Posted on 11/04/2005 6:19:45 PM PST by nickcarraway
CONSULTANTS have been appointed to draw up plans to build the world's first "crime campus" in the west of Scotland, The Scotsman can reveal.
Four brownfield sites in Strathclyde are understood to have been identified as a potential home for the groundbreaking campus, which would pull together law enforcement organisations such as the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency (SDEA), the National Crime Intelligence Service and Crown prosecutors.
Property consultants Drivers Jonas will report to the Scottish Executive next month on various options on the location and scale of the facility, which was initially priced at £40 million, although the final cost is expected to exceed that amount.
The plan was first mooted last year by the SDEA, which has 200 officers and is looking for new headquarters, and has been backed by Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, as a means of bringing agencies involved in the fight against organised crime under one roof.
Gartcosh has been touted as the likely home for the new campus due to its good transport links with Edinburgh and Glasgow, but it is understood at least three other sites in Strathclyde have been identified.
Graeme Pearson, director of the SDEA, said he welcomed the appointment of consultants to conduct an options appraisal exercise for the proposed campus.
"Effectively tackling serious organised crime requires innovation and fresh approaches," Mr Pearson said.
"The plans to bring together the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, as we will shortly be known, with a number of key partners in law enforcement, is just such an example of innovative thinking.
"It will demonstrate widely that Scotland has the ability to deliver a cutting edge, co-ordinated response to serious organised crime.
"International criminal networks should be in no doubt that Scotland is not a soft target for their illegal and destructive activities."
Other bodies likely to relocate to the campus include the soon-to-be-formed Scottish arm of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Scottish Criminal Records Office, the Scottish Police Intelligence Strategy, the Scottish Forensic Science Service and the UK Immigration Service's operation north of the Border.
The complex would be similar to the FBI's headquarters in Washington DC in fostering close crime-fighting partnerships with intelligence and surveillance officers from different agencies working together in the same office.
HM Revenue and Customs has also expressed an interest in moving its Scottish law enforcement arm to the campus, although the final decision will rest with the Treasury as the body is accountable to Westminster.
Gordon Miller, head of investigations in Scotland for HM Revenue and Customs, said: "Organised crime has no boundaries and we should ensure we have as few boundaries between us as possible.
"We are happy to be part of this scoping process and keeping an open mind. We are already working in partnership with other law enforcement agencies, not just in Scotland but across the UK."
It is hoped other countries will follow Scotland's lead, ultimately leading to a global network of national crime-fighting "one-stop-shops" waging war on human trafficking, drug running and other international crime.
A source said: "There's nothing anywhere else in the world which has all the various law enforcement agencies working so closely together.
"This could clearly act as a model for law enforcement around the globe."
A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "Consultants have been appointed to carry out an options appraisal exercise and are due to report at the end of the year. That report will provide more detailed information about the size and shape of the campus in terms of what organisations may be co-located there and will enable decisions to be reached about the next stages of the project."
Maybe they can call it the real Scotland Yard.
That's how people get kilt.
Classroom OJT in Glasgow. I think it has more junkies per population than any other city in the world.
"That's how people get kilt."
No Scottish puns, for peat's sake!
Ok, no moor.
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