What the Government calls a radical overhaul of the way law enforcement agencies combat organised crime, and modernisation of police powers, was set out by the Home Office as the Government published the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill.
The proposals will see the creation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), new powers to secure more convictions of crime bosses, and more powers for community support officers (CSOs).
Reforms to police powers of arrest and the new measures aim to help crack organised criminals,, the authorities claim.
What they say
The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said: “Organised crime affects each and every one of us. It reaches down through every community, destroying lives through drugs, people smuggling and prostitution. The burglar who steals to feed his drug habit, the billions lost to the country through tax fraud and the terrorist gangs financing their operations through credit card fraud – organised crime gangs are costing this country at least £20 billion a year and must be stopped. This bill represents the fulfillment of a lot of hard work. The new agency will add value to the work of the existing agencies and link intelligence, investigation and intervention in new ways.”
Measures to tackle organised crime include: extending the Serious Fraud Office style powers that enable individuals to be compelled to answer questions in interview and produce documents on demand; making it more attractive for convicted offenders to help secure the convictions of other, more serious offenders, by putting Queen’s evidence on a statutory footing and offering sentence reductions where appropriate; and giving judges a new power to impose strict financial reporting requirements post sentence.
Home Office Minister, Caroline Flint, said: “Today we are publishing a radical programme of reforms aimed at tackling these serious, sophisticated and ruthless criminals. Difficult to disrupt and highly professional, organised crime bosses know how to exploit our legal safeguards and thwart attempts to crack their illicit businesses. That is why the Government is setting up the Serious Organised Crime Agency, with the purpose of reducing the harm caused by serious organised crime, by whatever means legally possible. Serious Organised Crime Agency will look to disrupt and thwart criminals going about their illegal activities. The agency will provide a specialised and relentless attack on organised crime, getting on the front foot, constraining, harassing and limiting criminals at every opportunity, until the UK simply becomes too hostile an environment for them to operate in. Every single person in the country will benefit from its work. By putting Queen’s evidence and witness protection on a statutory footing and increasing the incentives for convicted offenders to give evidence against more serious offenders, we are sending a clear message to organised criminals – we will do everything in our power to stop your criminal behaviour. We will give the authorities the power to monitor the financial affairs of serious acquisitive criminals after release, to ensure that criminals don’t walk straight out of prison and back into the world of organised crime.”
Sir Stephen Lander, Chair of SOCA, said: “This is one of the biggest changes in UK law enforcement since the 1960s. The Serious Organised Crime Agency presents a real opportunity to make a difference and tackle crimes that affect every man, woman and child in this country.”
The Bill also includes new police powers to help officers tackle crime and improve community safety, with additional powers for CSOs and more effective use of police support staff, including:
providing the police with the power of arrest for all offences; increasing the ability of police officers to apply for and execute warrants issued by the courts enabling multiple use and targeting of offenders with multiple addresses; releasing police officers for front-line duties by giving police staff greater powers, for example, to deal with traffic and tackle begging; limiting chief constables’ personal liability under health and safety law; and improving the use of forensic material, for example by allowing roadside fingerprinting and the taking of footwear impressions.
Additional CSO powers would include: a power to direct traffic; a power to deter begging; a power to search detained persons for dangerous articles or items that may be used to assist escape; a power to enforce certain licensing offences and to enter licensed premises; and free up police time by enabling civilian staff (including CSOs) access to data on drivers of vehicles for the prevention and detection of road traffic offences. Home Office Minister, Hazel Blears, said: “The chance of being a victim of crime is at its lowest for more than 20 years. We have 140,000 police officers – that’s more than ever before – being supported by more than 4,000 Community Support Officers, but we must not be complacent. It is imperative that the police and other investigative agencies have the powers they need to tackle crime. That is why we are proposing to give constables the power of arrest for all offences subject to a necessity test, reducing bureaucracy around application for and execution of warrants and enabling police to take photographs and fingerprints away from the police station. Officers can expect to be backed up by Community Support Officers and police staff with increased powers in certain, specialist areas. CSOs will be able to direct traffic, search detained people for items that could assist escape and enforce certain licensing offences. These powers will not only provide constables with vital support that will see frontline officers spending more time where they belong, on the frontline, but will also provide Community Support Officers and police staff with the powers they need to effectively tackle the anti-social behaviour and low level crimes that blight our communities. Along with the measures announced in the police reform white paper last week, these new powers will make a significant contribution to creating a modern and efficient police service, equipping both our local forces and national law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to fight crime effectively and keep our neighbourhoods safe.”
Also in the Bill are plans to extend the harassment laws to protect people from what the Government calls animal rights extremists and measures to prohibit people stirring up hatred against people because of their religious beliefs. They are: making it an offence to harass two or more people who are connected, for example, employees of the same company; giving the police the power to arrest a person protesting outside someone’s home if they are causing harassment, alarm or distress; providing the police with the power to direct a protester to leave the vicinity of a home and not return for up to three months; introducing an offence of incitement to religious hatred; and allowing the police to impose conditions on any person protesting outside Parliament, to protect the smooth running of Government.
