Organized crime represents a significant risk to our community stemming from a group’s organized approach to and application of illegal activities. These groups operate outside of legal business practices in an attempt to keep their operations hidden from the police to maximize their profits. Because of their involvement in criminal enterprise, they are not bound by the rules of law that keep our communities safe.

The most effective response the police have to organized crime is through a focused approach to the collection of information, the timely analysis of the information in order to convert it to intelligence, and strategically focused enforcement activities based on the intelligence.

Organized crime can come in many forms:

• Gangs and gang-related violence is a continuous concern for the citizens of Edmonton.
• Drugs present a significant danger and include risks from drug use, trafficking and manufacturing.
• Hate and bias motivated occurrences can have catastrophic and debilitating effects on its victims. It instils fear not only in the victim, but the victim's family and community.
• Weapons are a big part of criminal activity. To combat this issue EPS participates in National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST), a federally sponsored program designed to combat weapons smuggling and trafficking.
• Financial crimes are more than just someone taking your credit card number. Economic crimes include cyber fraud, identity fraud, mass market fraud, and debit and credit card fraud.