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UK: National Crime Squad finally launched

01 March 1998

The creation of a National Crime Squad (NCS) has been planned since the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) was set up in April 1992. It was at the Conservative Party Conference in 1995 that the Prime Minister, John Major, announced that the NCS was to be set up and it was included in the Police Bill of 1996 - this became law by agreement between the frontbenches just before the election in May 1997.

The NCS will have 1,450 officers, 250 of which will be based at the London HQ. The other 1,200, based at 44 locations, will be drawn from the existing six Regional Crime Squads in England and Wales (which will be abolished). The NCIS, which is the EU's UK contact point, will work with the NCS to tackle crime in Europe and internationally. It became operational on 1 April 1998.

NCS's Director-General Roy Penrose, told Police Review that one of the main problem they faced was that of jurisdiction - apparently a German police officer is serving eight years imprisonment in Poland after the German authorities failed to ask for permission to operate across the border. Under a long-standing practice officers have to prepare a Commission Rogetoire with the necessary powers under UK law and of the requested country plus details of the case. The request is then forwarded by the Foreign Office to the presiding magistrate in the requested country who may, in turn, seek clarification. "In my view, all this needs to be swept aside", said Mr Penrose, "if the community as a whole is to have any real chance of fighting international crime with an international force."

Apparently one of the problem for EU police forces is their inability to infiltrate and get intelligence from migrant groups because they are comments Police Review "ill-equipped to penetrate ethnically-based groups because of the limited ethnic mix in their ranks."

See Statewatch, vol 2 no 2, vol 4 no 3, vol 6 nos 2, 4 & 5; Police Review, 27.2.98 & 3.4.98.