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Search for press releasesStripped of Cash - The Proceeds of Crime Act Reaps Rewards
14 June 2006
Police, customs officers and public agencies seized a record £96 million from criminals last financial year, 2005-2006, Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker announced today.
Since the Proceeds of Crime Act came into effect in 2003, some £234 million has been seized and police continue to reap the rewards. This year police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will have a share of £26 million of total assets seized last year to fight crime.
Mr Coaker, Home Office Minister for Financial Crime, said:
“This is a tremendous achievement and I am grateful to the police and their partners for their hard work. Confiscating criminal assets is an integral part of our drive to cut crime and deliver justice.
“The sum announced today vindicates the powers we introduced three years ago under the Proceeds of Crime Act. We have taken almost £250 million from criminals in the last three years. A share of that sum has gone back into frontline policing, including financial investigation.
“This is a double-win for the police. The money seized from criminals hampers illegal activity while a large part of it is ploughed back into police operations. Police will be able to spend this money on their local priorities.”
Also announced today is a new incentive scheme for 2006-07 that will allow recovery agencies to retain half of what they recover. This is in order to encourage agencies to recover more criminal assets.
Further, for the first time the Serious Organised Crime Agency will get a share of recovered criminal assets. It will receive £4.1 million of the £26 million available thanks to the efforts of one of its precursor agencies, the National Crime Squad.
Ken Jones, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said:
“The seizure of criminals’ ill-gotten gains on this scale must be heartening to law abiding communities everywhere. The fact that cash is then ploughed back into local policing is equally reassuring. We are getting better at seizing stolen assets which is also bad news for criminals.”
Notes to Editors
- A total of £96 million was recovered in the financial year 2005-06, £84 million in 2004-05 and £54.5 million in 2003-04.
- The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) is issuing its annual report today. Please contact the ARA press office on 020 7029 5795 for further information.
- Previously police forces received one-third of the receipts recovered above £40 million during the financial year 2004-05. This year they will receive 50 per cent.
- Agencies involved in asset recovery include HM Revenue and Customs, Police forces, Serious Organised Crime Agency, Crown Prosecution Service, Assets Recovery Agency, HM Courts Service, Office of Criminal Justice Reform and the Home Office.
- Below is a regional breakdown of the incentive payments to the 43 police forces. Police incentivisation scheme allocations based on performance from 01/04/05 to 31/03/06: £26 million available for distribution
Avon and Somerset Constabulary - £346,275
Bedfordshire Police - £61,878
British Transport Police - £70,890
Cambridgeshire Constabulary - £48,033
Cheshire Constabulary - £188,357
City of London Police - £349,163
Cleveland Police – £207,858
Cumbria Constabulary - £83,689
Derbyshire Constabulary - £75,185
Devon and Cornwall Constabulary - £200,287
Dorset Police - £221,302
Durham Constabulary - £229,703
Dyfed-Powys Police - £104,545
Essex Police - £148,333
Gloucestershire Constabulary - £84,246
Greater Manchester Police - £1,207,704
Gwent Police - £111,391
Hampshire Constabulary - £195,681
Hertfordshire Constabulary - £129,226
Humberside Police - £59,934
Kent Police - £290,317
Lancashire Constabulary - £1,050,921
Leicestershire Constabulary - £255,028
Lincolnshire Police - £340,685
Merseyside Police - £763,699
Metropolitan Police Service - £7,965,507
SOCA - £4,130,713
Norfolk Constabulary - £812,751
North Wales Police - £233,190
North Yorkshire Police - £94,031
Northamptonshire Police - £170,225
Northumbria Police - £172,066
Nottinghamshire Police - £108,501
Police Service of Northern Ireland - £160,994
South Wales Police - £1,175,168
South Yorkshire Police - £293,962
Staffordshire Police - £264,852
Suffolk Constabulary - £151,647
Surrey Police - £179,710
Sussex Police - £518,862
Thames Valley Police - £514,945
Warwickshire Police - £57,849
West Mercia Constabulary - £296,744
West Midlands Police - £811,569
West Yorkshire Police - £1,009,220
Wiltshire Constabulary - £53,166
TOTAL - £26,000,000
