A new Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) was first announced by David Blunkett on February 9, to take over duties currently performed by several different agencies. It will become operational on April 1, 2006

The Soca replaces the National Criminal Intelligence Service (http://www.ncis.co.uk), which gathers and analyses information on crime, and feeds information to law enforcement agencies like the police forces and the National Crime Squad. It currently has 1,200 staff and a centrally--funded annual budget of £93m.

It also takes over from the National Crime Squad (http://www.ncs.police.uk), which was formed in 1998 by amalgamating the six regional crime squads, with a remit to fight serious and organised crime. It has 1,330 detectives, 420 support staff and an annual budget of £130m.

In addition, the Soca will take over the duties of the 1,850 HM Customs and Excise officers, in various arms of the organisation, whose task is to investigate fraud and serious drug trafficking, and to track down the assets of the criminals involved in it.

The Soca will also supersede the duties of those parts of the Home Office which deal with organised people trafficking.

Sir Stephen Lander, who retired as the Director General of MI5 in 2002, has been appointed as the chairman of the Soca, and Bill Hughes, formerly Director General of the National Crime Squad, has been appointed as the Director General, effective from September.

Some commentators are saying that the Soca will be Britain's answer to the FBI, but it has some way to go before rivalling its mighty American counterpart. The FBI has 11,000 special agents and 16,000 professional support personnel, runs 56 field offices and has about 400 satellite offices known as resident agencies.

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