29 https://americasquarterly.org/article/transnational-crime-pcc/ 30 https://www.unodc.org/unodc/frontpage/2021/February/share-of-children-among-trafficking-victims-increases--boys-five-times-covid-19-seen-worsening-overall-trend-in- human-trafficking--says-unodc-report.html 31 https://rusi.org/commentary/it%E2%80%99s-who-you-know-not-what-you-know-why-we-need-focus-organised-crime-networks-and-not POLY-CRIMINALITY The term poly-criminality or multi-criminality, when applied to serious and organized crime, refers to crimes that are usually multidisciplinary, representing a hybrid of physical and cyber-criminal activities and often taking place across international borders. This trend already existed before COVID-19 but became even more pronounced in the wake of the pandemic. Just as COVID-19 forced businesses to pivot quickly, organized crime groups were forced to expand their activities in ways that did not involve crossing physical borders or, in some cases, going out in public at all. Reports indicate that since COVID-19, for instance, PCC and other Latin American OCGs have expanded into cybercrime. 29 As mentioned above, the move into cybercrime for a mainstream OCG no longer necessarily requires advanced technical expertise due to the expansion of such dark web offerings as Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) and the entire field of Crime as a Service. This should not be taken to mean that COVID has steered OCGs away from their original physical activities. Unfortunately, according to UNODC, it is anticipated that COVID-19 will actually create an uptick in human trafficking, for example, due to the resulting economic crisis, putting millions of men, women, and children at greater risk for exploitation. 30 Instead of replacing their original criminal activities, OCGs see this forced diversification of serious and organized crime as a way of building resilience and eliminating risk wherever possible. In other words, they are running their organizations more and more as large enterprise-scale businesses and adopting technological solutions, just as all smart enterprises do. As the UK-based defense and security think tank RUSI explains, “Where law enforcement agencies see a focus on firearms, drugs or tobacco smuggling, OCGs simply see a business opportunity. As highlighted by the Italian-based research center Transcrime, diversification of activity allows them to expand the economies of scale among illicit markets, reduce operational costs and, ultimately, increase their profit margins.” 31 The RUSI report highlights this shift in OCGs’ operating model as a challenge for law enforcement. When an organization is spread out across continents and operates in drug trafficking, environmental crime, money laundering, and cybercrime, it’s not enough just to gather one type of information. Agencies and organizations fighting serious and organized crime must often adopt multiple methodologies to detect and disrupt these activities. This demands flexibility along with solutions that can expand and scale to meet the demands of today’s law enforcement - just to stay a step ahead. 12