Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Mr David Veness, Assistant Commissioner, Specialist Operations,
Metropolitan Police Service
In answer to the two supplementary questions
included in your letter dated 28 January 2002, I offer the following
responses:
What special skills and/or qualifications are
required for the investigation, disruption and prosecution of
paramilitary fundraising activity, and confiscation of the resulting
funds?
Required skills include:
— Broad and detailed understanding
of criminal and terrorist legislation including powers to access
"special procedure material" and "excluded material".
— Expert knowledge of disclosure issues.
— Developed ability to handle sensitive
intelligence simultaneously as potential evidence.
— Experience in conducting investigations
against paramilitary and organised crime targets.
— Ability to co-ordinate cross-border
and multi-agency enquiries to disrupt the fundraising activity
at the most effective level while maintaining the integrity of
the intelligence and sources, and the future evidential requirements.
— Motivation and resilience whilst
conducting the investigation with a creative approach to problem
solving.
— Ability to express and explain clearly
complex ideas to different audiences.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
The current Financial Investigator training
in England and Wales is being developed for the introduction of
the Proceeds of Crime Bill (POCB).
The POCB will create a new statutory role of
"accredited financial investigator", which will be fulfilled
specifically by civilians, or in the case of HMCE a non-sworn
officer. All powers contained in the POCB will be available to
Constables, sworn officers and accredited financial investigators.
There are distinct areas developing in the field
of financial investigation and the proposed modular training has
been designed to reflect this.
A foundation Financial Intelligence course consisting
of:
— Source handling and intelligence
dissemination
— Disclosure and Public Interest Immunity
issues
— ECHR considerations and risk assessments
— Accessing information by court orders
obtained under relevant legislation.
— Use of open source material.
Those who have completed this course will be
listed at NCIS as being accredited to seek information from the
financial community.
Accredited officers would then be able to complete
specialist courses dealing with:
— Cheque and credit card fraud
— Financial intelligence development
Are sufficient people with these skills available
to the police in its investigative work?
The numbers of officers fully trained (NCIS
listed) and dedicated to financial investigation varies from force
to force. There are a limited number of qualified Special Branch
officers employed throughout the country. However, the Metropolitan
Police Special Branch (MPSB), which holds a national co-ordinating
and advising role for terrorist financial investigations, employs
a dedicated Financial Investigation and Special Access Unit (FISAC)
and interacts with partners in the Police Service of Northern
Ireland (PSNI) and Special Branches throughout Great Britain.
Most forces employ a dedicated financial unit,
depending on requirement, mainly employed on criminal investigation.
Joint working and effective partnerships are
essential to combating terrorist financing. This is particularly
the case in the current context of smuggling and contraband activity
as outlined in our main evidence. The specialist skills of police
intelligence officers, crime scene investigators and customs officers
make the need for joint operations essential. Precedents exist
for effective joint financial investigation involving multiple
police Special Branch and CID officers working with Customs officers.
8 February 2002
Please note that question numbers 136 to 209
relate to oral evidence given to the Committee in private and
are not printed.
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