Vertical Markets

Praise for bank unit

by Mark Rowe

The banking industry-sponsored Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) has been hailed by Coalition ministers as a model partnership between the police and the private sector.
Home Secretary Theresa May and James Brokenshire, Crime and Security Minister, praised the unit, while calling on other industry sectors to follow in adopting this form of collaborative working with the police.

The DCPCU is a police unit of police officers from the City of London and Metropolitan forces who work alongside banking industry fraud investigators and support staff. Established in April 2002, the unit is fully sponsored by the banking industry through Financial Fraud Action UK and The UK Cards Association, which spend nearly £3.4m per year on the unit.

Speaking to the City of London Police Committee, Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured, said: “Many of you will know of the very effective Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit, which consists of officers from the Metropolitan and City of London Police. This Unit, which is funded by the banking industry, not only has a 94pc conviction rate it also gets out and about, educating bank and retail staff in prevention. I want to see more partnerships of this type, and I want to see more industry sectors – and public bodies, of course, getting involved.”

Echoing these comments at an event organised by London First, Crime and Security Minister James Brokenshire said: “We do need to build better partnerships. As an example the highly effective Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit, funded by the banking industry, has a 94 per cent conviction rate. It also works with organisations to educate bank and retail staff in how to prevent fraud. These are the kinds of partnerships I want to see more of. They are at the forefront of our strategy and other industry sectors must become involved: the construction industry, the utilities and the telecom providers; the transport industry and retailers. Think what a powerful force we could be, if we all worked together to prevent fraud.”

DCI Dave Carter, Head of the DCPCU, added: “Our specialist unit is working hard with the banking industry to tackle fraud – identifying and taking out of circulation the individuals and gangs who are responsible for fraud against consumers, as well as preventing attacks. By joining together with specialist fraud teams within the banks we’ve had considerable successes, saving an estimated £800,000 in reduced fraud activity every week.”

So far this year, the Unit has secured 45 convictions.

Meanwhile, detectives from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) arrested a man at his Reading home on suspicion of operating a website that was illegally selling music albums, singles and films. This early morning operation, which followed a referral from PRS for Music, was the third arrest made by City of London Police’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) since its launch last month.

The 33-year-old man is believed to have been using a website to sell discs containing music and films, which he does not hold the copyright licence for, for a small fee of only a few pounds. Each disc can contain up to 40 music albums and is estimated to be worth hundreds of pounds.

The man was taken to a local police station for further questioning by PIPCU officers and subsequently an agreement was reached to transfer the control of the website to City of London Police.

Detective Inspector Rob Stirling, from PIPCU, said: “Since the launch of PIPCU we have seen a wide range of businesses come forward with referrals for the unit and today’s operation shows how this information can swiftly be turned into live investigations and arrests.

“We urge any UK organisation who believes they may be victim to intellectual property crime in the UK or overseas, to get in touch and submit evidence to the unit so we can get right to work.”

A spokesperson for PRS for Music said: “We welcome the establishment of the new Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) and will be working closely with them to ensure that member’s rights are protected. Today’s action is a positive step forward in tackling those individuals and companies who profit from the theft of their music.”

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has been set up to protect UK industries that produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online and digital content.

The operationally independent unit is initially being funded – £2.56m over two years – by the Intellectual Property Office, which is part of the Department for Business Innovation Skills.

In the next two years PIPCU will be working with a range of national and international partners from public authorities and private industry to build a comprehensive UK policing response to the threat of online intellectual property crime. The unit will also seek to influence online behaviour by site owners, service providers and consumers through education, prevention and enforcement activity, and providing offenders where appropriate with opportunities to accept restorative justice.

To find out more information on PIPCU or to make a referral – click here.

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