November 25, 2004: Clamping Down On Organised Crime And New Police Powers

A radical overhaul of the way law enforcement agencies combat organised crime, and modernisation of police powers, was set out yesterday as the Home Office published the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill.

The proposals will see the creation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and new powers to secure more convictions of crime bosses as well as additional powers for community support officers (CSOs). SOCA will bring together the responsibilities which currently fall to the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the National Crime Squad, Home Office responsibilities for organised immigration crime and the investigation and intelligence responsibilities of HM Customs and Excise in tackling serious drug trafficking and recovering related criminal assets. It will be centrally funded.

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
• Giving judges a new power to impose strict financial reporting requirements post sentence

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
• Improving the use of forensic material, for example by allowing roadside fingerprinting and the taking of footwear impressions

Also in the Bill are plans to extend the harassment laws aimed at animal rights activists 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
• allowing the police to impose conditions on any person protesting outside Parliament, to protect the smooth running of Government.

The white paper One Step Ahead: A 21st Century Strategy to Defeat Organised Criminals can be downloaded here.