of the answers may already be available. A great
deal of knowledge and information about organised crime is held by various institutions
in different countries but it is not used to its fullest potential. Such considerations
have inspired us to establish the CIROC. By studying international literature
on the subject, analysing police files or evaluating experiences in the fight
against organised crime, we hope to stimulate a greater utilisation of existing
knowledge. This
newsletter is one of CIROC's activities. It aims to inform international scholars
in the field of organised crime about relevant developments and research activities
in the Netherlands. It is intended as a contribution to an increase in knowledge
about organised crime. We also hope that this newsletter will lead to closer co-operation
between the CIROC and international scholars. Link:
Centre for Information and Research on Organised Crime (www.ciroc.org)
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