On March 15, 2018, Director LTG (ret.) Frederick Rudesheim and professors Celina Realuyo and Boris Saavedra of the Perry Center, participated along with several other speakers in the seminar “New Criminal Trends,” which was hosted by the Colombian National Police’s Postgraduate School (Escuela de Postgrados de PolicÃa – ESPOL) in Bogotá, Colombia.
Dr. Boris Saavedra started the seminar with a presentation about the unprecedented challenges posed by rapidly changing digital technology and cyberspace. During his presentation, he detailed several structural and geopolitical elements to be taken into consideration when developing policies and strategies to better govern the cyber domain and ensure the public is made less vulnerable to the threats associated with it.
Professor Celina Realuyo continued with a presentation about the nexus between transnational organized crime and terrorism. Professor Realuyo presented several case studies to demonstrate the convergence between terrorist groups and organized crime, including the FARC in Colombia and Sendero Luminoso in Peru. She identified and explained several factors that work as facilitators for these groups and recommended measures such as a legal framework for the role of security forces, greater institutional and interagency cooperation, and more training and technical assistance to better combat them.
The seminar was attended by more than 50 officers—including several foreign exchange officers—from the National Police’s Cyberspace Center, the Organized Crime Research Unit, the INTERPOL-OCN Office and the Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Extortion Unit.
