Proceeds of crime to be made available to local police forces for community projects
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Hall Green, at 16:25, Tue 23 September 2014:
Roger was very pleased by the recent announcement that £800,000 would be made available to police forces around the country from funds seized by criminals under proceeds of crime legislation. This money will be used to support community programmes or reduce crime.
Balsall Health police commented that: “This is a great opportunity to put criminals’ money directly into Sparkbrook.” The force has previously been successful in its applications for new computers and bikes for Concord Centre, as well as for insurance and jackets for Streetwatch members.
Said Roger: “I have had a long battle with the Home Office to get them to concede that funds gained by criminal behaviour should be used for community restitution. I am delighted that they have finally agreed to do this, and I look forward to my local police force making more successful bids for funding which helps the local community and lowers crime.”
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Posted by Ann M Smith, 19:25, Tue 23 September 2014: (Is this post abusive?) #
Its great that funds have been made available from monies gained by criminal behavior and that those funds are to be made available for restitution to various communities. I would like to suggest that the various communities have some say in where the monies are spent. Do you have a platform for citizens to make suggestions Kind Regards Ann Smith
Posted by David Heath, 07:21, Wed 24 September 2014: (Is this post abusive?) #
This is good news. There appears to be little information about how the proceeds from crime are handled by the Government or the Council. If most of it is being ploughed into general taxation coffers that is not acceptable. It should all go primarily to those from whom the money was taken, and as in this case, to local crime prevention and victim support. Regards, David Heath
Posted by Colin, 07:44, Wed 24 September 2014: (Is this post abusive?) #
All very laudable, but much more effort needs to go into the recovery of criminally ill-gotten gains. I watched a programme this morning where a pair of fraudsters had stolen around £4,000,000 in a VAT swindle on luxury goods purportedly bought by non-UK residents. They faked invoices from luxury brands & then re-claimed non-existent VAT. It is incredibly simple with technology to link every claim with the original (genuine) invoice, yet highly paid civil servants at HMRC seem never to have thought of this. In the case mentioned above, only £50k was recovered, the rest stashed abroad, perhaps?
Posted by Mohammed Hemraj, 10:20, Wed 24 September 2014: (Is this post abusive?) #
Do police take crime seriously? Why the victims do not report crime? Criminals are one step ahead of the police detection. Police have a tough time in proving their case beyond reasonable doubt. Police also need evidence to prosecute. When police do succeed, the sentence passed by the court is a slap on the wrist. It is also expensive to maintain criminals behind the bars. Where would one draw a line?