Source · HMICFRS

Improving the response to organised immigration crime

16 May 2025 Thematic Inspection 10 recommendations

National — applies to all forces

Recommendations

1 Open By 31 December 2025, the National Crime Agency, in consultation with the Border Security Command and the Home Office, should review, revise and reissue its roles and responsibilities document, ‘Organised Immigration Crime High Level Responsibilities’. The revised version should: describe relevant responsibilities of the Border Security Command; and where police forces retain substantial serious organised crime investigation capabilities, extend those responsibilities to include investigating organised immigration crime.

10 Open By 30 April 2026, the Home Office, working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, should extend and, where appropriate, modify the Modern Slavery & Organised Immigration Crime Unit peer review process to include: other UK police forces; the National Crime Agency; Immigration Enforcement; Border Force; and the nine regional organised crime units.

2 Open By 30 April 2026, chief constables should make sure that every time a member of their force reports a case to Immigration Enforcement’s National Command and Control Unit, the reporting officer completes and submits the required intelligence document.

3 Open By 30 April 2026, the Border Security Command should further develop the migrant identification and intelligence-gathering processes, including those in operation at Western Jet Foil arrival centre and Manston processing centre facilities. This should include: providing on-site access to the Police National Database and the routine comparison of migrants with the custody and crime scene facial imagery it holds; considering the possibility of introducing other forms of automated facial‑recognition technology; examining the extent to which the 24-hour time limit on detention affects the ability of counter-terrorism policing officers to investigate migrants of interest; increasing the proportion of arriving migrants who are debriefed; and co-ordinating migrant debriefs between the various agencies to make sure that the most suitable and qualified staff carry them out.

4 Open By 31 December 2025, chief constables should make sure they have clear plans to collect, analyse and share information related to organised immigration crime.

5 Open By 30 April 2026, the National Crime Agency, working with the Home Office, should develop the Joint Fusion Cell. This should include: making sure that vacancies are filled; making sure it has access to all relevant intelligence systems and removing the need to copy information from one system to another; designing formal data-sharing agreements and processes with other agencies; and providing greater access to analytical support. The National Crime Agency should also examine the possibility of automating processes to link the intelligence systems of the law enforcement agencies involved in tackling organised immigration crime.

6 Open By 31 December 2025, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, working with the Border Security Command, should introduce a system mandating all law enforcement agencies to use the correct crime identifier code when submitting intelligence concerning organised immigration crime to the Police National Database.

7 Open By 30 April 2026, the National Crime Agency should establish and begin operating a system to regularly assess the known organised crime groups recorded on the Police National Database and serious and organised crime master list. The National Crime Agency should make sure all opportunities to investigate and disrupt them are taken.

8 Open By 30 April 2026, chief constables, working with the Modern Slavery & Organised Immigration Crime Unit, should make sure that relevant personnel in all Home Office police forces complete the Hydra training package on organised immigration crime.

9 Open By 30 April 2026, chief constables, working with the Modern Slavery & Organised Immigration Crime Unit and the College of Policing, should make sure that relevant personnel in all Home Office police forces complete the four modules of the organised immigration crime e-learning package.