Report calls for joined-up approach to tackling serious and organised crime

A new report based on research conducted at the University of Huddersfield recommends better national and local coordination around how Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs) are used to tackle organised crime.

For their report, “Serious Crime Prevention Orders. A study of knowledge and practice”, Professor Jason Roach and Dr Liam Curran, from the Crime and Policing Research Centre (CPRC), researched the use of SCPOs in the policing of Serious and Organised Crime. 

SCPOs are issued with the intention of deterring and preventing convicted serious criminals in Organised Crime Groups (OCGs), often those high up in organised crime, from coordinating and committing further serious offences on release from prison.

“Our Research Centre has conducted a lot of research in the Serious and Organised Crime arena for over 30 years now, especially relating to policing responses,” says Professor Roach. “It was nice to be able to share some of our research with a wider audience on this occasion, and on a topic of great importance – serious and organised crime.”

Research highlights need for guidance on SCPOs and their use

Introduced in 2007, SCPOs can place conditions on serious criminals that disrupt their criminal activity such as contacting criminal associates, using mobile phones or even drones. However, until recently, guidance has been lacking and so how the nine Regional and Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) and individual police forces and services use SCPOs has varied across England and Wales.  

The research identified an urgent need for guidance, not just for police use, but also for other agencies in the criminal justice system including His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS).

“They have evolved by their use by 43 police forces,” says Professor Roach, “and while it is widely accepted by the people we spoke to that SCPOs are a good idea and could be a useful tool for combatting serious and organised criminality, their use and how to monitor them varies wildly.

“Our remit was to discover what was going on with SCPOs currently, because it seemed to be accepted that they could and should be used a lot more effectively.”

Professor Roach and his team from the CPRC interviewed 18 police from three ROCUs for their research, as well as Home Office policy makers, the Crown Prosecution Service, HMPPS, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies, Fire and Rescue, representatives from the National police Chiefs’ Council and the National Crime Agency.

“The National Crime Agency has a unit that monitors SCPOs and have more resources than the police forces. The HMPPS must also monitor these people along with other agencies.

“Our realisation was that there has to be a more joined-up approach and some idea of what best practice might look like.”

Professor Roach accepts that a need for monitoring the activities of released criminals must be balanced by public concern over preventing crime in the first place, but he feels that a more thought-through and coordinated approach would help SCPOs to have more impact.

“But the good news is that things have been changing and we’d like to think that we have helped with that change in some way. This aim of this research was to have a positive impact on change rather than simply to advance academic knowledge.  

“Our report has been well received by the National Police Chiefs Council and other SCPO stakeholders and agencies, and we are very grateful that those involved in commissioning our research and who have welcomed our findings. We are confident that our findings will have appositive impact on SCPO policy and practice, training and guidance. 

“We have been asked to present our findings at several NPCC and Home Office, Serious and Organised Crime policing conferences, and as this report has had input from several key agencies, including the Crown Prosecution Service, we are confident that it will make a contribution to the prevention and policing of organised crime across England and Wales.”