Fraud continues to be treated as a low-priority or victimless crime by police, according to an official inspectorate report. Too many victims still receive a poor service and are denied justice, it says.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services reviewed the police’s progress since its last fraud inspection in 2019. It found that ten of 16 recommendations have been implemented, with progress made on a further two and three still outstanding. One of the recommendations is no longer relevant. The inspectorate also gave five areas for improvement in 2019, only one of which has been dealt with fully.
HMICFRS said the City of London Police’s role as the national lead police force for fraud is clearer than it was in 2019, and there is now a three-year national policing strategy for tackling fraud. The inspectorate found that the fundamental problem is a disparity between the amount of work fraud creates for the police and the resources allocated to it. It also said that because funding is only confirmed a year at a time, and with relatively short notice, it makes it difficult to plan and invest for the long term.
Meanwhile, separately, the Home Office’s Beating Crime Plan published last month mentioned that the Action Fraud reporting line will be replaced.
Recommendations from the 2019 report yet to be implemented include:
– evaluating the effectiveness of fraud protection advice given to the public by police forces;
– identifying, evaluating and disseminating best practice advice on the police response to fraud; and
– police forces publishing their policies for responding to and investigating fraud to make it clear to victims what they can expect when they report a fraud.
Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said: “You are still more likely to be a victim of fraud than any other crime, but too few fraudsters are held to account. More than two years after our last fraud inspection, I am disappointed that not enough has changed.
“We have seen some pockets of good work which should be commended, and we have been impressed by the dedication of people at all levels of the police service to improving how fraud is dealt with. But overall, too many victims of fraud still receive a poor service from the police.
“The scale of fraud has not diminished – in fact it has increased during the pandemic – and it needs to become more of a priority for police forces. The police and other agencies should come together to prevent and protect the public from fraud, more officers should be working on it, and there should be more investigations into it. All this would lead to more victims receiving the service and the justice they are entitled to.”
For the 35-page inspection report visit https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publications/a-review-of-fraud-time-to-choose/.
The inspectorate has made three new recommendations: that the National Police Chiefs’ Council Coordinator for Economic Crime, National Crime Agency (NCA), National Economic Crime Centre and City of London Police should work together to set up an effective national tasking and co-ordination process. Earlier, the Beating Crime Plan proposed ‘an improved national fraud and cybercrime reporting system and increase intelligence capabilities in the NCA and the national security community’.
