The long arm of the law is failing to reach the most dangerous organised crime gangs, Britain's most senior police officer has warned.
Sir Paul Stephenson said sophisticated gangsters of all kinds are using cutting-edge technology to outwit a half-hearted police response.
The Scotland Yard boss said efforts to tackle organised criminals have been uncoordinated and inadequate for many years.
He revealed police are actively targeting a little more than one in 10 (11%) of some 6,000 crime gangs who have 38,000 members and cost the economy more than £40 billion annually.
Sir Paul called on the Government to set a clear national strategy for tackling organised crime and said police should copy the template set by counter-terrorism work to bring down networks.
Speaking at the annual John Harris Memorial Lecture, in central London, he said the popular view is that the "long arm of the law" will catch up with persistent lawbreakers in the end.
Sir Paul said: "Regrettably, in recent times, some criminals are learning that the reach of criminal justice does not always extend that far and in many ways does not include them and will often be restricted by artificial and self-imposed police boundaries.
"They have learnt that if they become sufficiently organised and sophisticated - and by definition they often are - then our reach is no greater than our ambition, and our ambition has been less than it should have been in recent years."
Police work to tackle top crime barons profiting from drug smuggling, people trafficking, massive financial fraud and counterfeiting has been repeatedly questioned in recent years.
Sir Paul said work was inadequate in a review commissioned in 2003 and Sir Denis O'Connor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, followed up in 2005 with a report that recommended merging some forces to bridge the gap.
