Criminalistic strategy for countering illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs in a local community

Abstract

Abuse of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances represents one of the most serious global threats and therefore all democratic states in the world are interested in combating it. For this reason, prevention of illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs must be among strategic goals of crime policy of every country. Illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs brings great financial gain to persons involved in criminal activities, and great damage to the state, of both tangible and intangible nature. Society allocates vast amounts of money for medical expenses of treatment of drug addicts, mortality among young people increases, a part of money earned through trafficking in narcotic drugs is used for further criminal activities (terrorism, organized crime), and one part is placed into legal financial flows. Drug addicts are the most common perpetrators of property crimes, while their percentage is also high in violent crimes. There are frequently the cases of armed conflicts between the rival drug cartels, and illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs is often connected with illegal arms trafficking. Given all the above said, in order to undertake the actions aimed at prevention of illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, it is necessary to establish a close cooperation between the police and a local community - apply the 'community policing ' concept, both on the central and local level (local area) create criminalistic strategy in relation to this type of crime and implement it. Criminalistic strategy should provide the answer to the question: How this type of crime could be efficiently combated by using criminalistics methods? The process of implementation of criminalistic strategy requires organizational changes aimed at achieving the goals defined by the strategy. In this paper, the authors will attempt to give the answer to the question: What effect on preventing and combating illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs in the local area - the territory of a regional police department in Serbia - can be achieved by the adoption and implementation of the criminalistic strategy and introduction of the Police Intelligence Model in the Serbian police?.