criminal intelligence operation
as defined in Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA of 18 December 2006 on simplifying the…, Article 2, point (c) (Definitions)
a procedural stage, not yet having reached the stage of a criminal investigation, within which a competent law enforcement authority is entitled by national law to collect, process and analyse information about crime or criminal activities with a view to establishing whether concrete criminal acts have been committed or may be committed in the future;