European Arrest Warrants – An inspection of the Serious Organised Crime Agency's data, systems and processes for dealing with European arrest warrants

Published on: 20 June 2013

Summary

European Arrest Warrants are managed in a partnership between the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), police forces and other law enforcement agencies in the UK and abroad. Their success relies on the ability of all parties to provide accurate and timely information but the exchange of this critical information still relies on manual processes.

In 2013, SOCA carried out an audit of its Part 3 data (outgoing arrest warrants) and found it had provided inaccurate figures to Government.

HMIC was directed by the Home Secretary, under section 16(12) Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, to:

  • undertake an audit of the data that has been collected for both Part 3 (outgoing) and Part 1 (incoming) European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) since 2009/10;
  • test the assurance provided [to the Home Secretary] by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) that an error identified in the way the Agency captured and reported data on Part 3 EAWs issued since 2009/10 had no detrimental impact on public protection; and
  • provide assurance that SOCA’s new Case Information Management System (CIMS) will provide accurate data in future.

Get the report

European Arrest Warrants – An inspection of the Serious Organised Crime Agency’s data, systems and processes for dealing with European arrest warrants (PDF, 177KB, new window) (PDF document)

Get the free PDF Reader from Adobe (external link)