Review

It is argued that operative-search tactics are an effective tool for combating crimes, which is based on the generalization of the scientific provisions of the theory of operative-search activity and many years of experience in the work of operational units of different generations. At the same time, in the conditions of the rapid development of organized crime and the emergence of its new forms, the theory and practice of operational and search tactics need a qualitative update, which determines the relevance of this study. The purpose of the article is an attempt to characterize (single out) the main problems and determine the priority directions for improving operative and investigative tactics in combating organized crime. In the conditions of a change in the paradigm of criminal proceedings, the legal status of its participants, forms of pre-trial investigation and justice in general, the use of purely «traditional» tactical methods of detecting and documenting the most dangerous manifestations of organized and professional crime is insufficient. The level and quality of functioning of criminal police units under modern conditions, according to the interviewed practitioners, among other things, are marked by: the transition from «forceful» methods of committing crimes to «intellectual» ones with the use by criminal groups of modern achievements of science and technology (78 %); concealment of the activities of organized groups and criminal organizations by corrupt officials of various branches of government (72 %); the spread of ties of organized criminal activity at the interregional and international levels (69 %) and other objective factors. It was established that the underestimation of the problems of operative-search tactics or their ignoring in practice leads to the leveling of the implementation of offensiveness as one of the most important special principles of operative-search activities (confirmed by 80 % of respondents). It is emphasized that a necessary (optimal) condition for increasing the effectiveness of combating organized crime and, in general, solving the tasks of criminal proceedings (Article 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine) and the tasks of operational and investigative activities (Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine «On Operational and Investigative Activities») is a combination of powers of the investigator and operational worker. It is emphasized that the combination of procedural and operative investigative functions is characteristic of countries with the Anglo-Saxon (Anglo-American) legal system. The conclusion was formulated that objectively the problem of improving operational-investigative tactics in combating organized crime requires urgent consideration of a whole complex of legal, personnel, organizational and scientific-methodical areas of operational-investigative activity.