A powerful new National Crime Agency will lead the UK’s fight against serious and organised crime, strengthen policing at the border and make sure local police are linked up to work nationally and overseas.
Organised crimes such as child abuse, drug and people smuggling, illegal immigration, cyber crime and fraud cost the public up to GB pound 40 billion each year; and impact on people’s everyday lives. Home Secretary Theresa May is determined to take the fight to the criminals.
The all-new National Crime Agency will give a national overview of organised crime for the very first time, and allow crime-fighting teams to work together and get to grips with the scale and complexity of the issue.
A new intelligence centre at the heart of the National Crime Agency will build an overall picture of the threats, harms and risks to the UK from organised criminals. This information will then be used to prioritise resources and support the work of the police service and law enforcement agencies on the ground.
Powerful new body for tackling criminality
Home Secretary Theresa May explained: “The impact of serious and organised crime is felt across the UK in the everyday lives of people and neighbourhoods. For too long we have lacked a strong, collaborative national response in the fight for criminal justice, with a fragmented approach to policy, prevention and investigation. It’s time for a fresh start.”
May continued: “By creating a powerful new body of operational crime fighters in the shape of the National Crime Agency, we will actively confront the serious and organised criminality that threatens the safety and security of the UK. This is a very powerful new organisation. It significantly enhances our ability to deal with organised crime. Organised crime costs this country up to GB pound 40 billion a year. It affects people’s streets and neighbourhoods. The drugs that are traded on the street corner, women being trafficked into prostitution and many other issues affect people, towns and cities across the country.”
In conclusion, the Home Secretary stated: “The National Crime Agency will work in partnership with the police, law enforcement agencies, businesses and the public to ensure those who commit serious and organised crime are tracked down, pursued and brought to justice, and that their ill-gotten gains are stripped away.”
Four distinct crime teams
The National Crime Agency will answer directly to the Home Secretary and will be made up of four distinct crime teams – Organised Crime, Border Policing, Economic Crime and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.
It will employ investigators, enforcement officers, intelligence analysts and technical, financial and operational specialists.
Trained officers will have police, customs and immigration powers and use the latest technology and tools to tackle criminal activity.
ACPO lead on crime chief constable Jon Murphy said: “The National Crime Agency offers an opportunity to raise our game against some of the most harmful and dangerous individuals in the UK.”
He continued: “Organised crime has international and national dimensions, but the harm it causes is played out in local communities and streets, in the form of drug-related crime, gun crime, robbery, people trafficking and much more. Good neighbourhood policing provides eyes and ears on the streets and, along with high-tech methods of policing, is just as important in providing the intelligence that police need to get to grips with serious and organised crime. This is why the fight against these threats must engage law enforcement collectively and collaboratively at every level.”
Murphy added: “To do that, it will be critical that a clearly-focused crime fighting agency, with a senior chief constable at its head, can forge the collaborative relationships with local and regional policing that it will need to be effective. Through ACPO work mapping organised crime activity, for the first time we now have a joined-up detailed picture of the threat, risk and harm of serious and organised crime across the country. What we want is for each and every police officer to know exactly what’s required of them in order to better protect the public from this threat.”
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