This paper describes how investigative and intelligence activities have been integrated in Latvia to facilitate countering organized crime.
Recognizing that organized crime in Latvia could not be effectively countered through traditional investigative methods, in 1998-99 the main board of the Criminal Police of Latvia ordered the Department of Criminalistics of the Police Academy of Latvia to investigate methods for dealing with organized criminal enterprises and propose improvements in current methods. The research resulted in the draft of a supplementary chapter for the Criminal Procedure Code of Latvia. It mandates that all decisions about investigative activities be made by the person in charge of the investigation, who must be either a prosecutor or a judge. The special investigative activities allowed under the draft would be conducted without the knowledge of the target of the investigation and would typically involve video and audio surveillance of the person's activities, as well as other means of monitoring the subject's communications and activities. The purpose of such investigative activities is to detect the intent, preparation for, or commission of a crime by the subject. The law makes clear that special investigative activities should not involve any attempts to entice or encourage the subject to commit criminal activities. All investigative activities must be documented in detail to ensure that they comply with the parameters of the law should a case be brought to court. 9 references
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