In the Dock

identify trafficked persons. A SCDEA multi-agency seminar on trafficking targeting 200 frontlineofficers from across the eight forces in Scotland, resulted in core trafficking indicators and messagesdistilled into a clear and helpful aide memoir which constitutes the back page of the police notebooksthus being easily accessible if potential trafficking is encountered. It has recently been distributed to25,000 officers across Scotland.In conducting the research, there was a sense that law enforcement agencies should moresystematically involve the key victim services in Scotland in early cooperative initiatives at both thestrategic and operational levels. For instance, the Police Service of Scotland will, from April 2013,inherit a repository of intelligence, analysis, and expertise on trafficking from the SCDEA. Moreover, itwill benefit from the existence of and momentum established by the two-tier multi-agency lawenforcement structure initiated by SCDEA from February 2012, designed to ensure systematicapproaches, analysis and learning on trafficking are adopted by all law enforcement bodies operatingin Scotland. Crucially, this seeks to integrate strategic policy and operational expertise on traffickingthrough both its strategic leads and tactical leads groups, respectively.The ATMG recommends that this repository and two-tier structure is carried forward into the newPolice Service and, critically, that it includes the two victim services in both groups in recognition oftheir professionalism and, vitally, to benefit from their strategic and operational advice on appropriateways to engage with trafficked persons, as well as to ensure that they can plan sufficient support topre-planned operations. Recently TARA has agreed to pilot early “intelligence” interviews with theNHTU and trafficked women. These women do not have to give their personal details at this stageand officers from the NHTU will meet the women in TARA offices with a TARA staff member present.Four of these have occurred and feedback from all has been positive.Moreover, there is a need for the new Police Service to continue to broaden specialism on traffickingestablished in SCDEA’s dedicated trafficking team that integrates the functions of intelligencegathering, mapping, and analysis; conducting criminal investigations; and providing advice, guidance,and awareness-raising within the Police Service; and the specialism developed in Strathclyde Policeforce’s specialised vice and human trafficking team in Glasgow. This will assist in developing sharedunderstandings in the Police Service and, critically, help ensure all operations and dealings withvictims are led by and/or involve officers with the requisite knowledge and expertise of trafficking andhow best to respond to trafficked persons.Multi-agency workingOf equal importance is systemic cooperation, comprising multi-agency groups, information sharing,and, simply put, key professionals knowing, respecting, and learning to trust one another. Theresearch learned of effective multi-agency cooperation, in specific cases, across law enforcementbodies and victims’ services. It is no coincidence that the only two convictions in eight years ofcriminal legislation on trafficking were based on such efficient cooperation, mainly between police,COPFS, and victims’ services, as well as with UK bodies such as SOCA and UKBA, devolvedagencies like the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and international bodies such as INTERPOL.Successful convictions in ScotlandIn September 2011, the first conviction from Operation Factor was secured under the Scots lawoffence of trafficking into prostitution. 432 In R v Stephen Craig and Sarah Beukan, 433 the accused, bothScots, plead guilty before trial and received seemingly low sentences of 3.6 years and 1.5 years432Section 22 Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003.433 R v Craig and Beukan at Glasgow Sheriff Court, 3 October 2011.132