HEREFORDSHIRE MATES

1. HEREFORDSHIRE MATES Multi Agency Targeted Enforcement Strategy 1

2. Who Are We? West Mercia Police Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service Herefordshire Council Environmental Health Housing Enforcement Herefordshire Council Trading Standards Home Office Immigration Enforcement 2

3. Partnership Support HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Gang Masters & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) Security Industry Authority (SIA) 3

4. What we do A multi agency problem solving approach to make joint working between national and local agencies more effective and systematic To strengthen the response to hidden and illicit economic activity Improve how agencies support businesses to comply with regulatory and other statutory regimes Actively seek out incidents of modern slavery or the exploitation of vulnerable people in High Risk Businesses 4

5. Joint Visits to target enforcement and compliance activities Combining and analysing intelligence and compliance data from multiple agencies identifies which businesses are non-compliant in multiple areas Subsequent intelligence used to plan and target inspections of premises Well Planned multiple agency visits are more powerful than inspections by a single agency, as the full extent of non-compliance can be addressed as a single intervention How we do it

6. Eyes & Ears Routine, single agency enforcement and compliance visits have the potential, with a little training and support, to become a valuable source of intelligence to exchange with other agencies in the partnership – being each others ‘eyes and ears’. 6 6

7. Modern Slavery Modern Slavery includes human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced and compulsory labour. Exploitation takes a number of forms, including sexual exploitation, forced labour, forced criminality. Victims come from all walks of life. Some of the most vulnerable people are those that cannot speak English, don’t understand ‘western values’ and can’t speak out as they are in the UK illegally and are controlled by others 7

8. A link to Foreign National Offending due to cultural trends Restaurants Take Aways Car Washes Nail Bars Illicit Tobacco Market ‘European Shops’ High Risk Businesses

9. Sharing Resources Body Worn Video Thermal Imaging Equipment A Fire Appliance Police Drones Custody Suite & Interview Rooms Personnel 9

10. Over 40 arrests for illegal working and overstaying in the UK A number of £20,000 fines levied against exploitive and reckless employers Mapping the picture of illegal working within Herefordshire Immigration Interventions

11. May 2017 – An example of one shop seizure in Hereford 21,880 cigarettes 848 packs of hand rolling tobacco £19,200 duty evasion £17,500 street selling value The Tobacco Picture – A National Problem

12. CCTV seized and viewed during search warrant 6.5 days of footage 486 customers bought quantities of cigarettes & 313 did not. 61% of all customers bought illicit tobacco Running a fraudulent business to sell illicit tobacco? If this week is representative of the year then £500,000 of duty evasion per annum in that one shop Annual Sales

13. Golden Indicators Immigration Workers acting nervously when law enforcement / officials attend premises on official business Number of workers living in the business premises or above Workers not being allowed to speak for themselves when being spoken to by officials 13

14. HMRC Poor record keeping Unexpectedly high volume of trade Shops with two tills (one for legitimate trade) Golden Indicators

15. Fire Service Inappropriate and dangerous sleeping conditions Exits blocked or locked when occupied Golden Indicators

16. Trading Standards Repeated failure to heed compliance advice Evasive behaviour concerning the identity of the legal entity / ownership of the business Golden Indicators

17. Environmental Health & Housing Inappropriate disposal of commercial waste Locked rooms / doors in commercial premises Evidence of living / sleeping / washing including mattresses in commercial premises Evidence of rats / mice / insects or smoking in business premises Locks on bedroom doors and / or kitchen cupboards Golden Indicators

18. Leading the way Nationally with a multi agency problem solving approach Utilising Education and Awareness alongside Enforcement and Prosecution Protecting those most vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking Tackling Organised Crime from a Partnership Perspective The Herefordshire Picture

19. ·        HWFRS– Served three Prohibition Notices for unsafe sleeping conditions (protecting 5 persons) found in hairdressers and the two restaurants, two enforcement notices and one fire safety matters letter to follow, HFSC carried out and installation of two smoke detectors (Ops crew from 46) ·         Herefordshire Council Housing - Served one emergency prohibition order on a flat above one of the restaurants (Protecting a family of 3 including a 5 year old child – this is where the HWFRS smoke detectors were fitted to allow the family to stay last night) ·         Herefordshire Environmental health – collected evidence of poor food hygiene standards to review the existing food standards hygiene ratings for the two restaurants ·         Home Office Immigration – Checked all employees found at the two restaurants and subsequently arrested five for removal from the country and one was bailed to report under immigration legislation (the others were working legally in the UK) ·        WMP – Identified one individual wanted by Police, and gathered evidence of modern day slavery (under payment of wages/sub standard living accommodation etc…) and interviewed a 5 year old child for safeguarding purposes and also provided scene safety and command/control throughout the operation All agencies had a positive outcome from the operation, and the above results have, again, shown the benefits of multi-agency working in this area. 7th April 2018

20. Questions & Discussion How Effective Can Multi Agency Enforcement Be in Tackling Organised Crime…..