the paradox of fiction and terrorism’s overshadowing of organised crime as a law enforcement concern

Abstract

In light of criticism by political commentators and law enforcement experts about counterterrorism overshadowing the investigation of other forms of serious crime—in particular, organised crime—this study explored whether the use of intelligence-led policing would be better directed towards all serious crime, rather than prioritising terrorism. An expert jury comprising twelve subject/practitioner specialists were surveyed. The study used a purposive sampling technique to gauge the jury’s views on the current policy priorities, with the options being counterterrorism to serious crime, and the value of intelligence in policing regarding these offences. The findings, though not conclusive, provide compelling support for the hypotheses. That is, the results of a decision-tree analysis showed that intelligence-led law enforcement could provide approximately 2.1 times the utility over the current approach.