The ROCU network’s economic crime units have a number of specialist teams who act on behalf of police forces to investigate financial crime and strip assets from criminals.

Their teams comprise a range of capabilities which investigate organised crime groups relating to financial crime, including significant money laundering investigations.

Proactive Economic Crime Teams (PECTs) investigate significant frauds, many of which often spread wider throughout the United Kingdom and abroad.

Other dedicated teams look to use Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) legislation to ensure that criminals are stripped of their illicit earnings, to ensure that crime doesn’t pay.

Proceeds of crime

Proceeds of crime is the term given to money or assets gained by criminals during the course of their criminal activity. Powers under Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) legislation allow ROCUs to seek to confiscate these assets to ensure that crime does not pay.

ROCUs' Economic Crime Units are made up of specialist financial investigators who have a number of tools to target those thought to have profited from criminal activity.

How POCA legislation can be used

Restraint orders - preserve a suspect’s assets until a confiscation order is paid in full.

Confiscation orders – require a convicted defendant to pay a sum of money immediately or within a fixed period of time.

Civil recovery - proceeds of crime can be recovered in civil proceedings against property which can be shown to have been purchased using illicit money.