Cheats, Threats and Reflexivity: Organizational Narratives on Policing Organized and Economic Crime

Abstract

Drawing on narrative criminology and sensemaking theory, this paper explores interpretive patterns in an interagency policing collaboration that targets ‘work-related crime’ (WRC). WRC is a policy term denoting organized crime and economic offences (i.e. tax evasion, benefits fraud, labour exploitation and immigration law offences) and is framed as a threat to the viability of the welfare state. While the concept signals an intent to coordinate across agencies, policing takes place within local and institutional contexts. How do agents in the police and collaborating agencies render the policy concept ‘work-related crime’ meaningful and actionable? The study articulates three organizational narratives explaining WRC as fundamental criminogenic change, as stability and as a reflexive product of the control apparatus.

Preventing prosecution: Narratives on proactive policing

“…The narrative construction of these strategies shows that a cross-cutting aim is to prevent prosecution. The prosecutorial mode is considered expensive, time-consuming, and not up to handling the threats currently facing the welfare state and the licit economy (Innes and Sheptycki, 2004; Vestby, 2022). Although the reactive deployment of officers in response to external calls for service is literally termed ‘the standard model of policing’, the police – both as current institutional arrangement and as mode of governance – have always been temporally oriented to the future (Dubber, 2005; Ellefsen, 2021).…”

“…A story that dramatised a subject provoked a moral response, whereas one that downplayed it elicited a technical one (Garland, 2001;Tognato, 2015). Recent research that has considered narrative constructions of WRC has either portrayed it as a near-existential threat posed by transnational organised crime and requiring action, or as a type of economic crime resulting from normal market dynamics within the framework of the welfare state (Vestby, 2022). Through organisational narratives meaning 'shared interpretive patterns' (Vaara et al, 2016), practices and ideas are given meaning, are lauded or rejected, and become connected to particular populations, crimes and police roles.…”

“…There are other factors at play in economic crime investigation teams where you don't have the same … dynamism. ( 046) Whereas economic crime generally may be understood as constituting predictable offences given competitive markets, organised crime has more often been considered a threat posed by an external Other (Franko, 2020;Vestby, 2022;Woodiwiss and Hobbs, 2009). This understanding is reflected in OC policing's legitimisation of anticipatory, disruptive action as well as proactive investigation against the 'usual suspects' (Hestehave, 2021).…”

Technology, White-Collar Cybercrime, and White-Collar Crime: An Analysis of Utah’s White-Collar Crime Registry Data

“…Taking this a step further, one can see that the location of studies may also vary. White-collar crime studies, for example, might be conducted in the workplace (Levitt, 2006; Miller & Gaines, 1997; Vestby, 2021) while cybercrime studies are frequently conducted on the Internet (Ahlfors, 2010; Brewer et al, 2021) or the Dark Web (Liggett et al, 2020; Martin, 2021). With differing empirical foundations, it is no wonder that an empirical gap exists between cybercrime researchers and white-collar crime scholars.…”

Om fremveksten av en ny forståelsesramme for arbeidslivet og kampen mot arbeidslivskriminalitet

“…Mens tidligere forskning på arbeidskriminalitet har studert institusjonelle praksiser gjennom dokumentstudier og intervjuer (Jahnsen & Rykkja, 2020;Neby et al, 2016;Skovly et al, 2017;Vestby, 2022), tar denne artikkelen utgangspunkt i representasjoner av arbeidslivskriminalitet i norsk offentlighet, spesifikt nyhetsmedia og beskriver hvordan det nye begrepsapparatet har oppstått og befestet seg. Media som en arena for offentlig diskurs er saerskilt interessant å studere fordi den gir et rikt innblikk i representasjonene som struktu-rerer a-krim som et fremvoksende politisk felt og hvordan bestemte problemforståelser har fått gjennomslag i en bredere offentlighet.…”