Don’t bank on ignorance

In his preface to “Money Laundering - A Training Strategy”, which was published recently, Detective Inspector Cliff Knuckey, head of the Metropolitan Police Money Laundering Investigation Team illustrates with a true case why staff must be trained to recognise suspicious transactions.

“Money Laundering - A Training Strategy” by Sue Grossey, is published by Informa. For more information tel +44 (0) 1206 772 223; see www.informafinance.com/mlt

The street or career criminal will look upon a visit to the interview room of a police station merely as an occupational hazard, another part of the process en route to either being released or charged. Some habitual criminals even know the police caution at the start of the interview better than the policeman who administers it. They know what to expect. However, to those people who, ordinarily, would not come to the notice of the police in circumstances that called for them to be interviewed as a suspect, the interview room can be a lonely and forbidding place, even though they may be accompanies by a legal representative. Such rooms are never as big as they appear on television’s “The Bill “. They are always windowless and soundproofed in order to enhance the quality of the tape recorder, which will record the interviewer’s questions and the suspect’s answers. No pictures of the Queen, or even the current Commissioner, adorn the walls. This removes the potential for the suspect to distract him or herself.