The third SOCTA was developed by a working group of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia using a methodology that has been harmonized with Europol’s.

The Assessment is based on a detailed analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from the internal sources of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia as well as from external sources. Internal sources refer to operational data and intelligence, criminal reports, data from questionnaires completed by the organizational units of the criminal and border police, statistics pertaining to different parameters, etc. External data refer to information and data received from open sources, state authorities, educational and research institutions, private sector, civil society organizations, professional associations, media, etc. Documents and reports of relevant international organizations (Europol, Interpol, UNODC, FRONTEX, SELEC, EMCDDA. etc.) and foreign police forces were used.

The goal of the document is to analyze and assess the state of serious and organized crime – according to the given priority areas – as well as to analyze and assess the relative threat from organized crime groups in Serbia. Expected future trends are provided for each of the given crime areas.

During the preparation, data on Serbia in the period between 2019 and 2022 were collected and analyzed. In certain segments, statistics for earlier periods were used for the purpose of making a comparative analysis.

Unlike previous assessments, this one pays special attention to cultural goods crime, taking into account the exhibited and potential dangers of this type of crime, as well as its specific consequences.

The analysis results will serve as the basis for the determination of strategic priorities, for which the action plan will envision specific activities on which the Ministry of Interior will focus its work in the next four years.

This document was prepared in two versions: public and classified. The latter contains a presentation of activities of all recorded OCGs and should also serve as the basis for undertaking specific preventive, intelligence and operational activities. Organized crime groups (OCGs) were analyzed based on internationally recognized methods, while the SLEIPNIR model was used for their ranking.