UK sets up new specialist unit to target international crime

The Joint International Crime Centre (JICC) will target the threat from organised criminal groups that operate across borders with “increasing levels of sophistication”.

It combines the current capabilities housed in the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) International Crime Bureau (UKICB) and policing’s International Crime Coordination Centre (ICCC) to provide a more efficient response to the growing threat from transnational criminality.

“While the JICC retains the best of both previous centres it is a new streamlined unit bringing together shared processes, teams, systems and data under one roof,” said Steve Rodhouse, Director General of Operations at the NCA, which hosts the JICC.

“It will improve how policing and the NCA tackles international criminality that impacts the UK.

“I am confident that it will make us more effective in protecting the public.”

consolidates and enhances the UK’s capabilities around international law enforcement cooperation and coordination.

According to the NCA, the JICC will drive, coordinate and support the response of UK policing and law enforcement to international crime and provides a multi-agency approach to meeting the increasing international demands of territorial policing.

The new unit will have around 300 officers, a third seconded from police forces, and governance will be jointly overseen by the NCA and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

It is integrated with the NCA’s specialist international capabilities, such as its international liaison officer (ILO) network – in which scores of internationally-based officers cover cases in more than 120 countries.

NPCC international lead, Deputy Chief Constable Pete Ayling, said: “Like all countries, the UK faces a growing threat from organised criminal groups that operate across borders with increasing levels of sophistication.

“The JICC brings together experts from across policing and the NCA to tackle international criminals and bear down on serious organised crime and dangerous offenders.

“The JICC will identify criminal threats emanating from abroad and build capability to tackle and prevent them. The UK is a safe place to live, work and prosper and this new specialist unit will ensure we remain at the cutting-edge of international law enforcement, creating a hostile place for those who would cause harm on our shores.”

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said: “Organised crime groups don’t recognise borders.

“If we want to crack down on the most dangerous organisations and offenders then we need to tackle them upstream, online and at source.

“The new JICC will do just that, taking a multi-agency approach to identify criminal threats coming from abroad and blunt their reach into the UK.”

Together with offender management, extradition and Interpol and Europol-related matters, the JICC will also cover services such as data management and analysis, information provision and exchange,  and outbound and inbound intelligence development and analysis.

In addition, it will also provide operational support in areas such as surveillance, judicial cooperation and search and locate work.