"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.