Criminal intelligence is information compiled, analyzed, and/or disseminated in an effort to anticipate, prevent, or monitor criminal activity. The United States Army Military Police Corps defines criminal intelligence as information gathered or collated, analyzed, recorded/reported and disseminated by law enforcement agencies concerning types of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

, identified criminals and known or suspected criminal groups. It is particularly useful to deal with

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

. Criminal intelligence is developed by using

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...

, and

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

, or it may be just picked up on the "street" by individual

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

officers. Some larger law enforcement agencies have a department, division or section specifically designed to gather disparate pieces of information and develop criminal intelligence. One of the most effective ways of applying criminal intelligence is first to record it (store in a

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

system), which can be "mined" (searched) for specific information.

US Army usage

Criminal intelligence:

CRIMINT is the result of the collection, analysis, and interpretation of all available information concerning known and potential
criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
threats and vulnerabilities of supported organizations. Army law enforcement agencies are the primary liaison representatives of the Army to federal, state, local, and host nation (HN) agencies for exchanging police intelligence. They collect criminal intelligence (''CRIMINT'') and human intelligence (
HUMINT Human intelligence (HUMINT, pronounced ) is intelligence-gathering by means of human sources and interpersonal communication. It is distinct from more technical intelligence-gathering disciplines, such as signals intelligence (SIGINT), imager ...
) within the provisions of applicable statutes and regulations. Army law enforcement agencies have the capability to analyze and disseminate collected time-sensitive information concerning a criminal threat against Army interests. The value of such intelligence cannot be overemphasized; it not only serves the purpose of police investigations, it also contributes to the development of countermeasures to safeguard Army personnel, materials, information, and other resources.FM 3–19.13 LAW ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATIONS

CRIMINT Process

The CRIMINT process is effective intelligence results from a series of interrelated activities. The intelligence process is a continuous process of collecting and converting data into

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

products to be integrated into operations. The process consists of several phases with continuous evaluation and feedback at each phase and at the end of the process. With the minor modification of adding “reporting” to the second phase, the following text outlines the intelligence process as discussed in Army Regulation (AR) 525–13. * CRIMINT planning and directing. * CRIMINT collection and reporting. * CRIMINT processing. * Analysis and production. * Dissemination and integration.

Criminal intelligence analysis

''Criminal intelligence analysis'' has been recognized by law enforcement as a useful support tool for over twenty-five years and is successfully used within the international community. International organizations, such as the International Police (

INTERPOL The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

), European Police (

EUROPOL Europol, officially the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU). Established in 1998, it is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and serves as the central hub for coordinating c ...

) and the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

(ICTY), and while there are many definitions of Criminal Intelligence Analysis in use throughout the world, the one definition agreed in June 1992 by an international group of twelve European INTERPOL member countries and subsequently adopted by other countries is as follows:

The identification of and provision of insight into the relationship between crime data and other potentially relevant data with a view to police and judicial practice.

As such, criminal intelligence is a more intense or specific application towards investigations than

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

Criminal investigation analysis software

There are several techniques intended for criminal investigation analysis. One of them is

link analysis In network theory, link analysis is a data-analysis technique used to evaluate relationships between nodes. Relationships may be identified among various types of nodes, including organizations, people and transactions. Link analysis has been us ...

which is dedicated to evaluate relationships between nodes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Criminal Intelligence

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

Intelligence gathering disciplines Law enforcement techniques Social networks Social systems

US Army usage

CRIMINT Process

Criminal intelligence analysis

Criminal investigation analysis software

See also

References