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<p>The amount recovered by each police force under the Proceeds of Crime Act and the
previous asset recovery legislation is provided in Table A. There is no provision
for police forces to freeze assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act; however we are
able to provide force-by-force breakdowns of the amount of cash seized and value of
property subjected to a restraint order during a criminal investigation or proceeding.
A proportion of this may be deemed by the courts to be subject to forfeiture or confiscation.
Table B provides figures for the amounts seized or restrained.<br><br>More assets
have been recovered since 2010 than ever before, although prosecutors face greater
difficulties in obtaining restraint orders following the impact of the Court of Appeal
decision in Windsor & Ors v Crown Prosecution Service [2011] EWCA Crim 143. The
Government has taken steps to address this by bringing forward provisions in the Serious
Crime Bill, which is currently before Parliament, to lower the legal test for restraint
in order to make it easier to obtain restraint orders earlier in investigations.We
are working with operational partners to ensure that the use of restraint orders is
considered at the outset of all appropriate investigations.</p><p> </p>
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