10. Written evidence from the Northern
Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments
INTRODUCTION
1. The Government is committed, as part
of its objective of building a peaceful, prosperous and politically
stable society in Northern Ireland underpinned by fully functioning
devolution, to confronting organised crime from whatever source.
Over the years, organised crime has created thousands of victims
across the spectrum of Northern Irish society: ranging from individuals
robbed at gunpoint, to those whose families are destroyed by drugs,
to others whose safety and livelihoods are jeopardised by counterfeit
goods. Its insidious nature has the capacity to corrupt and corrode
the fabric of society.
2. Organised crime groups in Northern Ireland
range from close-knit structures, often based on family or paramilitary
affiliation, to loose networks of individuals who come together
to commit crime and who work with a wide range of other criminals
in pursuit of profit.
3. This memorandum provides information
on: structures (paragraphs 4-14), co-operation (paragraphs 15-19),
priority setting and measuring performance (paragraphs 20-25),
future developments (paragraph 26) and conclusion (paragraph 27),
as well as three annexes covering structures, successes and future
development.
STRUCTURES
4. The Organised Crime Task Force (OCTF)
was set up in September 2000. Its mission is to tackle organised
crime through a multi-agency partnership between central government,
law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and the community at large (while
fully recognising the operational independence of the respective
LEAs).
5. Following a review of the Task Force
in 2005 it now operates at three levels:
(i) A Ministerially-chaired Stakeholder
Group [the public face of the OCTF];
(ii) A smaller NIO-chaired Strategy
Group of senior representatives from the LEAs; and
(iii) Eight work streams, progressed
by the sub & expert groups.
6. These are described in more detail below
(paragraphs 7-11) and at Annex A. The new structure is intended,
building on the significant progress made by its predecessor,
to clarify reporting lines, improve operational cooperation, and
strengthen the analytical focus on which the Task Force's work
is based. The Strategy Group, for example, enables LEAs to meet
regularly to discuss NI organised criminality in a strategic context
and facilitate operational co-operation between partner agencies.
STAKEHOLDER GROUP
7. The Stakeholder Group meets twice yearly
to advise on and monitor progress in achieving cross cutting objectives
to combat NI organised crime. It supports the LEAs in carrying
out their statutory duties by creating a climate, practically
and presentationally, which enhances their effectiveness. The
membership includes the Police Service of NI (PSNI), Her Majesty's
Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA),
the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the Home Office (HO),
the Head of the NI Civil Service, the Northern Ireland Office
and, to reflect the views of the wider NI community and business
interests; the NI Policing Board; the NI Chamber of Commerce &
Industry, the Federation for Small Businesses; and the Confederation
of British Industry.
STRATEGY GROUP
8. The Strategy Group meets bi-monthly.
Its aim is to develop an improved, shared understanding of the
nature of organised crime in NI; and identify the barriers to
tackling organised crime and develop strategies to overcome them.
Its work informs the strategic priorities set for the Task Force
and facilitates cooperation and information-sharing across partner
agencies. It also directs and monitors progress of the Task Force
work streams.
WORK STREAMS
9. There are eight work streams, divided
into two categories—Enabling & Co-ordination and Criminal
Enterprises. The Enabling & Co-ordination work streams focuses
particularly on the public sector, looks to identify and implement
necessary changes required to legislation, policy and procedures,
improve public awareness and confidence and facilitate international
co-operation. This work stream includes analysis & measurement,
joined up government, communications and cross border co-operation.
10. Criminal Enterprises relates to specific
organised crime threats, such as revenue offences (includes VAT,
oils; tobacco and alcohol smuggling, intellectual property crime
and tax fraud in the construction industry), drugs, armed robbery
and criminal finance (including extortion, non-revenue fraud and
money laundering).
11. These work streams are supported by
further sub and expert groups examining particular aspects of
the organised crime problem; both private and public sector partners
are involved in this work.
12. Supporting the Enabling & Co-ordination
work stream, the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS)
chairs a NICS interdepartmental group, whose aim is to promote
awareness in the NI Departments and the wider public sector of
the threat of organised crime and to maintain the momentum behind
current initiatives to tackle it, including considering how best
existing laws and regulations can be exploited to tackle organised
criminality and how they might be enhanced.
COMMUNICATIONS
13. A key role of the Task Force is to raise
awareness of the dangers of organised crime and the importance
of ensuring that public confidence is sustained by clearly demonstrating
the vital work that is being done to tackle it and how those efforts
are putting criminals out of business. This is actioned through
a number of initiatives: including the publication of the annual
OCTF Report and placing of supplements in leading local newspapers,
press statements & briefings, publication of the OCTF quarterly
magazine which is distributed to a network of stakeholders and
opinion formers and the OCTF website (www.octf.gov.uk).
14. The Chair of the OCTF also publicly
endorses operational successes, when appropriate, thus raising
the profile and promoting the collective efforts of the Task Force.
A new Communications strategy is being developed for the OCTF,
to take into account its new structures and membership. The OCTF
endeavours to gauge the level of public awareness and to measure
the success of its publicity initiatives by placing questions
in the Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey. The latest survey, conducted
in July, demonstrates that half of those surveyed had heard of
the OCTF (two thirds of whom thought it was very effective/effective
in raising awareness about organised crime) and reflects a continuing
upward trend in awareness.
CO -OPERATION
North South
15. NI is in a unique position with the
existence of the land border which undoubtedly creates criminal
opportunities: in committing the crime itself, for protection
from LEAs and in concealing assets. There is regular liaison between
the two jurisdictions at Ministerial and official level to discuss
policy and legislative issues relating to organised crime, as
well as close co-operation between LEAs.
16. This is augmented by the annual cross
border co-operation seminar on organised crime, which is organised
jointly by the NIO and the Department of Justice, Equality and
Law Reform. This event involves both public sector and LEAs from
north and south of the border and its purpose is to enhance the
existing shared understanding of cross border organised crime
and to review and evaluate the progress being made in tackling
it.
17. The first joint Cross Border Organised
Crime Assessment was published at the 2004 seminar by the An Garda
Siochana and the PSNI. The assessment focused specifically on
serious and organised crime conducted on both sides of the border
on a long-term basis and has explored eight key areas—money
laundering and fraud, oils, tobacco and alcohol fraud, intellectual
property crime, drugs and immigration crime. It is used to target
the efforts of LEAs on both sides of the border—in 2005
successful joint operations have been carried out in relation
to oils fraud, drugs, counterfeit goods and illegal dumping.
East West
18. The NIO also works closely with the
Home Office on organised crime issues through participation in
a range of fora including the Organised Crime Steering Group.
This Group takes a strategic view of the most serious organised
crime threats facing the UK and supports the Ministerial Organised
Crime Working Group. The NIO is also involved in the Serious Organised
Crime Agency Steering Group, thereby directly contributing to
the Agency's development and its relationship with NI and the
Task Force partner agencies.
19. These linkages ensure that both NIO
and Task Force partners' interests in UK wide serious and organised
crime policy and legislative developments are fully represented
and provide a mechanism by which Task Force partners can be consulted
on key policy developments. They also ensure both formal and informal
communication and consultation networks are maintained. The NIO
is also linked, via the Home Office, into policy and legislative
developments relating to organised crime at an international level.
PRIORITY SETTING
AND MEASURING
PERFORMANCE
20. The 2005 OCTF Annual Report assesses
the principal threats from organised criminality to be (in no
order of priority): Extortion (including blackmail and intimidation),
Drugs, Excise & tax frauds, Money laundering, Intellectual
Property Crime, Armed Robbery (including Cash-in-Transit attacks)
and Illegal Dumping. Illegal immigration is considered an emerging
threat in NI at present, and is being monitored closely by the
Task Force.
21. The introduction of the UK National
Intelligence Model (NIM) has provided a framework to assist LEAs
to identify and direct their efforts against those organised crime
groups who have been classified as top-level with international
links. The PSNI are developing a Northern Ireland model (using
NIM methodologies) tailored to address the specific attributes
of organised criminals in NI. The OCTF is considering how this
can be adopted by all LEAs.
22. In GB the Home Secretary has agreed
that SOCA's future strategic priorities should be class A drugs
and organised immigration crime, in that order. There is not an
automatic read across of these priorities to Northern Ireland
due to the different nature of organised criminality here: the
involvement of paramilitaries and the land border shared with
the Republic of Ireland.
23. The latest OCTF Report confirmed that,
as at June 2005, all of the NI paramilitary groups were heavily
involved in all facets of organised crime, including cross border
criminality. However, following the Provisional Irish Republican
Army (PIRA) statement of 28 July 2005, the latest report of the
Independent Monitoring Commission[7]
(IMC) provided an assessment of the current activities of paramilitary
groups, up to the end of August. This report recognises the PIRA
July statement as "very significant' and that "initial
signs . . . are encouraging". Future IMC reports will confirm
whether or not the PIRA have met their commitments to end all
activity.
24. Since its inception the Task Force partner
agencies have made a significant impact on organised crime in
Northern Ireland—a summary of the key successes is given
in Annex B. To date the Task Force has assessed its performance
based on outputs activity measures—numbers of operations,
arrests, amount of seizures etc. As the Home Office White Paper:
"A 21st Century Strategy to Defeat Organised Crime"
(2004) has made clear, there is no single metric which can measure
the diverse range of organised criminality. Work is currently
ongoing within the Home Office to measure the harms caused by
organised crime and develop a performance regime, based on outcomes
rather than just outputs, to assess how such harms are being reduced
through the activities of the UK LEAs. In parallel the Home Office
has commissioned innovative research into quantifying the level
of UK organised crime. Both pieces of work are due to be published
next spring.
25. The OCTF will review the finished products
in detail when they are fully developed and the analysis completed.
The Task Force will use this review to determine what added value
these new measures bring; how to adapt them to the specifics of
the NI criminal justice landscape; and will implement those measures
which are relevant and beneficial to our circumstances. In the
meantime separate work is being put in hand by the OCTF Strategy
Group to see what additional measures might be available to assess
the Task Force's effectiveness.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
26. There are a number of future developments
which are being actioned to tackle organised crime. These are
summarised below and described in more detail in Annex C: initiatives
being progressed by the NI Departments, developments in Assets
Recovery, the NI Private Security Industry and immigration facilities
in NI.
CONCLUSION
27. Tackling organised crime at a number
of different levels and by all available means—through effective
law enforcement, appropriate regulation, political pressure and
public awareness—is a key priority for the Government, for
our OCTF partners and for our colleagues in Great Britain, Ireland
and overseas. The threat we face continues to evolve: organised
criminals are sophisticated and cunning as well as ruthless. Since
its inception the OCTF has worked to develop a joined up, collaborative
approach to confronting organised criminality in NI. Today's challenge
is to ensure that the wealth of knowledge, expertise and commitment
that exists is built on and deployed effectively to establish
the kind of normal society that the people of NI deserve.
Northern Ireland Office
9 December 2005
7 The Seventh Report of the IMC was published on 19
October 2005. Back
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