SOCA’s recent claim (see Alex’s post ) that the world cocaine market is in retreat is looking more and more like a failed attempt to distract us from the news that the troubled agency is going to be overhauled – big time. The orphan of Whitehall‘s task was spectacularly grand – made all the worse by the launch of the agency in a blaze of glory a few years back. The simple truth is that not only do we not have a clear idea of the scale and nature of the problem(s) but we continue to take a primarily enforcement-led approach. This ain’t clever in the 21st century. Not least because such an approach is unliekly to succeed.
Obama and Clinton’s new approach to the ‘narco- insurgency’ in Mexico is a timely admission that a ‘war on drugs’ which doesn’t take account of the social and economic implications of organised crime is destined to fail. Unfortunately there are no simple solutions or answers to the problem of organised crime and drugs in particular. The resounding success of Portugal’s approach to decriminalising drugs is a triumph for the Portugese Government and should be carefully considered. However it is unclear whether the Portugese approach would work in the UK – which is different in context and scale – however that shouldn’t mean we don’t experiment with new approaches and initiatives.
SOCA’s failure was exacerbated by its secrecy. Given the very public nature of the challenge we face from organised crime, the decision by the senior management of Soca to operate under a veil of secrecy since its inception in 2006 has been not only misguided but potentially damaging. The tentacles of organised crime reach into cities, towns and villages across the UK. Unfortunately, one of the victims of the organisation’s secrecy has been SOCA itself.
As The Times reports:
The Prime Minister’s strategy unit at No 10 has been carrying out a review of Soca, which has been criticised for failing to halt the spread of organised crime from the cities to the shires. Soca, which is due to publish its annual report tomorrow, is seeking a new chairman to take over from Sir Stephen Lander, the former head of MI5, who retires in July.
I doubt whether the conclusions and recommendations in the PMSU report were very different from a previous report by the same unit on the subject a few years ago however it may provide some impetus for a much needed change in approach.
