THE FULL extent of how Britain’s police forces are charging private companies millions of pounds to investigate crimes committed against them can be revealed today.
The growing practice has led to claims that officers can effectively be hired for cash.
Banks, insurers, car firms and credit card companies pay the police to carry out criminal inquiries. Special units have been set up entirely paid for by the private sector.
The scale of the private payments follows last week’s disclosure in The Sunday Tele
graph that the Metropolitan Police was secretly paid by Virgin Media, to investigate a large-scale fraud that was costing Sir Richard Branson’s company £144million a year.
In the wake of our first revelation Harvey Pitchford, the Met’s commercial partnership manager, who signed the deal with Virgin, told The Sunday
Telegraph: “My job is to make money for the Met. I sell training; I sell special services.”
But Shami Chakrabarti, director of pressure group Liberty, said forces had formalised a “cash for cuffs” practice, adding: “Since when were the British police allowed to do private deals to charge companies for investigating serious offences? How long before victims simply don’t get police support without reaching for their cheque books?
“What cannot be allowed is two-tier policing where only those with deep pockets get protection from crime.”
Dr Timothy Brain, former Gloucestershire chief constable, said: “These deals should be a rarity and it must be as open and transparent as possible.”
Private industry said it had no choice but to explore “alternative opportunities” including police funding, because expensive investigations into fraud would otherwise not take place.
“Due to the inadequate law enforcement resources, many frauds reported by banks and their customers are simply not proactively investigated,” said a spokesman for the British Bankers’ Association.
Police units funded by the private sector have grown despite a Court of Appeal judgment in 2005, which warned that the practice was “fraught with danger” and risked compromising impartiality. The deals are allowed under the 1996 Police Act, which gives forces the power to charge for special services. City of London Police set up a department just four weeks ago, which acts on tip-offs from its insurance industry sponsors. The new Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department is being funded with a £9million donation from the Association of British Insurers over three years.
Boasting more than 30 detectives and civilian investigators, the unit’s inquiries are based on insurers’ referrals.
Its officers have arrested 25 people so far, suspected of crimes such as car insurance fraud and bogus claims.
The banking industry funds the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit, set up in 2002 with officers from the Met and City of London Police. It has been funded wholly by the industry body Financial Fraud Action UK since 2004 and receives £5million a year.
Sandra Quinn, a spokesman for Financial Fraud Action UK, said the unit had investigated more than 120 cases and made savings of over £350million in the past 10 years, demonstrating its value.
The national Vehicle Fraud Unit, which employs 15 offic- ers and is based in Coventry, is entirely funded by the Finance & Leasing Association, the trade body for car financing.
The unit only investigates referrals brought by subscribers. A third of its £900,000-ayear budget used to come from the Home Office but that was axed last year. The unit has dealt with 1,800 referrals and recovered 1,300 stolen cars, with a value of £21.5million. About 300 people have been arrested for offences including money laundering, drug dealing and violence.
A spokeswoman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, which runs the unit, said it was saving public money by “taking the burden off the taxpayer and putting it into the business area”.
Last year, the Met police alone raised £8million billed in 1,900 separate invoices, although it is not known how much of that money was for front line activities such as making arrests.