Criminal intelligence is information gathered, collated and disseminated by law enforcement agencies concerning types of crime and particular criminals and criminal groups. It is particularly useful when dealing with organized crime. Criminal intelligence may be gathered by using surveillance, informants, interrogation, research, or may be just picked up on the street by individual police officers. Larger law enforcement agencies often have a department which specifically deals with criminal intelligence, which is usually collated on computer systems. The information usually collected and sorted into different types of intelligence. For example, tactical intelligence is used by those units needing the information to make arrests, but other information is so strategic that it only paints a picture after much analysis and confirmation. The information which may be accessible to any officer who needs the information, but usually is disseminated on a need to know basis. Organized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. ... Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior. ... An Informant is someone who provides information to law enforcement agencies. ... Interrogation is the method of interviewing a source used by police and military personnel to obtain information that the source would not otherwise willingly disclose. ... Research is an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry in order to discover, interpret and/or revise facts. ... A drawing of the everyday computer. ...

See Also

Police Intelligence (UK) Police Intelligence is a section of the various British Police forces. ...