On 9 May the Embassy hosted a panel discussion entitled “Global and Globalised Mafias. The New Challenges and the Investigations 5.0”. The speakers were Prefect Vittorio Rizzi, deputy director general of the Italian Police Department and deputy director of the Police; Dr Craig Turner, director of investigations at the UK National Crime Agency; and Professor Anna Sergi of the University of Essex. The discussion was moderated by Tiziana Prezzo, the London correspondent of SkyTG24.
They discussed the challenges of transnational crime and highlighted how it can only be tackled through effective international police cooperation.
The panelists examined how the nature of crime is changing. Criminal organisations are going through a major metamorphosis based on three pillars: technological progress, globalisation and the development of global business.
Modern criminal organisations have become transnational, creating alliances and taking advantage of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain to erase all traces of themselves.
Faced with these fluid threats and criminal organisations that can adapt and disguise themselves, infiltrating the legal fabric, using new technologies, and creating business opportunities out of events such as the pandemic, we have to be able to respond promptly, on the basis of five principles:
- Familiarity with the metamorphosis of criminal organisations;
- Adaptation of legal and regulatory systems to account for the new challenges;
- Implementation and development of international police cooperation and interoperability of databases;
- Use of artificial intelligence to stay ahead of threats;
- Dialogue and agreements between law-enforcement agencies and private third parties in order to integrate security and progress.
