The Government’s aim to fight serious crime more efficiently and effectively has been pushed forward with the creation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), announced by the Home Secretary amid a flurry of grand promises on 9 February, 2004. Behind the spin, however, is a radical raft of proposals designed to help SOCA offer more compelling evidence against organised criminals.
SOCA will bring together the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, HM Customs and Excise’s investigation and intelligence work on serious drug trafficking and the associated recovery of related criminal assets, and the Immigration Service’s work on organised immigration crime. The investigators will be backed up by specialist prosecution lawyers, answerable to the Attorney General.
