Tackling drug related organised crime requires determining course

In recent years, additional financial resources haven allowed launching various local, regional and national projects to tackle and frustrate drug related organised crime. As a result, more awareness has arisen in the Netherlands about the seriousness of this problem and the need to tackle it together. However, the question whether that approach is based on the right foundations and assumptions, is hardly ever asked. It is therefore high time to determine course, according to research by Maastricht University and Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Commissioned by the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), Hans Nelen (UM), Karin van Wingerde (EUR), Lieselot Bisschop (EUR) and Roland Moerland (UM) closely followed the developments of the reinforcement movement about drug related organised crime from May 2019 to November 2022. Their action-oriented and process-evaluation research shows that a lot has been set in motion in a relatively short amount of time to create barriers against drug related organised crime and to develop and implement smarter interventions. At the same time, the researchers note that there are major challenges in setting up sustainable forms of cooperation. The first findings on this were shared in the intermediate report of 2021.  Moreover, the literature review demonstrated that other evaluation studies that have appeared on the topic of drug related organised crime in recent decades also point to the same challenges.  The researchers therefore recommend recalibrating the fixed principles and working methods that have been shaping the approach to organised crime for decades. Broadening the view of the problem