Police encounters with organised crime

In this report, the expression “organised crime” covers groups with varying degrees of organisation, from youth gangs who are on the margins of criminal networks to specialised networks concentrating on a particular type of illegal product or service. In between, there are suburban gangs, biker gangs, prison gangs and political extremist groups. A characteristic of the central actors within organised crime is that their criminality constitutes a “profession”, where persons have reached differing levels of achievement.