Investigating Law Enforcement Cooperation, Information Sharing and Technology Usage in the Investigation of Illicit Money Flows

Project: TRACE

Published: 2022

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Abstract:

This research brief presents an overview of the first results of the TRACE research project, which is designed to develop tools and strategies to support European Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to better identify and follow illicit money flows and increase efficiency and effectiveness of information sharing among EU LEAs. For this purpose, we surveyed 42 LEA staff members via an online questionnaire on their experiences with investigations of illicit money flows, the respective benefits of digital investigation software and technological solutions, and the obstacles and challenges of cross-border police cooperation. In addition to the results of this survey, the report also contains initial information on cross-border police cooperation and the related exchange of information obtained from a first set of qualitative interviews with police officers. Our findings indicate that several factors impede the tracing of illicit money flows. In principle the tracing of illicit money flows is complicated because these flows are usually linked to a variety of crimes which are often covered up or closely entangled with legal activities and typically run through several countries. This diversification of the "criminal portfolio" in combination with cross-border organised crime cooperation demands resource-intensive and time-demanding cross-border police cooperation. In the process, investigators are often confronted with different legal regulations for the respective offences, depending on the country, which have an aggravating effect on the investigative work. These challenges can be met in particular by a stronger integration of digital investigation tools in everyday police work as well as an improved European police cooperation, as facilitated by the so-called "Joint Investigation Teams".