Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence network

Abstract Law enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide struggle to find effective ways to fight organized crime and reduce criminality. However, illegal networks operate outside the law and much of the data collected is classified. Therefore, little is known about the structure, topological we...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bruno Requião da Cunha, Sebastián Gonçalves
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2018-08-01
Series:Applied Network Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41109-018-0092-1
_version_ 1811269016092672000
author Bruno Requião da Cunha
Sebastián Gonçalves
author_facet Bruno Requião da Cunha
Sebastián Gonçalves
author_sort Bruno Requião da Cunha
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Law enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide struggle to find effective ways to fight organized crime and reduce criminality. However, illegal networks operate outside the law and much of the data collected is classified. Therefore, little is known about the structure, topological weaknesses, and control of criminal networks. We fill this gap by presenting a unique criminal intelligence network built directly by the Brazilian Federal Police for intelligence and investigative purposes. We study its structure, its response to different attack strategies, and its structural controllability. Surprisingly, the network composed of individuals involved in multiple crimes of federal jurisdiction in Brazil has a giant component enclosing more than half of all its edges. We focus on the largest connected cluster of this network and show it has many social network features, such as small-worldness and heavy-tail degree distribution. However, it is less dense and less efficient than typical social networks. The giant component also shows a high degree cutoff that is associated with the lack of trust among individuals belonging to clandestine networks. The giant component of the network is also highly modular (Q=0.96) and thence fragile to module-based attacks. The targets in such attacks, i.e. the nodes connecting distinct communities, may be interpreted as individuals with bridging clandestine activities such as accountants, lawyers, or money changers. The network can be disrupted by the removal of approximately 2% of either its nodes or edges, the negligible difference between both approaches being due to low graph density. Finally, we show that 20% of driver nodes can control dynamic variables acting on the whole network, suggesting that non-repressive strategies such as access to basic education or sanitation can be effective in reducing criminality by changing the perception of driver individuals to norm compliance.
first_indexed 2024-04-12T21:33:34Z
format Article
id doaj.art-50dce1239df04de29089ded0024c0862
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2364-8228
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-12T21:33:34Z
publishDate 2018-08-01
publisher SpringerOpen
record_format Article
series Applied Network Science
spelling doaj.art-50dce1239df04de29089ded0024c08622022-12-22T03:15:58ZengSpringerOpenApplied Network Science2364-82282018-08-013112010.1007/s41109-018-0092-1Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence networkBruno Requião da Cunha0Sebastián Gonçalves1Superintendência da Polícia Federal no Rio Grande do SulInstituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulAbstract Law enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide struggle to find effective ways to fight organized crime and reduce criminality. However, illegal networks operate outside the law and much of the data collected is classified. Therefore, little is known about the structure, topological weaknesses, and control of criminal networks. We fill this gap by presenting a unique criminal intelligence network built directly by the Brazilian Federal Police for intelligence and investigative purposes. We study its structure, its response to different attack strategies, and its structural controllability. Surprisingly, the network composed of individuals involved in multiple crimes of federal jurisdiction in Brazil has a giant component enclosing more than half of all its edges. We focus on the largest connected cluster of this network and show it has many social network features, such as small-worldness and heavy-tail degree distribution. However, it is less dense and less efficient than typical social networks. The giant component also shows a high degree cutoff that is associated with the lack of trust among individuals belonging to clandestine networks. The giant component of the network is also highly modular (Q=0.96) and thence fragile to module-based attacks. The targets in such attacks, i.e. the nodes connecting distinct communities, may be interpreted as individuals with bridging clandestine activities such as accountants, lawyers, or money changers. The network can be disrupted by the removal of approximately 2% of either its nodes or edges, the negligible difference between both approaches being due to low graph density. Finally, we show that 20% of driver nodes can control dynamic variables acting on the whole network, suggesting that non-repressive strategies such as access to basic education or sanitation can be effective in reducing criminality by changing the perception of driver individuals to norm compliance.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41109-018-0092-1Criminal networksModular networksNetwrok robustnessStructural controllability
spellingShingle Bruno Requião da Cunha
Sebastián Gonçalves
Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence network
Applied Network Science
Criminal networks
Modular networks
Netwrok robustness
Structural controllability
title Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence network
title_full Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence network
title_fullStr Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence network
title_full_unstemmed Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence network
title_short Topology, robustness, and structural controllability of the Brazilian Federal Police criminal intelligence network
title_sort topology robustness and structural controllability of the brazilian federal police criminal intelligence network
topic Criminal networks
Modular networks
Netwrok robustness
Structural controllability
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41109-018-0092-1
work_keys_str_mv AT brunorequiaodacunha topologyrobustnessandstructuralcontrollabilityofthebrazilianfederalpolicecriminalintelligencenetwork
AT sebastiangoncalves topologyrobustnessandstructuralcontrollabilityofthebrazilianfederalpolicecriminalintelligencenetwork