Crime doesn't pay but it pays out

A large cannabis farm set in a bunker in South Wiltshire, millions of pounds in stolen telecoms equipment and an illegal scrap metal operation - just some of the big cases Wiltshire Police has cracked in the past few years which the Force is now seeing the rewards from.

And when I say rewards - I mean financial; this is on top of the natural satisfaction every employee of the police feels when they've managed to solve a big crime and bring the perpetrators to justice after days, months and sometimes years of investigation and hard work. 

Usually, what follows is the Proceeds of Crime Act will be used during a trial or in sentencing to claw back the millions of pounds in cash and assets often made by the criminals who carried out the illegal activities in the first place. 

The Proceeds of Crime Act (PoCA) works like this - the convicted defendant is ordered by the judge to pay back the amount of money made from the crime, be that cash or assets like cars, property and jewellery.   

A proportion of the money and assets seized are then given to Police and Crime Commissioners up and down the country and that's exactly what happens in Wiltshire Police, it gets given monies from the government via PoCA which are then fed straight back into front line policing - paying for more officers.

In the past we usually get around £200,000 each year from the PoCA, however, with the year-end accounts about to be signed off for 2018/2019, I am pleased to say that this year we have hit a bit of a jackpot and managed to secure £900,000 - that's £700,000 extra to be spent on boosting the police ranks.

It's thanks to the solving of the big cases mentioned above that we have managed to take a bigger slice of the criminals' 'ill-gotten gains' this year. 

There's some symbiosis here too - money earnt through illegal activities is now paying for the recruitment and training of new officers to help prevent and reduce crime in the county.

The saying 'crime doesn't pay' is so true but it also pays out to help the police keep Wiltshire and Swindon safe.