The Director General of the Scottish Crime & Drug Enforcement Agency is the Champion responsible for driving forward the Deter strand of the Strategy
Deter - through measures to protect communities, businesses and the public sector from serious organised crime. We will do this by improving resilience in the wider world and improving joint working. We have already made it a requirement of Scottish Government contracts that they only use Security Industry Authority approved contractors. In order to achieve this we will:
- Introduce a new service to ensure public service contracts do not go to companies with links to serious organised crime;
- Increase community confidence to report serious criminality and suspicious activity;
- Help businesses and local authorities to protect themselves from becoming victims of serious organised crime;
- Enhance information exchange and collaboration between law enforcement, business, local authorities and others; and
- Build the evidence base of serious organised crime in Scotland.
Examples of Deter
Public Sector Procurement Group - In order to prevent public money from ending up in the pocket of serious organised crime groups in this way, and to allow legitimate businesses to thrive, we need to investigate ways in which this can be prevented. To do this, the Taskforce asked Gordon Meldrum, the Director General of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) to set up a Public Sector Procurement short life working group to look into the scale of the problem and identify ways to stop public sector money falling into the hands of companies which are a front for serious organised crime.
The procurement sub group reported back to the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce in December 2010 with some initial recommendations from work they had undertaken in the previous year. This work included the Scottish Government issuing a procurement policy note advising that the public sector in Scotland should only use members of the Security Industry Authority Approved Contractor Scheme for any security contracts. Another policy guidance note was issued in February 2011 to include all Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and all other recipients of Grants for the construction of housing, of the requirement that any security contractors employed on projects supported by Scottish Government funding must be registered with the Security Industry Authority's Approved Contractor Scheme.
The SCDEA have worked with Falkirk Council to support their internal audit process for 2010-11, which has resulted in the introduction of a unique and specific audit created to assess the risk posed to the Authority by Serious Organised Crime.
The SCDEA have run a "Risky Business" conference with COSLA, which examined the nature of serious organised crime in Scotland, and the ways in which organised criminals will attempt to exploit local authority structures, people and processes, and the steps that can be taken to protect against the risks.
A Scottish Intellectual Property Crime Group has been established to assist with intelligence gathering and to ensure best practice exchange from other countries and linked groups.
The Taskforce has also agreed a Research and Information Plan which followed on from consultation with Taskforce partners to identify specific research needs and priorities. Research projects are underway, looking into the day-to-day impact of organised crime on and within communities, the nature of consumer engagement with illicit markets and the risks that organised crime groups pose to different types of business sectors.