National Conference on Organized Crime - Role of Citizens and Business in Combatting Organized Crime, Parts 1 and 2

• NCJ Number: 81690
• Author(s): A Imperatore; A Kohn; W Hopkins; H Flinner
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 0 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; National College of District Attorneys
• Publication Format: Film
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. 2 videotapes, 90 minutes, color, 1 inch - Part of the National Conference on Organized Crime held in Washington, DC on October 1-4, 1975.

Annotation

Panel members discuss the private sector as a significant resource to be mobilized for combating organized crime.

Abstract

Law enforcement should provide stronger deterrents against criminal abuse of legitimate businesses, and such laws as the Freedom of Information Act, which have rendered company management impotent to exercise controls over their personnel and thus protect themselves from victimization by criminals, should be reversed. The private sector can assist law enforcement in counteracting organized crime in local communities, as civic anticrime organizations in Wichita, Kans., New Orleans, and elsewhere have done. Such groups must be privately funded, employ professional staff, and operate independently of official law enforcement efforts. Their primary function is continuous intelligence gathering about local organized crime principals, their enterprises, and their corrupt allies in public authority. Significant contributions to citizen involvement in crime prevention have been made by the American Chamber of Commerce. Originally intended for informing their own membership, the Chamber's publications (books on white-collar and organized crime, a periodical 'The Nation's Business') have been used as information resources in the law enforcement community and have been widely read by the public. The Chamber's active lobbying was also instrumental in effecting congressional passage of the Witness Security Program. Involvement and cooperation of business leadership in the anticrime effort is achievable by informing executives of the impacts of organized crime upon their business operations. Both government and business must assume joint responsibility for preventing opportunities for criminal acts and for pursuing individual perpetrators of such acts through exposure, prosecution, and incarceration. Speakers include business leaders, the director of a local crime commission, and a Chamber of Commerce representation. For the final workshop, see NCJ 81691.