Abstract

Transnational policing is an increasingly important issue in today’s globalised world. Transnational crime is an expanding industry and when crime crosses borders, cooperation between states is key. Arguably, this is most important in illegal drug trafficking, a crime of high concern to many states which almost always involves multiple countries. To this end, the UN Drug Control Conventions, introduced to tackle drug trafficking across the world, contain a number of provisions regarding law enforcement cooperation. This piece, by examining legal instruments and existing literature, will explore the role of the conventions regarding cooperation in policing the transnational trafficking of illicit drugs with a particular focus on the US, a major player in the field. Law enforcement cooperation between states existed for many years without international law obligations, however, it was often plagued by political and cultural differences and suffered when international relations were tense. By implementing obligations within the UN conventions, existing practices were codified into international law, meaning that cooperation should be a smoother, and legally-backed, process regardless of the political situation. This piece argues that, although the UN International Drug Control Conventions may not have added completely novel principles or practices to transnational law enforcement, they remain an important tool in facilitating transnational police cooperation and have made a valuable contribution to jurisprudence on the subject.

Highlights

  • When crime crosses borders, cooperation between states in law enforcement is key in tackling it

  • The Role of Law Enforcement Mechanisms in the United Nations’ (UN) Drug Control Conventions It has been said that police cooperation depends more on trust than it does on legal frameworks, and the greater the trust between the states, the less formal the procedures need to be

  • With the rise of transnational crime comes the rise in the importance of transnational law enforcement cooperation

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Summary

Introduction

Cooperation between states in law enforcement is key in tackling it. According to Boister, instead of joint investigations, states prefer to work only on the parts of the crime that take place within their own territory and investigate parallel to, rather than jointly with, agencies elsewhere.44 This may be an example of politics and bilateral relationships being detrimental to cross-border investigations, the other international mechanisms for law enforcement cooperation in the treaties, those dealing with information sharing, can come into play to avoid great losses of valuable intelligence or investigations. Controlled delivery permits the delivery of drugs across borders to identify traffickers and collect evidence on wider supply chains and criminal activity, both for arrests and prosecutions It was introduced by the US and, according to Boister, is one of the most controversial enforcement methods used in transnational law enforcement cooperation.. It is a standard technique used in many countries and has resulted in a number of important detections. Controlled delivery as a method for disrupting a range of transnational crimes has been promoted by major international organisations and policing agencies including the UNODC and EuroJust (who have produced a handbook to aid agencies wishing to utilise the technique in Europe).

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Conclusion

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