April 3, 2006: SOCA Arrives

A new crime-fighting agency will target the biggest criminals using a "sophisticated 21st century approach", according to Prime Minister Tony Blair today.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is a new law enforcement agency created to reduce the harm caused in the UK by serious organised crime. It will focus on those who make fortunes from drugs, human trafficking, major fraud and counterfeiting. The new agency merges the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and the National Crime Squad (NCS) with the investigative work of Customs on serious drug trafficking, and officers from the UK Immigration Service (UKIS) .

The Prime Minister said SOCA would take a "sophisticated, integrated approach" to tackle the "tyranny" of the most serious criminals. Anti-social behaviour and petty crime needed one form of policing, he stressed, organised crime needed another. Drug and people smuggling, fraud, money laundering and ID theft reaches into every neighbourhood, damages communities, and nets £20bn each year for those responsible - £300 for every person in the UK. According to Mr Blair:

"Crime damages people's liberty. Victims have to be paramount. We have to stop trying to fight 21st century crime with 20th century methods."

Home Secretary Charles Clarke commented:

"SOCA is a powerful new law enforcement organisation which will work across operational boundaries and will focus its resources on where the harms are the greatest."

SOCA brings with it four new powers - on Queen's Evidence, Financial Reporting Orders, Disclosure Notices and the creation of officers with combined powers. It will have a budget of more than £400 million a year. SOCA will have around 4000 investigators. The agency's chairman, Sir Stephen Lander, was once head of MI5, and its director-general, Bill Hughes, is the former head of the National Crime Squad. SOCA assumed its functions on Saturday 1 April 2006.

Prosecutors will now be able to strike deals with suspects within a statutory footing, offering either immunity from prosecution or reduction in sentence in return for co-operation. This will provide a strong incentive for those further down the 'food chain' to give evidence against the most powerful heads of organised criminal networks.

It is hoped this will lead to the arrest and imprisonment of more senior figures which in turn will help to make the UK a more difficult place to do business, and also help to breed uncertainty inside criminal organisations, whilst maintaining the essential checks and balances to prevent potential miscarriages of justice .

Under the old rules, criminals could continue with their businesses either in prison or once they got out because their finances were not transparent. On conviction, a court can decide to place an order on a criminal. This means they are obliged to report on their financial affairs including specified documents with each report. This allows the authorities to check the criminal has no illicit sources of income. Including false or misleading information is an offence resulting in imprisonment of up to a year or a fine or both. These orders can last up to 20 years.

Under the old system, those suspected of organised crime were entitled to remain silent, making it tricky to get sufficient evidence for cases, particularly in complex cases. The prosecutor will be able to authorise police or SOCA to serve a notice on a suspect that requires them to answer questions, provide information and produce documents. If they cannot produce the documents required, they may be obliged to say where they are. If a suspect fails to comply, they can be imprisoned for up to a year or fined or both. In effect this limits the right to silence - although information obtained in this way cannot be used in evidence in a criminal prosecution against the person who gives it.

Under the old rules, operations were complex and time-consuming because the different categories of officer were needed - for example, police officers could not deport people. Once officers are trained, they will now have a full set of powers. This will allow SOCA to deploy teams that will be far more flexible, and speed up the time to deal with suspects.