Organised Crime is a significant and established national security threat and includes: smuggling and distribution of drugs and guns; sexual abuse of children through trafficking; cross-border trafficking and smuggling of people; exploitation of individuals; industrial-scale frauds; ransomware attacks; and the laundering of dirty money all causes harm to victims, individuals and communities.

Winner: Op Bridport and Op Goutweed – Neath Town Centre, Neath Neighbourhood Policing Team and Safer Neath Port Talbot Partnership.

The project has been chosen due to its impact on dismantling a County Line, the identification of exploiting young children (Op Bridport) and building resilient systems to prevent them re-establishing through increased and improved partnership work (Op Goutweed). Youth ASB and criminality was identified with added danger that Police had received intelligence of youths carrying knives and associates embedded in organised crime group activities. The County Line was completely dismantled and systems in place to stop its return. Crime rates within the Town Centre decreased with overall recorded crime down 15.9%. The most noticeable decrease was in criminal damage offences with a 47.2% reduction. There was a 20.6% reduction in commercial burglaries and an 11.8% reduction in ASB. An ongoing positive is that they now have a joined-up, robust process in place to deal with similar issues, revised systems and new procedures ensuring that they are viewed holistically should organised crime become an issue again.