FOI 3373 Monetry Value Of Assets Seized Under PoCA

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 1 November 2011. Please find below the response to your request:

a) What expenditure has been incurred by the police force in connection with the recovery of assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in each of the last five years.

Reply

No specific recorded information held.

To explain further, the process in relation to asset recovery is part of mainstream policing and involves the identification of assets held during police searches; the completion of acquisitive crime files; the completion of income analysis booklets by officers in interview; the seizure and administration of cash under PoCA, and staff time in the preparation of all orders and applications. All these activities are routinely under taken by staff and the time taken and subsequent costs incurred are not measured.

b) What the monetary value was of assets (a) seized and (b) frozen under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in each of the last three years.

Reply

(a) The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 does not provide a power for Law Enforcement Agencies to seize any assets other than cash (Part 5 PoCA 2002) or where there is a Restraint Order in place and the assets will be removed from the England Wales (Part 2 PoCA 2002).

West Mercia Police have obtained Cash Detention Orders (Part 5, section 295 PoCA 2002) in the following values and years:

2010/11          £172,785;

2009/10          £143,607;

2008/09          £371,108.

(b) The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 allows for applications to be made to the Crown Court for a Restraint Order prohibiting any specified person from dealing with any realisable property held by them, (Part 2 PoCA 2002).

The Restraint Order identifies, as far as is practicable, the assets held, but it does not identify the value of said assets. The value will not be established until a confiscation order is made and satisfied, (Part 2 PoCA 2002).

The entries made upon the Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD) indicate a banding of "Estimated Value Range" in respect of Restraint Orders, i.e. Up To £50,000; £50,000 to £100,000; £100,000 to £250,000; etc.

Based upon the lower banding values West Mercia Police have obtained Restraint Orders in the following numbers and "Estimated Value Ranges":

2010/11          12 Orders       £5,200,000

2009/10          12 Orders       £960,000

2008/09          24 Orders       £4,320,000