Blunkett brings in FBI-style national police forces to tackle crime barons
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Criminals who turn supergrass and testify against their gang bosses will have their sentences reduced under new legislation drawn up by the Government.
Criminals who turn supergrass and testify against their gang bosses will have their sentences reduced under new legislation drawn up by the Government.
Other radical proposals contained in a White Paper published tomorrow include new police powers compelling witnesses to provide evidence in court cases, the introduction of conspiracy laws to target drug barons who evade justice, and the use of phone tap records in trials.
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, is also due to announce measures for a new national crime-fighting agency in a bid to combat the growing threat from drug traffickers, money launderers and people smugglers.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) will start operating by 2006 and will be staffed by more than 5,000 agents.
The FBI-style force will also unite experts from the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), as well as the National Crime Squad, Customs and Excise, the Immigration Service and the Inland Revenue.
The White Paper will also outline plans to recruit financial experts such as accountants and bank staff as well as computer specialists to work for Soca.
However, Soca will not have direct powers to combat terrorism, which instead will continue to be targeted by Special Branch and MI5.
So far there are three contenders to head the new agency, including American Bill Bratten, head of the Los Angeles police force and credited with the success of zero-tolerance policies in New York. Also on the list are Peter Hampson, who is the current head of NCIS, and Paul Evans, the head of investigations at Customs and Excise.
The profits made by organised crime gangs from drug-dealing, illegal people-smuggling and money laundering are estimated to be in the region of £40bn a year in the UK.
Ministers believe that clarifying the system of plea bargaining to secure the evidence of accomplices in criminal trials will help to increase the number of guilty pleas entered by criminals.
The practice of turning Queen's evidence, where a witness testifies against their former partners in crime, is "underused" in this country. Only one per cent of defendants in customs cases turned Queen's evidence last year, compared with 26 per cent in the US and 15 per cent in Australia.
It is understood that the White Paper will outline a new law that will allow judges to reduce the sentences of supergrasses.
"We want to dismantle crime gangs by introducing an element of mistrust, but the credibility of witnesses is a real issue. Anything other than 100 per cent truth would be a lose-lose situation," said a Home Office source.
The use of phone tap records as evidence is likely to cause outrage among civil liberty groups, but will be welcomed by the police.
* Mr Blunkett has distanced himself from the warning given by Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, that a terrorist attack on London is "inevitable".
Interviewed in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Blunkett said: "I have not used that phrase" and warned against making people "jumpy without it having a good effect."