A landmark agreement between the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) will see intelligence on organised criminal gangs shared between the insurance industry and the police.
A formal intelligence sharing agreement was signed on Friday by the IFB’s Head of Intelligence, Stephen Dalton, and the Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary, Michael Barton, on behalf of ACPO.
Since its creation in 2006, the IFB has forged close working relationships with police forces across the UK, which has led to over 700 arrests in the last six years. Working alongside the police, the IFB is currently coordinating 49 live operations into organised fraud, valued in excess of £66 million.
With access to police intelligence, the IFB will now be able to accurately identify organised criminal gangs who are engaged in cross-industry insurance fraud and work with the Police to develop operations to disrupt their activity.
Chief Constable Michael Barton, Durham Constabulary, said: “The sharing and use of information and intelligence is the key to dismantling criminal networks which have a huge impact on people’s lives. This important agreement should provide a vital new tool for police forces to prevent and reduce this type of criminal behaviour.”
Stephen Dalton, Head of Intelligence at the IFB, said: “Past IFB investigations have identified insurance fraud as a lucrative source of revenue for criminal gangs, used to fund other forms of serious crime including drug dealing, illegal firearm supply, people trafficking and money laundering. IFB operations therefore provide police forces with a valuable platform from which to make arrests, gather evidence and disrupt organised criminal networks.
“Today’s landmark agreement demonstrates the long-term strategic commitment from both the IFB and the police, at its most senior level, to share intelligence. It also provides a vital source of new intelligence for the IFB, allowing us to focus investigations on known criminal networks targeting our industry.”
The IFB currently holds 24 intelligence sharing agreements with police, regulators and public sector law enforcement agencies across the UK.
