In the Dock

defending a trafficked person for forced cannabis cultivation, who had been charged with drugoffences, asked the police why the mobile phones which were seized in the course of the investigationagainst their client were not traced, and was met with the following response: “‘That’s too expensive,serve us a defence statement and then we’ll think about it’”. The legal practitioner stated that thepolice also, “accepted … that it was an organised gang that had facilitated the cannabis factory andyet there was no suggestion in the unused material [of] any investigation”. It is noteworthy that theATMG could not ascertain any prosecutions of forced cannabis cultivation traffickers under traffickingoffences. 182The clandestine and transnational nature of trafficking means that investigatory techniques andevidence gathering is often very expensive. Where trafficking involves foreign nationals the cost of theinvestigation doubles immediately because of the need for interpreters. It is also important to note thata reduction in resources will inevitably result in staff cuts which in turn will mean that intelligencegathering capacity is reduced. Some interviewed law enforcement officers were concerned that thelittle resources that were available for trafficking investigations were now being directed towards theinternal trafficking of British children for the purposes of sexual exploitation at the expense of othertrafficking cases.Types of investigationThere are three main methods of investigating trafficking: (1) Proactive investigations involve anoverall strategy for tackling a criminal network i.e. investigative focus, multi-agency collaboration,tactics employed to collect solid intelligence and evidence gathering, the offences pursued and thebest location for instituting the prosecution; 183 (2) Reactive investigations are triggered by victimcomplaints; 184 and (3) Disruptive investigations, which in its basic terms, are intelligence-led policing,acting out of the formal judicial system, creating obstacles or inconveniences for individualsparticipating in criminal network. 185 Disruption should be given a wide interpretation ranging fromarrests, closures of premises, or recovering assets etc. For example, if a person responsible fortransporting exploited workers drives without a licence or insurance, the police may arrest them onthose charges and frustrate a part of the traffickers’ operation. To do so, in theory, removes a “key”player thus destabilising the network.There has been greater emphasis on disruption strategies to tackle trafficking, which provides anopportunity to overcome large workloads requiring less police time and resources while still beingmeasurable by performance targets. The Government asserts that “[d]isrupting the activities oforganised crime groups is just as important as having in place the appropriate legislativeframework” 186 and that such strategies are “generally far more effective in the long run”. 187 Contrary tothis position, the UNODC states “[d]isruption, however, does not provide long-term solutions and mayonly displace the crimes to another location.” 188 As trafficking networks are fluid and robust there is noguarantee that any given action will disrupt a network. For instance, the trafficking network may onlybe momentarily disrupted until a replacement person or premises can be found. Indeed participantsinformed the ATMG of instances where brothels connected to exploitation had been closed only toappear again in a short period, and traffickers who were bailed for low level offences immediatelymoved from one agency to another and carried on their exploitative activities. To ensure disruptionhas been effective may require intensified surveillance and may therefore be more costly in the long-182The only case with reference to forced cannabis cultivation that the ATMG could locate was R v Vu at Northampton Crown Court, 1February 2010. These defendants were charged with immigration offences, obtaining property by deception, making false declarationof marriage, and transferring and concealing criminal property. See Bedfordshire on Sunday, ‘Court nails cruel people trafficker whomarried sis’ 14 February 2010. Available at: www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Court-nails-cruel-people-trafficker-who-marriedsis.htm[last accessed 11 March 2013].183Friesendorf, C., Strategies Against Human Trafficking: The Role of the Security Sector (September 2009).184UNODC, Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons (November 2008), p.179.185Innes, M. & Sheptycki, J., ‘From Detection to Disruption: Intelligence and the Changing Logic of Police Crime Control in the UnitedKingdom’ International Criminal Justice Review Vol. 12 (2004), pp.1-24.186Internal Review, supra note 127, p.5.187Ibid., p.9.188UNODC, supra note 46, p.199.53