Defence Serious Crime Unit

The Defence Serious Crime Unit (DSCU), is a military unit within the Defence Crime Command which investigates alleged crimes and criminal activity involving personnel subject to Service law in the United Kingdom, or those in the UK military serving abroad. The unit replaces the three Special Investigation Branches of the UK armed services (the Royal Navy, the British Army, and the Royal Air Force).

Defence Serious Crime Unit
Founded5 December 2022
CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Branch
TypeDefence investigative unit
RoleService criminal investigations
Garrison/HQSouthwick Park
Commanders
Current
commander		Colonel Mark Strong[1]

Background

In 2017, a Service Justice System (SJS) review was enacted, led by Shaun Lyons and Jon Murphy. One of the report's recommendations was that a Defence Serious Crime Unit be formed from personnel drawn from all three service strands within the UK military framework.

Recommendation 2
A tri-Service Defence Serious Crime Unit (DSCU) is created following the civilian police Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) model.
Recommendation 3
The three existing Special Investigations Bureau (SIB) be brigaded into the DSCU together with all current specialist investigative support - intelligence, undercover, surveillance, digital units, forensic and scenes of crime.
Recommendation 4
SP [service police] personnel are seconded into the unit and should retain their individual SP identity.[2]

In October 2020, Ben Wallace MP further enacted a second report by Richard Henriques which agreed wholeheartedly with the SJS review in the setting up of the DCSU.[3] This report was delivered in October 2021.[4] The service criminal inquiry process had attracted some criticism as it was deemed to have not effectively investigated criminal activity, particularly the most serious crimes of rape, manslaughter and murder. The Centre for Military Justice maintains that such serious crimes as these (and the crime of sexual assault by penetration), should be investigated by civilian police forces.[5] Up until 2006, these crimes were tried in the civilian courts, however, this was amended in 2006 so that service police could investigate crimes that had historically occurred abroad (when service personnel were on active duty) which the civilian courts could not legally prosecute.[6]

One of the accusations about Service Police was that they were/are not able to handle complex investigations, particularly serious offences. In 2012, the body of a Kenyan woman was found in septic tank three months after she had disappeared. It is alleged that a British soldier killed her after she was seen out partying with soldiers based near Nanyuki.[7][8] A request by the Kenyan police to the Royal Military Police (RMP) to collect DNA samples from all the soldiers in the hotel on the night of Agnes Wanjiru's disappearance was not acted upon. The Sunday Times stated that the RMP is not fit for purpose. "It is one thing to break up bar brawls between soldiers and locals, but investigating murders and collecting forensic evidence is beyond its limited capabilities."[9]

Role

Ben Wallace MP described the formation of the new unit as "... a step change to improving the quality and capability of the armed forces to investigate serious crimes. Fully independent, it will create a critical mass of experience and personnel to ensure our investigations are thorough, high quality and timely."[10] The "fully independent" that Wallace states is that investigations will be outside of the alleged victims' chain of command.[11][12] The DSCU will utilise the specialist skills and resources of all three services in one unit. In November 2021, when some of the recommendations from the Henriques report were taken forward, it was stated that the DSCU would have military commander who was "hierarchically, institutionally and practically" independent of the chain of command and of those whom it investigated.[13]

All staff on the new unit will be trained to deal with sexual offences, with some being trained in special investigations procedures, family liaison and specialist interviewing techniques at the College of Policing.[14] The DCSU will be a tri-service unit under the command of a newly appointed provost-marshal.[15] Legislation dictates a "Tri-service serious crimes unit" being formed on 5 December 2022.[16]

See also

References
  1. Lemmer, Richard (5 December 2022). "Serious crimes on Royal Navy warships could see vessels called home for a new independent investigations unit under military shake-up". The News. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  2. Lyons, Shaun; Murphy, Jon (March 2019). "Service Justice System Review (Part 2)" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. p. 26.
  3. Henriques, Richard. "REPORT OF THE HENRIQUES REVIEW INTO THE FRAMEWORK, PROCESSES AND SKILLS THAT THE SERVICE JUSTICE SYSTEM REQUIRES FOR OVERSEAS OPERATIONS" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. p. 15. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  4. "Sir Richard Henriques Review". hansard.parliament.uk. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  5. "Problems with the Service Police". centreformilitaryjustice.org.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  6. Boffey, Daniel (2 November 2022). "Eight in 10 rape charges tried by UK military courts end without conviction". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  7. "Agnes Wanjiru murder: Kenya family's anger over UK army 'cover-up'". BBC News. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  8. Hall, Rachel (10 November 2021). "Family of Kenyan woman allegedly murdered by UK soldier to sue MoD". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  9. Tucker, Emma, ed. (24 October 2021). "Episode that has brought shame on the British Army". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  10. Grylls, George (5 December 2022). "British military sets up unit for investigating sexual offences". The Times. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  11. Sabbagh, Dan (2 December 2021). "MoD overhauls rules for investigating sexual offences in armed forces". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  12. Sengupta, Kim (2 December 2021). "Army reforms announced in bid to protect female soldiers from abuse". The Independent. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  13. Hughes, Laura (8 November 2021). "UK government and generals criticised over efforts to curb harassment in army". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  14. Mander, Simon (13 January 223). "Defences launches new unit to combat sexual offenders". RAF News. No. 1, 551. p. 13. ISSN 0035-8614.
  15. "MOD to establish Defence Serious Crime Unit". gov.uk. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  16. "The Armed Forces (Tri-Service Serious Crime Unit) (Consequential Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2022". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
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