Czech Strategy to Combat Organised Crime for the Years 2015-2017

The present document was prepared on the basis of Government Resolution No. 598 of 10 August 2011, which approved the Strategy to Combat Organised Crime for the Years 2011 – 2014 and tasked the Minister of the Interior with presenting the Government of the Czech Republic with the Strategy to Combat Organised Crime for the following period, along with an evaluation of the preceding strategy, by 30 June 2014.
The Ministry of the Interior, as coordinator of the fight against organised crime in the Czech Republic, is responsible for the long-term strategic management and coordination of national policies against organised crime. For this purpose, the Ministry of the Interior inter alia regularly drafts the Strategy to Combat Organised Crime, the purpose of which is to formulate, on the basis of an analysis of the current situation, measures to build and bolster appropriate conditions and instruments of law enforcement authorities in the area of prevention, detection, and prosecution of organised crime.

- MONITOR THE SITUATION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
- DEVELOP SYSTEMIC MEASURES TO COMBAT ORGANISED CRIME AND STRENGTHEN NATIONAL COOPERATION
- STRENGTHEN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The Strategy to Combat Organised Crime is the basic strategic documents of the Czech Republic for the fight against organized crime. As such, their issue and evaluation are the responsibility of the Department of Security Policy and Crime Prevention of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.
The first concept was introduced in 1996, but the next year, 1997, came its first update, which was followed by another update in 2000. This strategy was fulfilled until 2008, when the new strategy was introduced, until 2011, followed by two other strategies, namely 2011-2014 and 2015-2017. In view of these developments and the nature and importance of the issue, we can expect the ensuring the sustainability of this program also in the future.

An efficient fight against organised crime must anticipate its development; it must be based on a thorough knowledge of the environment, the perpetrators and their modus operandi, and have a good foundation in existing measures and instruments. This is the purpose of the present strategy. Nevertheless, the fight against organised crime cannot be successful without a functioning judicial system and the support of senior political representatives, as well as the backing of the general public.

In each strategy, at the same time, the fulfilment of the tasks of the past strategy is assessed. For example, this review is in the current document:
The overall implementation of tasks from the Strategy to Fight Organised Crime for the Years 2011 – 2014 can be evaluated positively. Out of 17 tasks, 6 have been completed and terminated, 4 have been completed and continue to be implemented, 5 have been completed partially and are currently being finalised. Only 2 tasks have not been completed:
• Task no. 3, i.e. to develop a long-term programme of cooperation with Western Balkan states in the fight against organised crime, has become redundant and obsolete with the development of the Programme for Security Development Aid with Western Balkan countries and with the setting up of functional mechanisms for information exchange and operational cooperation (including the negotiation of relevant agreements) between the Police of the Czech Republic and partner authorities in the region, for this reason this task has not been included in the present strategy;
• Task no. 8, i.e. to establish contact with Chinese law enforcement authorities by organising a meeting at the ministerial level, for the purposes of enabling the establishment of cooperation at the expert level, has not been completed due to a lack of opportune political moments in both countries, therefore this task has been included in the present strategy.

The Ministry of the Interior, as the organizer of the fight against organized crime in the territory of the Czech Republic, has been strategically managing and coordinating national policy on the fight against organized crime in the long term. To this end, inter alia, it regularly elaborates on the Strategy to Combat Organised Crime, which, on the basis of an analysis of the current situation, is to formulate measures to create and strengthen appropriate conditions and tools of the security forces in the field of prevention, detection and prosecution of organized crime. Together with the Czech Police, intelligence services and the Institute for Criminology and Social Prevention, the Ministry of the Interior also participates in analytical activities.

The operational level of the fight against organized crime is primarily ensured by specialized units of the Czech Police (Organized Crime Detection Unit, Corruption Detection and Financial Crime Unit and National Anti-Drug Headquarters with the support of the Special Activities Unit and the Special Activities Unit) and Customs Administrations and the Customs Directorate, supported by Operational Documentation, Technical Support Services and Operational Support Services). They ensure the prevention, detection and prosecution of organized crime in the Czech Republic, including the provision of proceeds from crime.

Tools to fight organized crime are embedded in government resolutions and laws. The Government approves the Strategy to Combat Organised Crime and requires its members to carry out the tasks contained therein. The legislative instruments are based on Act No. 40/2009 Coll. (Criminal Code), Act No. 141/1961 Coll. (Criminal Procedure Code) and Act No. 273/2008 Coll., on the Police of the Czech Republic, Act No. 17/2012 Coll., on the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic and Act No. 13/1993 Coll. (Customs Act).

The concept is funded by the Ministry of the Interior.

VROBEL, Vojt?ch. ?eský boj proti organizovanému zlo?inu:
Pohled teorie p?erušované rovnováhy [online]. Praha, 2016 [cit. 2017-10-16].
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8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjn4cD_4vTWAhXDYZoKHTtXA8YQFghSM
Ac&url=https%3A%2F%2Fis.cuni.cz%2Fwebapps%2Fzzp%2Fdownload%2F
120229747&usg=AOvVaw3ZqPbre-OrsSvms22dV1E5. Diplomová práce. KVSP FSV UK. Vedoucí práce PhDr. Martin Cejp, CSc.

KONCEPCE BOJE PROTI ORGANIZOVANÉMU ZLO?INU NA OBDOBÍ LET 2015–2017. Ministerstvo vnitra ?eské republiky [online]. Praha: ODBOR BEZPE?NOSTNÍ POLITIKY MINISTERSTVO VNITRA, 2014 [cit. 2017-10-16]. Dostupné z: http://www.mvcr.cz/soubor/koncepce-boje-proti-organizovanemu-zlocinu-na-obdobi-let-2015-2017.aspx

STRATEGY TO COMBAT ORGANISED CRIME FOR THE YEARS 2015 – 2017. Ministry of the Interior of the Czech republic [online]. Prague: SECURITY POLICY DEPARTMENT MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR, 2014 [cit. 2017-10-16]. Dostupné z: http://www.mvcr.cz/soubor/strategy-to-combat-organised-crime-2015-2017-pdf.aspx

http://www.smartadministration.cz/docDetail.aspx?docid=21874567&doctype=
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http://www.mvcr.cz/soubor/koncepce-boje-proti-organizovanemu-zlocinu-na-
obdobi-let-2015-2017.aspx
http://www.mvcr.cz/soubor/strategy-to-combat-organised-crime-2015-2017-
pdf.aspx
https://www.databaze-strategie.cz/cz/mv/strategie/koncepce-boje-proti-organizovanemu-zlocinu-na-obdobi-let-2015-2017

Organised crime currently poses the most serious non-military threat to Czech society. Through their activities, organised criminal groups may undermine the social order, disrupt the stability of the economy, weaken democratic structures, and ultimately bring about the demise of the rule of law. The fight against organised crime and its accompanying phenomena is therefore one of the priorities of the national security policy of the Czech Republic, as is reiterated by the Policy Statement of the Government of the Czech Republic, dated 12 February 2014 (Resolution No. 96).
Organised crime in the 21st century is characterised by a high degree of fluidity. Organised criminal groups are mostly comprised of flexible international contact networks, within which the boundary between the legal and the illegal realm is almost entirely permeable. Through their contacts, these groups indirectly affect politics, justice, trade and manufacturing, the media and entertainment industries, and civil society in such a way that it is often difficult for law enforcement authorities to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate activities. In the Czech Republic, the process where the most dangerous organised criminal groups use not violence, but financial machinations in order to achieve power and profit, has already reached an advanced stage.

When it comes to the modus operandi of organised criminal groups, an increasingly important role is played by communication and information technologies. In addition to better, faster, and cheaper tools in the area of manufacturing, transport, and communication providing new opportunities for delivering illegal goods and services, the Internet is itself becoming an arena where organised criminal groups have a virtually unlimited scope for offering illegal goods and services, which are frequently purchased by unsuspecting consumers.

The efficiency of the strategy is evident from the mandatory evaluation of the fulfilment of the tasks of previous periods.
Other tasks, although they have been completed within the scope of their assignments and could have been terminated, continue to be implemented due to their ongoing positive effects. This concerns, for example, the participation Czech police officers in relevant activities of the European Union (task no. 2), work in joint investigation teams when combating organised crime (task no. 9), or streamlining the exchange of information between the Police of the Czech Republic and national tax authorities. The task, which consisted in the establishment of a joint investigation team of the Police of the Czech Republic and national tax authorities for the purpose of detecting and targeting specific types of organised crime (task no. 11), is currently being expanded into a project to create a joint unit of the Police of the Czech Republic, the General Tax Directorate, and the General Directorate of Customs, which significantly surpasses the scope of the original assignment. The ratification of the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and its two Additional Protocols, which took place at the end of 2013, is also a very positive outcome. As a result of the ratification, the Czech Republic can now fully engage in the process of combating organised crime as it is coordinated by the United Nations Organisation.

In the Czech Republic, the incidence of organised crime is reflected in the number of detected and solved crimes of participation in an organised criminal group, or in the number of persons prosecuted and investigated for the crime of participating in an organised criminal group (in both cases as per Sec. 361 of the Criminal Code). These numbers, however, represent only a fraction of the total number of cases, and especially those that are traditionally associated with the activities of organised criminal groups, according to information from the law enforcement authorities – e.g. the unauthorised production and other handling of narcotic and psychotropic substances or the breaching of rights to trademarks and other indications (as per Sec. 283 and Sec. 268 of the Criminal Code, respectively).

The strategy has been written in accordance with other documents of the Government of the Czech Republic relating to internal security and the fight against crime. These are mainly the following:
• the Situation Report on Internal Security and Public Order in the Czech Republic in 2013,
• the National Drug Policy Strategy for the Years 2010 to 2017, approved by Government Resolution No. 340 of 10 May 2010,
• the National Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings for the Period 2012 – 2015, approved by Government Resolution No. 282 of 18 April 2012,
• the Government Anti-Corruption Strategy for the Years 2013 – 2014, approved by Government Resolution No. 39 of 16 January 2013,
• the Strategy of the Czech Republic for the Fight against Terrorism from 2013 onwards, approved by Government Resolution No. 200 of 20 March 2013,
• the Report on Extremism in the Czech Republic in 2013, the Evaluation of the Strategy to Combat Extremism for the Year 2013, and the Strategy to Combat Extremism for the Year 2014, approved by Government Resolution No. 372 of 21 May 2014, and
• the Strategy to Combat Fraud and Corruption in the Framework of the Distribution of Funds of the Common Strategic Framework for the Years 2014 – 2020, drafted by the Ministry of Regional Development.
The present strategy also draws on relevant documents of the European Union. These are mainly the following:
• the Serious Organised Crime Threat Assessment (2013)
• the Report of the Special Committee of the European Parliament for Organised Crime, Corruption, and Money Laundering (doc. 2013/3207 (INI))

Pursuant to Government Order No. 919 of 12 November 2014, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Justice, the First Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy, the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of the Environment are responsible for fulfilling the tasks arising from the Strategy.