Canadian lawman warns about organised crime

Organized crime has been able to infiltrate law-enforcement, the financial institutions, the legal profession, and even the most common, but strategic careers – as it advances its deadly cause.{{more}}

In light of this, an expert lawman, who made his mark in Canada fighting organized crime and money laundering has called for a deeper sensitivity about the effects that organized crime has on society.

Ben Soave is a retired Chief Superintendent of Police in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force, and earlier this week he spoke at a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) organized workshop, held at Sunset Shores Hotel, at Villa.

“One of the things organized crime has done really well is their ability to corrupt,” said Soave.

The 35-year veteran, who headed teams dealing with organized crime and money laundering, told the gathering of law enforcement officers, and persons from various financial institutions that organized crime is deadly to a society’s development.

According to Soave, it is easy to assume that organized crime is not that dangerous because the average person only focuses on crimes where they see bloodshed, and gross violence.

He warned however, that organized crime begets violence, so too the corruption that feeds its success.

He used the example of corrupt baggage handlers at an airport, who, for a small fee, may let drugs and guns through airports. Soave said that the baggage handler, who is paid a few thousand dollars to look the other way, may not realize how crucial he is to the destruction of his society.

“That simple baggage handler, the lowest common denominator in a major criminal organization; does he really care what he is loading or off loading?’ Soave asked.

Those guns, or drugs; the money that the financial officer helps to launder is used to fuel the mayhem, and societal destruction caused in numerous societies, Soave suggested.

“Organized crime does start to disable our national security, our economic stability, our governments – whether we like to admit to it or not,” he said.

Soave said that he believes that law enforcement is only now catching up to organized criminal elements because it did not realize the change that took place in the way criminals operate.

“At the click of the mouse you had a financial transaction that when cross borders, cross legal jurisdiction, cross continent, instantaneously; so law-enforcement, all of a sudden, what do we do now?”

He preached the need for specialization, and the use of modern technology, as the old adage “follow the paper trail”, may no longer exist, in most instances.