Intelligence-Led Policing Practices

Introduction

Background and rationale

Traditional reactive law enforcement models have

encountered severe difficulties in coping with today’s
risks and threats, and reacting to new criminal
opportunities caused by, inter alia, an increase in
personal mobility and migration, rapid technological
and communication changes, free movement of goods
and services, and growing income inequality. Violent
extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism
(VERLT) as well as terrorist incidents in recent years
have highlighted the need to share, connect and
centrally analyse relevant data and information
(intelligence) from all levels, in compliance with
national legislations, international human rights
standards and OSCE commitments. Intelligence-led
policing (ILP) developed as a response to these
growing challenges by inspiring and facilitating a
proactive policing approach, complementing the
traditional, reactive policing model. It has proved to be
1 an effective tool to address organized crime,
1 to make
better use of resources, and to identify and address
priority tasks in a targeted manner. The proactive and
future-oriented approach of ILP facilitates crime
 prevention, reduction, disruption and dismantling. Key
to the ILP approach is the systematic gathering and
analysis of information and data relevant to the
prevention, reduction and dismantling of crime,
followed by the development of intelligence reports.
On this basis, informed and forward-looking policy-
making and managerial deci- sions can be made and
resources allocated, addressing the most pressing
security concerns, threats, crime types and criminals.
ILP has furthermore proved to be an effective and
sustain- able tool for countering terrorism and VERLT.

Based on its mandate to provide assistance to

participating States in building capacity, improv- ing
professionalism, and supporting police development
and reform, including by developing guidelines1, the
Transnational Threats Department’s Strategic Police
Matters Unit (TNTD/ SPMU) developed this guidebook,
Intelligence-led Policing. The drafting of this guidebook
is a follow-up to the 2016 Annual Police Experts
Meeting (APEM), held in Vienna on 9-10
June 2016, where ILP was the subject matter. One of
the APEM’s Key Findings and Outcomes was the need
for a common OSCE notion of the ILP concept and to
2 develop a guidebook for OSCE participating 2 States on
the subject. The 2016 OSCE German Chairmanship,
the 2017
 OSCE Austrian Chairmanship and the OSCE Secretary
General have clearly expressed their strong interest
and support for further promoting the ILP concept
and its implementation, starting with tasking the
TNTD/SPMU to draft an OSCE ILP guidebook.

In preparing and drafting this guidebook, particular

attention was paid to avoid duplication of efforts and
build on work already on the subject by national
authorities of OSCE participating States as well as
regional and international organizations. Therefore,
written material was gath- ered for this guidebook, with
the kind permission from relevant stakeholders. The
ILP material

in this guidebook includes and builds on the work of

the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC), the United Nations Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO), INTERPOL, the
European Union External Action Service and Europol.

ILP-related legal documents, formal instructions,

national handbooks and other written in- puts were
gathered from a number of national authorities of
3 OSCE participating States and OSCE field
3 operations.
The joint OSCE/UNODC ILP information sheet, issued
in April 2016 for the 2016 OSCE Annual Police Experts
Meeting (APEM), served as a basis for the OSCE ILP
 model, which is presented in sub-chapter 7.1 as the
proposed framework for implement- ing the ILP
concept in OSCE participating States.

All OSCE participating States and OSCE executive

structures as well as a number of regional and
international organizations were invited to nominate
experts to review drafts and provide inputs to this
guidebook. Around 30 nominated experts participated
in a two-day draft re- view workshop in Vienna in
December 2016, 15 of whom provided written inputs
throughout the drafting process of this guidebook.

The theoretical framework for the OSCE ILP model

recommended in sub-chapter 7.1 is based on Professor
Jerry H. Ratcliffe’s academic research presented in his
2016 book Intel- ligence-Led Policing.2 Professor
Ratcliffe is the most frequently cited scholar on this
subject. Three internationally recognized academics
presented and introduced their research on ILP-
related subjects at the 2016 OSCE APEM.3 Dr. Adrian
James participated in the draft re- view workshop and
provided his written input and academic view on the
content throughout the drafting process of the
4 guidebook. 4

In the process of establishing a common OSCE notion

of ILP, linguistic challenges had to be overcome,
 because intelligence does not convey the same
meaning in different languages. The translation of the
ILP concept, for instance from English to Russian, can
cause some disharmony. The word intelligence is
commonly understood in Russian as restricted data and
information held by security services and other
authorized agencies including authorized (re- sponsible)
police units, whereas in English, intelligence stands for
all kinds of analysed data and information, developed
by and accessible to law enforcement agencies. It is
important to keep this language disharmony in mind
when referring to ILP and to note that, throughout this
guidebook, intelligence refers to the latter meaning of
the word, namely analysed data and information.

Objective And Added Value

ILP is not a new subject within the OSCE. Some OSCE

field operations are already engaged in supporting
participating States in the implementation of ILP or
some components of the model. Even though the
partial or full implementation of ILP in countries within
the OSCE region has yielded positive results, there
seem to be discrepancies between the meaning of, the
5 approach to, and ways of implementing ILP. 5

This guidebook aims at explaining and outlining the

framework as well as the main compo- nents of ILP in
 order to enable a consistent understanding and
implementation of ILP in the OSCE area. Its purpose is
to serve as a practical tool for policy-makers, law
enforcement de- cision-makers and criminal analysts in
their efforts to improve the professionalism, effective-
ness and efficiency of the police. The guidebook will
provide a number of practical examples of good
practices in implementing ILP, based on experience
from OSCE participating States and international
organizations, which can be tailored to national
circumstances.

Although especially aimed for policy-makers, higher-

level officials and law enforcement man- agers, this
guidebook also serves all law enforcement and training
institutions as well as uni- versities and academia.

There is diverse academic and theoretical literature on

ILP as well as a range of technical guid- ance material
on single components of the ILP model, such as
technical guidance handbooks from UNODC listed in the
reference chapter, and national handbooks. This
guidebook inte- grates some of this material, thus
meeting the identified need for a guidebook on the
6 general ILP approach, which can be 6 used as a
framework material for all OSCE participating States
and Partners for Co-operation. It covers ILP in a
comprehensive way, from the theoretical framework,
 through definitions and the introduction of key
concepts and main components of the model, to a
practical presentation of ILP implementation, including
information analy- sis, threat assessments, decision-
making and organizational structures.

In accordance with its comprehensive concept of

security, the OSCE regards the protection of human
rights, the rule of law, and democratic principles as an
integral element of security. Participating States have
recognized that security cannot be achieved at the
expense of hu- man rights, but that both are inclusive
and mutually reinforcing objectives. Accordingly, law
enforcement measures to address security threats can
only be effective if they comply with human rights.
Therefore, a separate chapter focuses on legal
considerations, human rights and data protection to
inform the discussion of the ILP concept and its
practical implemen- tation throughout this guidebook.

7 7