{"id":8579,"date":"2013-08-21T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T02:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=8579"},"modified":"2013-08-27T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T03:27:10","slug":"reader-response-serious-and-organised-crime-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/reader-response-serious-and-organised-crime-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader response: serious and organised crime, more than the sum of its parts?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

David Connery\u2019s recent post<\/a> prompts us to understand serious and organised crime as a national security issue. This is often difficult to comprehend because organised crime is like an iceberg: the majority of it is hidden from view.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, there are very visible manifestations of organised criminality such as street violence, a shooting in a public place, outlaw motorcycle gangs, illicit drugs distributed at a nightclub or even the peddling of fake handbags at a market.<\/p>\n

However, Australians are increasingly getting glimpses of the hidden part of the iceberg as technology and globalisation enable cyber criminals to launch attacks into our homes and offices to commit a range of crimes. These include sophisticated frauds, identity theft, malicious software attacks, intellectual property crime, tax avoidance and price manipulation.<\/p>\n

At the Australian Crime Commission, our intelligence is showing us that the threat from organised crime is now \u2018more pervasive, powerful and complex<\/a>\u2019 (PDF) than ever. Put simply, the opportunities for organised crime today are unparalleled and unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Connery’s post is right, we need to delve deeper than the $15 billion cost of organised crime and determine why it\u2019s an immediate national security issue. In a sense, we need to quantify and humanise the impact and stop only talking about organised crime as some sort of future threat and look at the very real threat it poses today.<\/p>\n

That’s not to say that the economic impact is insignificant. It’s hard to go past world estimates that show if organised crime were an economy, it would be in the G20. It impacts almost every part of Australian society. In Australia alone, billions of dollars of organised criminal profits are being remitted offshore. This is money that should have stayed in the Australian economy to create jobs, investment and future opportunities.<\/p>\n

But more concerning is what happens when organised crime corrupts societies. Internationally, when responses are inadequate, we see a number of the following effects:<\/p>\n