Nineteen Organised Crime Groups active within the Dyfed-Powys Police force area

Dyfed-Powys Police has confirmed there are (as of 1st May 2019) NINETEEN organised crime groups operating within the Dyfed-Powys Police force area. A decade ago in 2009, there were EIGHT, although DPP claims the criteria for recording organised crime groups has changed in the last decade.

Both of these figures are likely to be considerable underestimates, as there will be a large amount of organised crime taking place that manages to evade detection by authorities.

Of all the FOI requests, this has to be up there in the most important ones for the citizens of this force area.

We have followed on from this with a request for the details held on these 19 OCG’s:-https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/details_of_the_19_organised_crim

Dyfed-Powys Police Watch www.dppw.org

Dyfed-Powys Police Response

FOI Reference: 396/2019

 Request:

The latest report by the National Crime Agency revealed there are 4,629 organised crime groups (OCG’s) operating in the UK:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46050428

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/173-national-strategic-assessment-of-serious-and-organised-crime-2018/file

1. How many OCG’s are presently active within your area in 2019?
2. How many OCG’s were active your area in 2009?

Response 1:

 I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, the details of which are as follows:

• Up to the date of 01/05/19 there are a total of 19 organised crime groups recorded within the Dyfed Powys Police force area.

Response 2:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, the details of which are as follows:

Please note: The information provided below for 2009 relates only to what has been recorded as active and may not be wholly accurate and/or reflective of the time period requested.  It should also be noted that during the 10 year period from 2009 to 2019 the processes for recording organised crime groups has become more distinguished and subsequently more accurate. As a consequence considerable care should be taken when making any comparisons between the organised crime group figures provided for the years 2009 and 2019.

• In 2009 there was a total of 8 organised crime groups recorded within the Dyfed Powys Police force area

It should be noted that owing to the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such matters the information provided may or may not be accurate.

Police Forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide statistics to government bodies and the recoding criteria is set nationally.  However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted that for these reasons this Force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.      

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 19/06/19)