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Introduction
"With the support of the community and by joining forces with every police agency in the region we have shown that the most effective way to fight organized crime is with an organized opposition of dedicated men and women who believe we all have a right to live safely and without fear. These are the people who will always defeat organized crime wherever it surfaces." Vancouver Police Department, Chief Constable Jim Chu
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) produces the Report on Organized Crime each year to make the public aware of the capabilities of organized crime and to provide a general overview of criminal markets in Canada. Because the criminal marketplace is a dynamic system of activities that ebbs and flows with demand and supply, it is important that Canadians are informed of the evolving nature of criminal groups and their threats. The Report also serves to illustrate the critical role of integrated, intelligence-led policing in combating the threat and harm of organized crime.
In this section, the foundations and factors that enable criminal activity are explored. It provides a conceptual framework of how criminal organizations operate and may also serve to dispel popular myths commonly associated with organized crime. This is followed by a general overview of some of the criminal markets in Canada, and new to the Report this year, select criminal markets will be featured in relation to actual law enforcement operations. This illustrates not only how the intelligence cycle comes full circle to the direct benefit and safety of Canadians, but also how agencies are conducting joint operations. The Report concludes with a look at the public's role in the fight against organized crime and how the most effective way to deal with organized crime is through partnerships and sharing information within law enforcement.
What is Organized Crime?
CISC and its member agencies use the Criminal Code definition to identify and assess organized crime in Canada. In using this definition, all contributing agencies base their assessments on the same criteria. This enables the CISC community to produce the broadest and most accurate assessment of organized crime groups. The Criminal Code (467.1) definition is as follows:
"Criminal organization" means a group, however organized, that
(a) is composed of three or more persons in or outside of Canada; and
(b) has as one of its main purposes or main activities the facilitation or commission of one or more serious offences that, if committed, would likely result in the direct or indirect receipt of a material benefit, including a financial benefit, by the group or by any of the persons who constitute the group.
It does not include a group of persons that forms randomly for the immediate commission of a single offence.
Introduction: Foundations of the Criminal Marketplace
