SOCA – Get Organised

Mon, 11 May 2009 Courtesy of: Una Carney, Police Oracle

HMIC published a thematic report in April which triggered the Prime Minister to instruct his strategy unit to investigate the ways serious organised crime is dealt with by SOCA and other agencies.

HMIC found that although more is known about organised criminality- this "increased knowledge has highlighted the need for a more effective response by the police and other agencies." It also concluded that there have not been enough convictions of serious organised crime cases in the past year. SOCA only achieved five more convictions between 2007 -2008 than it delivered in 2006 -2007.

It is also clear from the report that the scale of the threat of organised crime is far more extensive than originally perceived with over 2800 organised crime groups believed to be operating in England and Wales.

The PM's strategy unit is currently investigating the need for collaboration and whether there is a need for a national strategy to ensure the best choices for interventions are made and resources made available.

The Cabinet Office told Police Oracle that the investigation is not specifically about the performance of SOCA (despite recent media coverage implying it was) – it is a review on how serious organised crime is dealt with by all agencies involved.

 "This is a review of the Government's overall response to serious organised crime.  It is not a review of the performance of a single agency. We will be looking at whether the response to serious organised crime could be improved through better coordination between forces."

HMIC's report also revealed that more needs to be done on asset recovery and enforcement.

Doomed from the beginningÂ…

David Ruffley, Shadow Policing Minister believes SOCA and the Government's plan to tackle serious organised crime was doomed from the start. "David Blunkett did not do any favours from the beginning by over-spinning SOCA as a British FBI. It never had the resources to deliver the enforcement capabilities that everyone is moaning about at the moment."

A senior SOCA source echoed some of Mr. Ruffley's points saying most officers believe the aims and initiatives from the outset for SOCA were right but practicalities were overlooked.

"A silo nature has evolved as a result from poor planning and under funding from the beginning. Three distinct separate departments have emerged due to cultural clashes which have arisen from different background training, styles and expertise." The source also blamed lack of direction from Government and lack of leadership from top level management for low morale within SOCA.

HMIC found that "the national response to organised crime overall is blighted by the lack of a unifying strategic direction, inadequate covert capacity and underinvestment in intelligence gathering, analysis and proactive capability." The strategy unit will be looking closely at where the weak spots are and more importantly how they can be put right.

David Ruffley MP expressed the need for resilience issues and retention of experienced staff to be examined closely.

"SOCA is losing personnel and there is a gap on clamping down on serious organised crime. We need to look at the reasons for this. The officers I speak to say there is too much focus on intelligence. My personal view is that we can do a lot more to encourage collaboration and we need a more joined up approach."

Low moraleÂ…

The SOCA source said that officers feel incredibly undervalued and that is why they bleed back to forces. "We lack direction. People don't have a clue what direction SOCA is going in. From the top down the message is to 'reduce the impact' but what does that even mean?"

The source added; "We have lost sight of why we are there or what we joined up for. People feel they have no purpose. The majority of us believe the original concept and idea of using intervention as well as enforcement was the right one but we need the freedom to be able to use these measures. Elements of the Human Rights Act make it difficult to pursue intervention methods such as the freezing of assets, passports etc. We need to revisit this idea in order to clamp down on serious organised criminals"

The method of direct recruitment needs to be looked at too according to the source:

"Direct recruitment means that we do not have the skills and experience to get the results we want in court. Police officers have valuable knowledge and experience which is embedded in them the minute they start walking the streets and dealing with low-level crime. Likewise customs officers and other experts develop into skilled investigators. Most of our recruits come straight from training school to deal with the level two and three criminals. When cases get to court these new officers are faced with some of the most senior and experienced defence counsels in the country"

The review by the strategy unit will be released mid summer and it will look at ways to "effectively address new and emerging threats."  Police Oracle will keep you updated on the outcomes.  SOCA's has issued a statement saying they welcome the review and is assisting in every way it can.