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The Herald, UK
28 June 2009

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Strathclyde Police, UK

UK: Police to crack down on co

Advice includes avoiding putting personal information on personal networking sites such as Bebo or Facebook, cutting ties with old friends with criminal connections and avoiding vulnerabilities such as getting into debt.

The document and other training materials are also to be used by the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan and the other seven forces.

Strathclyde, Scotland's largest force, is receiving weekly reports of attempts to corrupt officers in ways reminiscent of the Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs.

Last year some 15 Strathclyde officers and staff members were reported to the procurator-fiscal for 77 different charges relating to corruption.

Of the 340 allegations last year, 60% relate to unauthorised disclosure and criminal association, 7.5% related to substance misuse or drugs, 6% were to do with corruption or perverting the course of justice, 1% to serious crime, 1% to dishonesty and 24.5% are self-referrals.

Officers said that these figures include malicious complaints and that the vast majority do not merit further investigation.

The move to openly publicise the new unit is an unprecedented departure from the traditional secrecy shrouding internal police investigations.

Neil Richardson, deputy chief constable of Strathclyde Police, said: "It is an emerging picture and that is why we are trying to address it as openly as we can by taking this forward. It is something we don't normally talk about internally, let alone externally, but it is really important to get the message out that this is in the best interests of the public and the force.

"On a weekly basis we have information reaching our ears about attempts by others to inappropriately secure information or the services of people within the organisation. It is a significant scale and threat. The fact that we know about that is reassuring.

"In the same way that we would ask the public for assistance in being aware of what is happening around them, we are asking our people to come forward."

The recent national mapping exercise across Scotland found there are 367 serious organised crime networks involving 4000 individuals, which drains �2.6bn of dirty money from the economy each year.

Mr Richardson warned that such networks are increasingly trying to buy up new officers, partly as a result of the increasing numbers of new, young recruits going into the service.

"Their tactics have changed and this is an emerging threat at a level we haven't had before," he said. "The figures tend to suggest that this is something which they are trying to use more and more to get someone on the inside. We want these individuals to know that we know what they are doing.

"There are certain lifestyle choices people are private about, but that also has a vulnerability associated with it. It is about knowing how you protect yourself in those circumstances. These organised crime groups are entrepreneurs and will adapt to changes, so as we tighten down on money laundering etc and make it harder for them to operate, they will respond by finding ways in which to progress their business.

"What better way for them to get information about their enemy than to infiltrate that enemy. If they can either get someone to act in their interests then that is a major asset for them. We need to prevent that from happening."

Strathclyde says only a tiny proportion of officers are involved and that of the total number of allegations, only 25% merit extended investigation. Of the almost 11,000 staff and officers working for the force, just 0.8% were looked at in relation to this last year.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Gall, Head of the Counter Corruption Unit, said most of their work revolves around preventative education. He highlighted the fact that organised crime groups have attempted to exploit the recent increase in recruitment to and retirement from the force and that they are willing to make significant long term investment in the "placing" individuals within the organisation.

"This is indicative of the level of money they are trying to protect," he said.

"We are committed to protecting the integrity of the force and preventing the exploitation of our colleagues by criminals.

"Officers from the unit have spoken to more than 3,000 force employees so far, explaining what the unit is doing, while telling them how to protect themselves from criminals and spot the warning signs of police corruption. We get a lot of self-referrals.

"We have taken this national now and we co-ordinate it for the whole of Scotland. This is a national problem."

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Article sourced from

The Herald, UK28 June 2009

UK: Police to crack down on co

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The Herald, UK
28 June 2009