This week, the Scottish Crime Campus celebrates its 10th anniversary, marking a decade of significant achievements in the fight against serious organised crime in Scotland. The campus, located in Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire, has become a global exemplar for its multi-agency approach, bringing together 18 organisations in a concerted effort to combat the criminal networks that threaten communities across the country.
As the operational hub of Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, the campus has been instrumental in disrupting the activities of gangs involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, and cybercrime. The Taskforce operates under a comprehensive strategy that focuses on four key areas: divert, deter, detect, and disrupt.
Kenny Donnelly, Deputy Crown Agent for Serious Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), highlighted the campus’s achievements over the past decade. “Prosecuting crime is our business, and COPFS has a healthy balance sheet of exposing individuals whose serious organised crime activities have blighted communities and inflicted untold harm on the lives of thousands of ordinary families,” Donnelly said.
He noted that nearly 1,000 individuals linked to organised crime have been imprisoned over the last five years alone. Among these were some of Scotland’s most notorious criminals, including James White, who led a major organised crime group and was apprehended in Brazil before being extradited and sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison. Another high-profile conviction was that of Christopher Hughes, who was jailed for life last year for his involvement in a murder in the Netherlands, thanks to crucial intelligence shared by French authorities who had breached an encrypted messaging platform.
Despite these successes, Donnelly acknowledged the evolving challenges posed by organised crime. “The last 10 years have also thrown up fresh challenges to prosecutors as serious organised crime gangs develop sophisticated new methods of buying and selling controlled drugs, trafficking people, laundering money, and using cryptocurrency to mask their criminality,” he said. “So, while we are rightly proud of our accomplishments in disrupting serious organised crime over the last decade, no-one is complacent.”
Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn of Police Scotland, who chairs the Scottish Crime Campus Multiagency Tasking and Delivery Board, emphasized the wide range of threats facing Scotland. “We work collectively against a range of harms including human trafficking, child abuse and sexual exploitation, serious fraud and cybercrime,” Freeburn stated. He also highlighted the importance of international collaboration, noting that criminals do not respect borders. “We rely upon partners such as the NCA, FBI, and Interpol to ensure that no matter where you are in the world, if you commit serious and organised crime in Scotland, we will track you down.”
Paul Carberry, Chief Executive of Action for Children and chair of the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce’s divert strand, spoke about the valuable lessons learned over the past decade, particularly in relation to the exploitation of children. “From inter-agency information sharing to better-informed prosecutions, and a much deeper understanding of what’s driving or making people vulnerable to involvement in serious organised crime, we’ve learned a lot,” Carberry explained.
He highlighted the growing awareness of criminal exploitation of children, a complex form of child abuse where young people are coerced into participating in criminal activities. This month, the taskforce’s divert strand is organizing an awareness-raising event for professionals across various sectors to deepen understanding and combat this troubling issue.
As the Scottish Crime Campus reflects on its first decade, the commitment to fighting organised crime remains steadfast. The ongoing collaboration among agencies and the continuous adaptation to new criminal tactics ensure that Scotland remains at the forefront of this critical battle.
The Scottish Crime Campus celebrates 10 years of success in battling organised crime, with nearly 1,000 criminals jailed and ongoing efforts to combat evolving threats like cybercrime and child exploitation.