Serious and organised crime
Part of: Large-scale policing Protecting people from violence and abuse
Regional organised crime units (ROCUs) should lead the regional response to serious and organised crime (SOC). Police forces should work closely with ROCUs to coordinate the regional response against the highest harm SOC threats.
There are nine ROCUs across England and Wales. There is a separate collaborative arrangement for the London region incorporating the Metropolitan Police Service, City of London Police and the British Transport Police. We tailor our inspection of the London region to consider this different arrangement.
Serious and organised crime inspections
As part of our overall police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy inspections, we inspect how well police forces tackle serious and organised crime (SOC). We judge forces against the PEEL assessment framework.
In 2022, we changed how we inspect this aspect of policing to incorporate inspections of the ten regions, as well as the nine regional organised crime units (ROCUs), throughout England and Wales. We continued to inspect the 43 police forces across England and Wales. This improved our understanding of how well forces and ROCUs work together to tackle serious organised crime.
Reports
An inspection of the West Midlands regional response to serious and organised crime – 14 May 2024
This inspection examined how well police forces tackle serious and organised crime in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands.
An inspection of the north-west regional response to serious and organised crime – 10 November 2023
This inspection examined how well police forces tackle serious and organised crime in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and North Wales.
An inspection of the London regional response to serious and organised crime – 19 May 2023
An inspection of the eastern regional response to serious and organised crime – 19 May 2023
An inspection of the east midlands regional response to serious and organised crime – 2 March 2023
This inspection examined how well police forces tackle serious and organised crime in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire.
An inspection of the north-east regional response to serious and organised crime – 7 December 2022
This inspection examined how well police forces tackle serious and organised crime in Cleveland, Durham, and Northumbria.
Pre-PEEL reports
Regional Organised Crime Units – An inspection of the effectiveness of the Regional Organised Crime Units – February 2021
In this inspection, we examined how effectively and efficiently ROCUs tackle the threat from SOC.
Regional organised crime units – A review of capability and effectiveness – December 2015
This report examined the capabilities and effectiveness of ROCUs in tackling serious and organised crime.