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More cash to combat serious crime More cash to combat serious crime
(about 1 hour later)
A new strategy for tackling serious organised crime is to be published by the Scottish Government. An extra £4m and an increase in staffing by 25% have been announced in the drive to fight serious crime.
The strategy will be built around four key objectives to divert, disrupt, deter and detect. The Scottish Government's new strategy will be built around four key objectives to divert, disrupt, deter and detect.
A new objective will be to tackle the problem of counterfeit goods which, the government says, are used to provide finance for organised crime gangs. It is claimed extensive analysis has shown the scale of organised crime.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said there would be significantly more money available to support the strategy. Launching the new strategy, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "We know more about who they are, who they work with and what they are doing."
He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "There is an issue and there is a problem. He said the money will create 80 new posts at the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) over the next two years.
Mr MacAskill told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "There is an issue and there is a problem.
We know who it is we're dealing with, we're going to take them on and we're going to take them down Kenny MacAskillJustice Minister
"We've done an analysis of the problem we face. In a nutshell, the strategy's four-fold."We've done an analysis of the problem we face. In a nutshell, the strategy's four-fold.
"It's about diverting people from becoming involved, disrupting these crime gangs, deterring people from becoming involved and ultimately making sure we detect them and bring them to account."It's about diverting people from becoming involved, disrupting these crime gangs, deterring people from becoming involved and ultimately making sure we detect them and bring them to account.
"With the four 'D's, we're bringing out a new strategy, additional resources, we know who it is we're dealing with, we're going to take them on and we're going to take them down.""With the four 'D's, we're bringing out a new strategy, additional resources, we know who it is we're dealing with, we're going to take them on and we're going to take them down."
Organised crime is estimated to cost Scotland £2bn every year
The serious organised crime taskforce meets every three months to review progress in the drive against criminal gangs.The serious organised crime taskforce meets every three months to review progress in the drive against criminal gangs.
Senior police officers, prosecutors and customs officials are to study the results of a year-long assessment of the scale and extent of organised crime. Its research revealed that 367 serious organised crime groups, involving over 4,000 individuals, are operating across the country with no police force area of the country immune from the threat.
That will show that while drugs remain the main focus of criminal activity, other forms of organised crime are also growing - including human trafficking, control of prostitution and the distribution of counterfeit goods. The analysis also showed that 9 out of 10 are involved in drug crime, and over half the groups have access to firearms.
Last year, Strathclyde's Chief Constable, Stephen House, told BBC Scotland of the extent of the problem. Organised crime is estimated to cost Scotland £2bn every year
He said: "We need to understand that things which happen on the streets of Glasgow and Paisley etc and across the west of Scotland have links all the way back to Colombia, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Albania, Estonia, Spain, into Amsterdam, Belgium - all round the world. Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House said: "The additional resources will start to make a real difference, particularly as we now have better understanding of the extent of serious and organised crime across Scotland through the mapping project.
"These people are driven by one thing only and that's sheer profit. "Policing will use better knowledge and more resources to do things differently.
"They don't care about the lives that they ruin either through drugs or through people-trafficking or prostitution but we need to tackle it. "Tackling serious organised crime will be a priority for all forces, and we will mobilise and pool our resources to prioritise action against those causing most harm.
"It's a fight but it's a fight we're determined to win." "Some of these will use specialist resources or covert techniques, but to be successful I believe that we also need to combine these along with having more community-based police officers using basic policing tactics on the street."
A joint crime campus is being built to house Scotland's top law enforcement bodies at Gartcosh in Lanarkshire. Director General of the SCDEA Gordon Meldrum added: "My objective has always been to ensure that we don't just chase organised criminals, we get ahead of them.
The £65m campus is expected to be up and running by 2011. "In pursuit of this goal, knowledge is power.
"Today, thanks to the ground-breaking work of our mapping initiative, the balance of power has shifted a little in our favour.
"Our collective knowledge on the scale and threat of serious organised crime in Scotland is greater than ever, and we are now putting that to use in the protection of the public."