Assessing the Crime-Business Nexus: Towards a Risk-Based Methodology

• In Event: Measuring and Evaluating the Impact of Serious and Organized Crime Policies and Interventions

Abstract

The Belgian port of Antwerp has become a major gateway for cocaine trafficking on the European continent and drug related violence has increased significantly in the streets of Antwerp and Brussels as a result. Besides reinforcing law enforcement agencies, in January 2024 the Belgian government adopted the law on administrative approaches against organized crime and the establishment of a brand-new Directorate of Integrity Assessment for Public Administrations (DIAPA). The DIAPA needs to conduct annual risk assessments of economic sectors and activities that are being used by criminal organizations to facilitator crimes or launder criminal money. Ghent University was tasked to develop a risk assessment tool that would not only allow detection of a crime-business nexus, but also help prioritize which sector or business activity should be targeted first by the government. The assignment was challenging as the research required data that are not traditionally gathered by law enforcement agencies.

Author

• Jelle Janssens, Ghent University