Study highlights that police ‘disruption’ of organised crime is a concept that is often claimed but rarely validated

24th April 2026Sarah Gibbons, Contributing Editor, Policing Insight

A study into the policing of organised crime in London by Open University Criminologist Dr Sarah Hutton suggests that while “disruption” has become a central metric in UK law enforcements efforts to tackle organised crime, it is a concept that is rarely measured or validated, resulting in a claim rather than proving a demonstrable reduction in criminality, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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Study highlights that police ‘disruption’ of organised crime is a concept that is often claimed but rarely validated

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