Serious and organised crime

What are serious and organised crimes?

The definition of serious and organised crime, or SOC, can be given as people who have worked together for an extended period of time to plan, coordinate and conduct serious crime.

These people are, more often than not, motivated to commit these serious crimes by the potential of financial gain.

Here is a summary of how SOC affects people in the UK today (© Home Office):

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Types of criminal activities

The types of criminal activities that gangs are involved in include class A drug dealing, child criminal exploitation, cyber-crime, the use of weapons and violence and human trafficking. Other indicators of serious organised crime could be money laundering or people living beyond their means from the proceeds of crime.

Costs of serious and organised crimes

Here are some figures for how much SOC costs the UK annually (© Home Office):

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SOC often remains hidden

Serious and organised crime is often not recognised for what it is by members of the public.

Which is why crime reports to us are so valuable to the authorities. These individual reports help them to build up a picture of wider criminal activities and the groups of people connected with them.

How hidden is SOC? (© Home Office)