Property Seized

Could you please supply me with the all information held in relation to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. I would like to know/be supplied with, for the past three years; 2007, 2008, 2009 (financial or calendar years, depending on how the information is held, and excluding cases that are still ongoing or being investigated) :

• A summary of assets seized by the Cheshire Constabulary
• The total value (estimation by the Cheshire Constabulary or other estimator) of assets seized by the Cheshire Constabulary
• The total amount raise by the Cheshire Constabulary in the sale of seized assets in relation to the above

Please include copies of material which you hold in the form of paper of electronic records including emails.

In accordance with section 1 (1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

Your request appears to be based on the belief that the Police actually seize goods and sell them. The practice of removing assets other than cash from criminals is not one we encourage in Cheshire based upon our understanding of POCA in that we do not seize assets as the legislation places the emphasis on the suspect to realise their assets within the six months and pay the orders off. We note any assets and value them as part of the figure we ask to be paid as part of the confiscation. This is done as the legislation puts the onus on the defendant to realise his/her assets to satisfy the amount of the court order.

We have given our figures for the periods below which are from our records however these are available from the Home Office for the whole of the UK.

Confiscations

For your information the following website details police performance in relation to asset recovery.

Crime Reduction Home Office