Met Police Human Trafficking unit under threat

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The Metropolitan Police's (Met) Human Trafficking Team was set up in 2007 and is now threatened with disbandment (again) with a proposal for their work to be given to other Met officers. As far as I can tell, the reason behind this proposal appears to be a money saving exercise.

The unit appears to be the victim of the old problem that specialisation costs.

A decision is expected within the next few weeks. You can find a link to a Press Association article here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jGCErLyU7Jbqj0EoNb2j9D7bzZEA

Why have I picked this story out? Because in July 2009, SOCA published it's 2009/10 UK Organised Crime threat Assessment. The report identifies five general areas of concern of which Human Trafficking falls under Organised immigration crime is a key area of concern. FYI the map is of the US Human Trafficking picture. In theory, the UK then aligns its response to such criminal activity sector by sector.

If the Met go ahead with this decision, my concerns would be as follows:

1 The Labour Government of the UK will talk about harm reduction strategies, but will not fund them properly. Here Labour have form with their inadequate funding of the war in Afghanistan.

2 The message to human traffickers will be sent out that the risk of being caught and prosecuted in the UK has reduced. Thus making the UK a more attractive target on a risk assessed basis.

Since human trafficking is thought to be the third most profitable activity in the organised crime world (after illegal drugs and arms trafficking) one would expect professional money launderer to get busier!

Do you agree?

Let me know your thoughts.

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