Transnational Investigation of Organised Modern Slavery: What Works? ‘A Review of the Evidence’. (Full Research Report)

The police and organised crime groups (OCGs) continually adapt to be one step ahead as OCGs prosper from globalisation and the tools of late modernity to operate in new spaces to avoid detection. OCGs move online into virtual spaces or spread their criminal enterprises across state borders and into legitimate businesses. So, how do the police view the transnational space in which organised crime operates and how is that transnational space policed and does it work? During 2018, Derbyshire Constabulary worked as part of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) with Latvian Police to disrupt transnational organised modern slavery. Officers involved in the JIT have been interviewed, Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) has been analysed and nodal network analysis used to develop knowledge of Transnational Organised Crime (TNOC) and the police response to it using a JIT. The OCG in question operated in a space created by the availability of vulnerable people who could be exploited in the UK job market. This paper demonstrates how the police re-configured their understanding of TNOC spaces and subsequent interventions within the global, regional, national and glocal spaces that form Bowling and Sheptycki’s (2012) global policing. Evidence has been drawn showing how the police respond within the glocal sphere of global policing, demonstrating what works and that policing appears to be more glocal than global. There is no loss of sovereignty using JITs. Deflem’s (2002) policeization has the potential to overcome potential challenges such as Brexit; particularly when, as with the operation researched (Operation Doubrava), transnational subcultures develop a co-operative network of willing and able police officers. Those officers make victims a priority but make sure the investigation and collection of evidence is open minded and the accused are given a fair trial. In summary, what works, is a ‘Glocal Victim Focussed Willing and Able JIT Approach'.