Shutting down criminal business

The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has been criticised for a lack of speed in getting established and for not providing the same response its precursors used to do. Director General Bill Hughes refutes that it is ineffective but admits to still learning the business of being SOCA. We spoke to him about developments so far.

The Government’s response to tackling drug barons and major criminals was to create the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), one year old in April – not a customs, police or immigration service or even a combination of those.

The agency was recently criticised by two of its own staff in anonymous television interviews with Channel 4 for failing to take on many of the referrals it is passed by Customs leaving many officers conducting administrative rather than operational roles. The Police Federation has also said former police officers are jumping ship and returning to forces. Almost a year since its high profile launch, was morale an issue and is the impression given by the TV interviews a true reflection of the organisation?

Not according to Mr Hughes. “I do not recognise this at all. The Channel 4 item was just an aberration as far as I am concerned; people who really ought to know better saying something that was an issue a long time ago, an issue privately to people who came from one pre-cursor agency.”

Mr Hughes also claims that many people had misconceptions of the role the agency would play once established. These were based on a lack of knowledge of what was in the Serious and Organised Crime and Police (SOCaP) Act or because some people would like the agency to go in a different direction.

The agency is operationally fit, he said, but admitted it was still finding its feet.

“Ten months into a new organisation, we are still arresting people, running over 250 live operations at any one time across the whole of the UK and with international partners.

“You will have seen that a high profile legacy case from the National Crime Squad convicted Terry Adams after SOCA had taken it over together with assistance from the security services. Our conviction rate in the courts is still running at over 94 per cent.

“The quality of work we are bringing to court, together with the CPS and RCPO is high. We have been inspected by HMIC and, unusually, the HMIC has circulated that to chief constables, they have pointed to more work needed in some areas but overall SOCA’s health is good.”

Mr Hughes said a staff survey had recently been conducted and would receive more importance by managers than reports in the media. That survey did include issues of officers not being used enough, issues being dealt with such as the agency’s tasking and coordinating mechanism is up and running, the complexities of which come from the level of operations. “All of our operations start from an intelligence platform; an assessment, a very clear project approach with outcome focus. We are not just chasing after the low-hanging fruit, we are going after the serious end of business,” said Mr Hughes.

“The staff survey is much more important; that is what we want to act upon. There are some areas in there where we clearly, as with all new agencies, we have not yet got it right. Or there are things that in the beginning we thought were right but have learnt they do not work or there are better ways of doing it. In any organisation of 4,500 people, you will always get one or two disaffected people. Like any dynamic organisation, you change things and move on.”

SOCA is not just a National Crime Squad, Mark 2, said Mr Hughes. Nor is it predominantly a police-staffed organisation. The mix of employees came from the pre-cursor agencies with only one quarter from the police. Those ratios remain the same.

“We have investigative powers and are able to do things that the police and customs can’t. It is a law enforcement agency, it is not a cops dominated organisation. Where the previous police organisation