Essex Police are “taking from the greedy and giving to the needy” with a new scheme that will give the proceeds of criminal activity to charity.

The project is being run in conjunction with the Essex Community Foundation (ECF) and will take money from the sale of property and items seized by Essex Police from criminals and put it towards community organisations and safety projects.

And the force is hoping that the scheme will be rolled out to other constabularies across the UK.

Stephen Kavanagh, chief constable of Essex Police said: “It is something I have wanted to see for a long time and it demonstrates the commitment of Essex Police to giving support to people and local charities in Essex working and making the county a better and safer place to live. We are a bit like Robin Hood – taking from the greedy and giving to the needy.

“It will be extremely satisfying to see that it is payback time for criminals and the money will be used to make our communities safer. The scheme is not going be short-term, it will be ongoing and we are planning to make funding available every year.”

The Essex Police Proceeds of Crime Match Funding Scheme, kicked off last week with a donation of £75,000.

The scheme will match fund donations channelled through ECF by Essex Police by 50 per cent.

Further match funding will be made available annually by Essex Police but the amount will depend on the money raised from the sale of criminal assets.

Individuals and companies who donate £25,000 or more are also being given the opportunity to establish their own endowed fund with ECF. All other donations will be pooled in a general Essex Community Safety Fund managed by the Foundation. 

'National ambition'

The partnership between Essex Police and ECF originally came about through a personal connection between a founding trustee and the police force.

Caroline Taylor, deputy chief executive of ECF told Civil Society News: “One of our vice presidents, Charles Clarke OBE, was one of the Essex Community Foundation’s founding trustees. He is now retired but was also deputy chief constable of Essex Police and is currently a trustee of the UK Community Foundation which is our membership organisation. So he has really driven this forward.

“He worked with the police and the community foundation and he very much wants to get this picked up by other forces. So he will be leading really on this issue at a national level.”

Taylor also expressed a hope that the scheme will be rolled out nationally.

“The intention and the hope would be that other forces around the UK would follow suit,” she said. “Other forces do work with their local community foundations as well but the intention is that this will be picked up and followed by other forces.

“If that is the case, there really is the potential for it to create thousands of pounds of funding available to local community foundations.”

Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of ECF said: “We are pleased to be working with Essex Police, who are to be congratulated for coming up with a completely fresh way of converting the proceeds of crime into something positive for the benefit of the community. We believe this scheme deserves a widespread welcome and that it will inspire and increase charitable giving across the county.

“It is very fitting that all grants will go towards activities promoting community safety and we know that even modest grants will make a big difference to people’s lives."