New National Crime Agency launches today

Today (7 October) the National Crime Agency has been launched to lead the UK's fight to cut serious and organised crime.

The new law enforcement agency is intended to transform the UK's response to the threat from serious and organised crime.

The NCA will use its 4,000-plus officers to harness the expertise and resources of law enforcement across the UK and abroad, to ensure a consistent and co-ordinated approach to continuously disrupt the most serious criminals and groups.

The agency will ensure that such criminals and criminal groups are prioritised and that proportionate operational activity and disruption is directed against them, both at home and overseas.

The Agency will comprise four commands: Organised Crime, Economic Crime, Border Policing and CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) and have a National Cyber Crime Unit to reflect the broad range of threats that are posed by serious and organised criminals.

Keith Bristow, Head of the NCA, has warned criminals to expect "continuous disruption", including the confiscation of their assets, saying: "We are going to make a difference the public will see," he told the BBC.

Meanwhile Home Secretary Theresa May told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the new agency was "designed to be a relentless crime-fighting body which will relentlessly pursue organised criminals".

Mrs May said: "Crime is falling in this country, but we can't be complacent. And particularly on organised crime, I don't think the last government put enough emphasis on this."

However the NCA has come under criticism from the Labour Party with Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, saying:

“This is a chaotic and confusing process, with a lack of leadership from the Home Office. Handling this so badly at the same time as 20 per cent cuts to the police is making it harder for the police to do their jobs.

“We support further reforms to national policing building on the Serious & Organised Crime Agency that Labour set up, and which achieved a 93 per cent conviction rate.

“But this has been so badly handled, it's caused real problems for the police.”

For more information on the NCA visit the website here.