Big Brother in Scotland?

From today's Times of London:

Scots are being urged to inform on their neighbours if they believe they are living lavish lifestyles they cannot support by honest means. Police are considering setting up a national helpline or using Crimestoppers to encourage callers to report people they suspect.

The tactic of asking people to “shop” friends and colleagues for drink-driving in return for a £500 reward proved successful in Scotland over the Christmas period. Of the 1,700 people who took up the offer across Britain, more than a quarter came from north of the border.

The new act gives police greater powers to track down and seize the assets of those involved in crime. More than £300,000 in cash has already been seized in Scotland with a further £1m seized across Britain since the first stage of the Proceeds of Crime Act came into force last month.

Police across Britain expect to confiscate more than £10m this year — most of it generated through drug dealing. The new tactic allows police to strip known criminals of assets and put them out of business, even when there is no conviction.

Anybody found to have more than £10,000 cash in suspicious circumstances can be arrested. The accused has to prove it was gained honestly or the money goes to the Treasury. . .

David Marsh, head of the fraud squad at Strathclyde police, wants communities to pass on vital information about neighbours who live beyond their means. As well as targeting the “Mr Bigs” of crime such as Tam McGraw, known as “The Licensee”, who is alleged to own various properties including a villa in Spain, Marsh wants to track the financial arrangements of those living in estates around Strathclyde who own flashy cars, go on lots of holidays but do not go to work.

“We are attempting to push the boundaries of the legislation to see how far we can take it,” said Marsh.

Yet as bad as this sounds from the standpoint of civil liberties, when I was living in a rather marginal neighborhood in New York City, many of us were then wondering why the police didn't pay more attention to the everpresent teenaged drug dealers driving fancy cars. Prosecuting them for tax evasion would have been trivially easy, given how openly they flaunted their money.

Posted by David on February 23, 2003 1:01 PM