"The fight against drugs gets 43 per cent of SOCA's budget while the fight against fraud - a category that includes cybercrime - gets just five per cent of the pie."

That would be because they do not have the Intelligence to investigate fraud.... and that is a problem right at the top of the Command chain....in other words they don't have Smart enough officers able to play the Game, which is a Shame because that is where all the fortunes are hidden and easily uncovered but it does also contain some slippery criminal politicos too who probably have a dodgy handshake too to match brothers working in related police structures.

The Untouchables with a strong Chief Constable giving it its head, it most certainly aint , which must sort of suggest that it is compromised and corrupt too, which it most probably is.

But then if SOCA can't stand up to top brass vanities and tell the Boss to mind his own business, [and Fuck off, when necessary if he steps out of line when things get hot and bothered] it is never going to be able to mix it and joust with the big boys..... making the Police Service all a bit of a Joke really as it is only able to target the yob element rather than the hob knob element, which is probably exactly how they like it.

Nice SOCA gravy train while it lasted though ...http://jamesstgeorge.proboards32.com/index.cgi?board=UKdomestic&action=display&thread=16450 ?

SOCA's biggest problem is funding. When it was set up, the bright idea was to make it the UK's FBI. A quick look at the funding tells a different story.

With entry level salary for an "agent" barely above £20k and supervisory agents being paid £35k, it's a big joke. You cannot solve serious crime without serious funding. Both in terms of "investing in people" and technology.

Many decent people from National High Tech squad had to leave because they were offered pay cuts when joining SOCA. This is just the continuation of an agency doomed to instant failure.

M A Walters: "With entry level salary for an "agent" barely above £20k ..."

To put that into context, Community Support Officers in some parts of England and Wales (Scotland, thankfully, has had the sense not to waste money on this nonsensical initiative and puts the money to better use by funding real police officers) who work shifts are paid around £25,000.

So... join SOCA, and if you are lucky enough to be taken on after rigorous vetting and examination of your motivations for applying, earn £20,000, or walk around pretending to have authority (when in reality you are there to con the public as a "uniformed presence") for five grand more.

Hmmm... tough one.. let me think about it for a little while...

... two comprehensible posts by amanfromMars in one day??

There must definitely be some sort of Cybercrime going on here!