New approaches
SOCA uses whatever lawful methods have the maximum impact against organised criminals. We investigate wherever possible, and we also go much further. By using non-criminal justice tools and proceedings, we ensure that all organised criminals are within our reach and that once they are in our sights we keep them there. We’ve been pioneering new approaches since we started and we’re always seeking to extend them more widely.
Some examples of our new approaches
- Every SOCA investigation involves a financial investigation – we want to take criminals’ profits away from them if we can.
- We are making use of Serious Crime Prevention Orders and Financial Reporting Orders. This limits the opportunities for criminals to carry on their illegal activity after they’ve been convicted.
- We work with non-law enforcement partners and the private sector.
- We’re exploring the potential for greater data sharing and matching. This ensures we and our partners have the most complete intelligence picture possible to guide our activity.
The SOCA Compendium
SOCA’s new approaches are incorporated in a compendium of intervention capabilities, tools and techniques. This gives our investigators and other operational officers a very wide range of tactical options.
The Compendium contains a growing number of tools and techniques. Some of these are underpinned by statute, but others that we have developed, tested and proven to be effective. We’re sharing them with our partners in law enforcement and, where appropriate, with a broader audience. Together, we can help reduce harm in the UK.
Tools and techniques include:
- Alerts
An alert warns of specific or generic dangers and threats from serious organised criminals. Alerts are designed to give industry partners information to help protect their businesses better from organised crime – either by introducing preventative measures or taking remedial action. Alerts can be used in an operational context to get messages delivered to partner agencies and the community as part of our disruption activity. - Disqualification from directing a company
Courts can make a disqualification order at the point of sentencing against any person convicted of an indictable offence in connection with the promotion, formation, management or liquidation of a company, or with the receivership or management of a company’s property. The maximum duration for an order is 15 years and its purpose is to reduce re-offending. - Deportation
We can ask the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to deport foreign national criminals from the UK on the basis of convictions or because their presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good. - Exclusion
We can request the Home Secretary to use executive powers to exclude an individual from the UK on the grounds that their presence here would not be conducive to the public good. - Refusal or revocation of citizenship
We can put a case to the UKBA to request that an application for citizenship is refused or citizenship is removed from an individual. This renders them liable to be removed from the UK. - Serious Crime Prevention Orders
Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs) are civil orders to prevent or deter serious crime. Breach of an SCPO is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
SCPOs can be made against individuals, companies, partnerships or unincorporated associations. They prohibit, restrict, impose requirements or include other terms the Court considers appropriate.
Terms of an order can cover virtually any area of activity, but they must be reasonable and proportionate and must be preventative, rather than punitive. The order lasts for up to five years. The current list of SCPOs is available here - Travel Restriction Orders
A Travel Restriction Order (TRO) can be imposed on any offender convicted of a drug trafficking offence and sentenced to four years or more in prison, regardless of nationality. The aim of the order is to reduce re-offending through restricting the movements of convicted drug traffickers. UK passport holders (including those with dual nationality) may be required to surrender their passports to the court.
The TRO comes into effect upon the offender’s release from prison and its minimum length is two years. The penalty for breach of a TRO is up to five years’ imprisonment and/or a fine. The current list of TROs is available here - Financial Reporting Orders
Financial Reporting Orders (FROs) may be made by a court, on the application of a prosecutor, following a conviction for certain offences. They can require a convicted criminal to report their financial details at regular intervals. This can be for a period of up to 20 years for those sentenced to life, or a maximum of 15 years for other sentences. The current list of FROs is available here
- Use of licence conditions
We’re able to influence licence conditions imposed on offenders, from their release from prison until their sentence expires. This period can amount to half the sentence imposed upon them. The imposition of licence conditions can deter and frustrate offenders from committing further offences. If the offender breaks one or more of the conditions, such as by travelling abroad, they can be sent back to prison. - Revocation of pilots’ licences
We work to ensure that all pilots convicted of drug trafficking offences in SOCA operations lose their licence – for good. This is a powerful option in preventing re-offending. - Disqualification from driving
Courts can disqualify a person convicted of any offence from driving. A link to dangerous driving is not required, though significant use of a motor vehicle for committing or facilitating the offence is preferred. There’s no maximum period of disqualification.
Denying organised criminals the ability to drive can assist considerably in preventing them re-offending. - Cash seizure and forfeiture
Our officers are able to seize and seek forfeiture of cash upwards of £1,000, provided we can demonstrate, on the balance of probabilities, that it has been obtained through unlawful conduct, or that it is destined for use in unlawful conduct. - Restraint Orders
A Restraint Order has the effect of freezing property in order to preserve assets that may subsequently be the subject of a Confiscation Order. It prohibits an individual from any dealings with the property, whether or not they are the suspected offender. - Civil recovery and tax
Our financial investigators and lawyers work together to recover the proceeds of crime using civil legislation. If a house, money or any other valuable property is identified as having been financed by criminal activity, it may be recovered. We also use tax powers to recover funds from criminals who have made a profit or other gain from their crimes.
The High-Volume Operating Model
Knowing a lot about and dealing with a large number of criminals will be key to SOCA’s approach to serious organised crime over the next few years.
There are as many as 30,000 people on the streets of the UK, in prison and overseas, involved in organised crime. These numbers have been building up over the last 25 years or so as globalisation and the associated greater freedom in the movement of goods and people has opened up opportunities for criminal exploitation. For SOCA and our law enforcement partners, this is our greatest challenge.
Our High-Volume Operating Model has the potential to revolutionise the work of SOCA and our partners and to raise significantly the risk to organised criminals who target the UK.
The High-Volume Operating Model will allow us to take action against the tentacles of organised criminality that exist under the so-called ‘Mr. Bigs’ and where mounting an investigation is, for whatever reason, impractical. It will also help us increase the number of planned interventions against organised criminals.
This new approach will be supported by technology to securely store data on organised criminals and match this against other data held by us, or by government departments.
Knowing as much about these individuals as possible allows us to apply a whole range of planned interventions and tools against the large numbers involved in criminal activities.
It’s a SOCA initiative, but one that engages with law enforcement partners, such as the police service, HM Revenue and Customs and the UK Border Agency.
Being bold and innovative has always been our strength and the High-Volume Operating Model exemplifies this. It brings together expert analysis, semi-automated monitoring of all serious organised criminals and imaginative and ground-breaking interventions.
New approaches to fighting organised crime - find out more now
Serious organised crime review (1.92 MB PDF)
SOCA Annual Plan (1.12 MB PDF)
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