About Us
Titan, the name for the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, was established in 2009 as a collaboration between the six police forces in Cumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and North Wales to tackle serious organised crime that crosses county borders in the region. The mission of the unit is simple - to tackle organised crime groups causing the greatest levels of harm to communities in the North West.
The unit is comprised of four teams working closely together and includes representatives from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, UK Border Agency and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).Those teams are: the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU), the Regional Crime Unit (RCU), the Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART) and the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PcECU).
The Regional Intelliegnce Unit (RIU) works closely with police forces and partner agencies to understand the threat posed to the North West. Through the mapping of organised crime groups all groups are identified and prioritised for action.
The Regional Crime Unit (RCU) specialises in conducting operations against organised crime groups. Utilising a whole series of tactics it has successfully arrested more than 200 organised crimanals for serious offences that have led to offenders receiving in excess of 700 years imprisonment. They have seized millions of pounds worth of drugs, stolen property and cash as well as seizing a large number of firearms.
The Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART) specialises in seizing assets and property from criminals where it has been established that they have acquired the assets by criminal means. The unit was established in 2004 and since then has confiscated more than £27 million in criminally acquired assets.
The Police Central e-Crime Unit (PcECU) is the latest addition to the region and was set up to tackle cyber crime and cyber attacks. The unit will specialise in tracking down those engaged in large-scale computer fraud and identity theft, as well as tackling the most serious computer hacking enquiries.