Looking for the Achilles’ heel of subversion: Challenges in the effectiveness and legitimacy of Taskforce RIEC Brabant-Zeeland in tackling subversive crime

The Taskforce RIEC Brabant – Zeeland covers the south of the Netherlands in tackling subversive crime. The security network combines forces of the police, public prosecution, tax authorities and other societal instances to share information and expertise on issues as real estate and financial fraud, motor gangs and drug- and human trafficking. The horizontal network structure is fighting a wicked issue which calls for a cautious attitude towards information sharing. The careful handling of information creates issues of legitimacy and openness of their processes. This research aims to learn where these issues come from and how these challenges can possibly be solved. After diving deeper into theory of challenges, legitimacy and effectiveness of security networks, appropriate theories can be applied to the case study of the Taskforce RIEC to see their current state of affairs and how they plan to tackle their organizational barriers, as well as diving deeper into the ins- and outs of...Show moreThe Taskforce RIEC Brabant – Zeeland covers the south of the Netherlands in tackling subversive crime. The security network combines forces of the police, public prosecution, tax authorities and other societal instances to share information and expertise on issues as real estate and financial fraud, motor gangs and drug- and human trafficking. The horizontal network structure is fighting a wicked issue which calls for a cautious attitude towards information sharing. The careful handling of information creates issues of legitimacy and openness of their processes. This research aims to learn where these issues come from and how these challenges can possibly be solved. After diving deeper into theory of challenges, legitimacy and effectiveness of security networks, appropriate theories can be applied to the case study of the Taskforce RIEC to see their current state of affairs and how they plan to tackle their organizational barriers, as well as diving deeper into the ins- and outs of the network and how it maintains its legitimacy. In addition, two in-depth interviews with employees of the Taskforce RIEC give a more detailed view of the organization. The main issues for the Taskforce RIEC are the wickedness of subversive crime, which calls for broad resourcing and stamina. With pre-existing capacity issues at the network members, this issue only grows bigger. Secondly, effectiveness is hard to define in this case, since numbers are not telling much about under-the-radar-crime. Thirdly their legitimacy faces difficulties in transparency, but which can be justified through the necessity to keep information about the cases form the public for confidentiality reasons. The network faces issues since it is young and developing, yet making promising progress and is aware of its difficulties as stated in their internal reports.Show less

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Looking for the Achilles’ heel of subversion: Challenges in the effectiveness and legitimacy of Taskforce RIEC Brabant-Zeeland in tackling subversive crime