SOCA must widen its crime net

The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) needs to focus on crimes that are not being tackled by forces and which currently fall below its radar, its Director General Bill Hughes said this week.

In an exclusive interview with Police Professional, (page 15), Mr Hughes admitted there were “some areas where the intelligence picture is not being picked up because it is just bigger than a force but falling below SOCA’s radar”.

Mr Hughes said: “We are now starting to see with ACPOS in Scotland and PSNI as well, a much closer and better thread from the source to the streets and who is best placed to take them out. That’s the work we need to progress.”

He continued: “That is when the country will start to see a real significant improvement. Now it is time to turn on the heat on delivery against serious and organised crime that sits behind lots of acquistive crime and what looks like social disorder but is actually generated by what serious and organised criminals are doing.”

Mr Hughes was speaking following the release of the organisation’s second annual report. The report said that 2007/8 had been a successful year and that the agency had taken out more Class A drugs – almost 90 tonnes. It also focused on precursor chemicals, particularly in Afghanistan and Columbia. The chemicals seized in Columbia alone would have been used to produce 190 tonnes of cocaine.

He rejects suggestions in an article in The Times that the agency had not been effective in tackling the top echelon of criminals, has a top heavy management structure and that the agency has failed to produce a strategic threat assessment.

Mr Hughes also spoke about the internal challenges the organisation faces including recruitment.

This year it will need to recruit to replace the five per cent turnover – around 280 people per year – just to stand still.