Reform and Transformation : The UK's Serious Organized Crime Agency

The United Kingdom’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA)commenced operations on 1 April 2006 with an annual budget of £400million. SOCA amalgamates the National Crime Squad, the NationalCriminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), and investigators from Customs andthe Home Office’s Immigration Service. In so doing, SOCA has becomethe UK’s Financial Intelligence Unit. As such, it receives and analyzessuspicious activity reports (SARs). Between 20 to 30 percent of such SARsdisseminated to the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit haveled to a longer-term investigation, or added substantially to an existinginvestigation