Back National Crime Agency German National Crime Agency French סוכנות הפשע הלאומית (בריטניה) HE National Crime Agency Italian 国家犯罪対策庁 Japanese 국립범죄청 Korean National Crime Agency NB 國家打擊犯罪調查局 Chinese

National Crime Agency

This article is about the United Kingdom law enforcement agency. For the former Australian agency, see National Crime Authority.

National Crime Agency
AbbreviationNCA
MottoLeading the UK's fight to cut serious and organised crime
Agency overview
Formed7 October 2013 (2013-10-07)
Preceding agencies
Annual budget£859.9 million (2023/24)[1]
Jurisdictional structure
National agency
(Operations jurisdiction)		United Kingdom
Operations jurisdictionUnited Kingdom
Jurisdiction of the National Crime Agency
Population65,182,178[2]
Legal jurisdictionFull in England and Wales and Northern Ireland; limited in Scotland
Operational structure
Headquarters1–6 Citadel Place, Tinworth Street, London SE11 5EF
Sworn officers1,791
Overall workforces4,194
Elected officer responsible
Agency executive
Parent agencyHome Office
Child agencies
Website
nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk Edit this at Wikidata

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and international borders, but it can be tasked to investigate any crime. The NCA has a strategic role as part of which it looks at serious crime in aggregate across the UK, especially analysing how organised criminals are operating and how they can be disrupted. To do this, it works closely with regional organised crime units (ROCUs), local police forces, and other government departments and agencies.

It is the UK's point of contact for foreign agencies such as Interpol, Europol and other international law enforcement agencies. On a day-to-day basis, the NCA assists police forces and other law enforcement agencies (and vice versa) under voluntary assistance arrangements. In extremis, the NCA Director General has the power to direct a chief officer of a police force to give directed assistance with NCA tasks where necessary (but only with consent of the relevant Secretary of State).[3] The NCA itself can also be directed by the Secretary of State to give directed assistance to a police force or other law enforcement agency.[4]

It was established in 2013 as a non-ministerial government department,[5] replacing the Serious Organised Crime Agency and absorbed the previously separate Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) as one of its commands.[6] It also assumed a number of responsibilities from other law enforcement agencies.

The NCA has also assumed a range of functions from the National Policing Improvement Agency, which has been scrapped as part of the government's changes to policing.[7] These include a specialist database relating to injuries and unusual weapons, expert research on potential serial killers, and the National Missing Persons Bureau. The agencies going into the NCA had a combined budget of £812 million, yet the new agency only had £464 million in its first year—a decrease of 43%.[8] Some of the responsibilities of the former UK Border Agency (now Immigration Enforcement and Border Force) relating to border policing also became part of the NCA. Like its predecessor SOCA, the NCA has been dubbed the "British FBI" by the media.[3]

The NCA's leadership team sets the Agency's strategic direction and provides senior operational oversight. Executive and non-executive directors bring a wealth of experience and expertise from across policing, government and the private sector.

As of October 2021, the Director General is Graeme Biggar.[9]

  1. ^ "Annual Plan 2023-2024". National Crime Agency. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  2. ^ "2011 UK censuses". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b Johnston, Philip (7 October 2013). "The National Crime Agency: Does Britain need an FBI?". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Crime and Courts Act 2013". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  5. ^ "How we are run". NCA. 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  6. ^ "National Crime Agency". GOV.UK. 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  7. ^ "Police reform proposals outlined". BBC News. 26 July 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  8. ^ "Vaz asks whether the NCA's budget will be big enough". ITV News. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  9. ^ "Graeme Biggar appointed NCA Director General". www.gov.uk. 12 August 2022.

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