In cases where British police officers can not afford to take time, the dossiers are passed on to the private unit “TM Eye”.
Under the leadership of former senior officers of Scotland Yard, “TM Eye” has already arrested over 400 offenders and boasts an impressive 100 percent conviction rate.
Tony Nash, former commander of the Metropolitan Police and co-founder of the unit, told the British newspaper The Daily Mail that “TM Eye” believes there is no substitute for going to the streets and knocking on doors in an investigation.
He says often the police only deal with cases from their desks, a “new culture,” as he calls it, due to the current dire state of funding.
In the past two years, the company filed private lawsuits against 403 criminals for fraud, theft of intellectual property and other crimes. A total of 43 people were detained.
Consisting of retired commissars and cyber crime experts from Scotland Yard and the National Crime Agency, the private security unit is currently expanding beyond property crime.
David Green, a former British government adviser, warned that private security should not be taking over the functions of the police as there is a danger that there would not be the same security measures as in the police force.
If the police do something wrong, there would be a clear disciplinary structure, a chain of accountability and independent control, but private concerns run without public accountability.
In affluent neighborhoods, it costs a household up to £200 a month for the service, a steep price to pay.
Metropolitan Police Federation Chairman Ken Marsh has called the rise of private investigators a “harrowing indictment” against policing. His worries about the lack of public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, official police statistics have revealed the largest registered annual increase in crime for more than ten years in Britain, with staggering levels of violence, sexual assault, knife and gun attacks in the country.
In light of these facts, private police, with their astonishing number of convicted, convicted and sometimes even deported criminals, have helped to improve the current security situation.
With surveillance and covert investigators, the private unit has managed to secure the conviction of 60 criminal offenders in Manchester who sell counterfeit goods such as designer handbags and clothing.
All convictions , DNA and fingerprints of the suspects are recorded on the national police computer.
The company’s executive director, David McKelvey, a retired Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector, believes there is more undercover work being done by his units than in any other law enforcement agency.
He says his company has better uniforms, better pay and better support.