From ‘Shallow’ to ‘Deep’ Policing: ‘Crash-for-Cash’ Insurance Fraud Investigation in England and Wales and the Need for Greater Regulation Event

The policing of insurance fraud has traditionally been dealt with beyond the criminal justice system as a private matter between the claimant and the insurer with only a few iconic cases referred to the criminal justice system each year. The growth of insurance fraud, particularly ‘crash-for-cash' fraud, and the disinterest of the police, has led to a change in the response of the insurance industry. This paper will argue this response can be characterised as a shift from the traditional ‘shallow' to a ‘deeper' form of policing which sees greater focus upon criminal and quasi-criminal outcomes. This paper explores some of the private and innovative methods the industry has developed and illustrates at a time when police privatisation has become a higher profile issue what greater private criminal investigation might look like. The paper argues the shift to ‘deeper' policing necessitates greater regulation of the private investigation of crime and outlines a number of proposals to address this gap which require further consideration and debate.

Speaker Information

Mark Button is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies in the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth. He has also recently been an advisor to the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime on the regulation of civilian private security services helping them to draft international standards on regulation.