Police Professional | £75m Investment for Border Security Command

£75m investment for Border Security Command

The Home Secretary has announced a £75 million injection of funding to strengthen the UK’s border security.

Yvette Cooper said the investment in the new Border Security Command will deliver advanced new technology, additional officers and greater covert capabilities across the system.

Ms Cooper said the National Crime Agency (NCA), police and other law enforcement agencies will receive a significant funding injection as part of the new reinforcement of Border Security Command to strengthen the UK’s border security and disrupt criminal people smuggling gangs.

The Home Secretary said the £75 million package would redirect funding originally allocated to the Illegal Migration Act. She said it would “unlock cutting-edge new technology and additional capabilities for the NCA to strengthen UK border security and disrupt criminal people smuggling gangs”.

The investment is designed to build on a pattern of successful disruptions in the upstream sector, announced last week at an operational summit at the NCA headquarters, which was also attended by the Prime Minister.

The new capabilities include:

• Hidden cameras and state-of-the-art surveillance technology enhance evidence collection, speed investigations and increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions;
• A new unit is being established to improve intelligence gathering within UK police forces and the flow of information to partners, while the number of prosecutors working within the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is being increased to conduct investigations and bring those responsible swiftly to justice.
• Recruiting additional staff for the new Border Security Command, led by newly appointed Commander Martin Hewitt, which will oversee the working together of all organisations involved in tackling the gangs; and
• More needs to be done to tackle organised crime groups that facilitate illegal migration upstream, by stepping up efforts in transit countries to prevent small boats from reaching the French coast.

The announcement follows Monday’s meeting between the prime minister and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, in Rome to discuss systematic bilateral cooperation on border security. Italy has seen a significant drop in irregular migration thanks to stricter enforcement and improved cooperation with international partners.

The Home Office says the enhanced technical and human resources will provide “an important platform” for the work Mr Hewitt will coordinate between UK law enforcement and intelligence agencies when he formally takes up his post in the coming weeks.

The funding will also cover the deployment of 100 additional specialist investigators to the NCA, announced by the government last month. This represents a 25 per cent increase in staff dedicated to tackling organised immigration crime.

The government has also announced a 50 percent increase in the number of British officers stationed at Europol, in a bid to support European operations to dismantle organised crime groups that facilitate people smuggling.

Ms Cooper said: “Criminal gangs are getting away with undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. Border Security Command will be carrying out a major overhaul and upgrade of law enforcement efforts against smugglers and trafficking gangs to improve our border security.

“State-of-the-art technology and enhanced intelligence capabilities ensure that we use every tool at our disposal to dismantle this despicable trade.”

Rob Jones, Director General of Operations at the NCA, said: “I am pleased with this funding, which will enable us to enhance and expand our technology, data exploitation and capacity building both internationally and in the UK.

“Tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the NCA. We are currently conducting around 70 investigations into gangs or individuals involved in the highest echelons of criminality, and we are devoting more resources to this than ever before.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks wherever they operate.”

Stephen Parkinson, Director of Public Prosecutions at the CPS, said: “CPS prosecutors will bring significant expertise to the new unit to help stop human trafficking gangs and recover all assets obtained through crime.

“Working with partners, we continue to discourage, disrupt and dismantle this exploitative trade through prosecutions and cross-border cooperation.