Integrity...Courage...Honour: A Comparative Study of Law Enforcement Agencies

Purpose—The purpose of this paper was to compare three first-world countries’ law enforcement agencies to those of South Africa. The aim was to identify areas where South Africa’s agencies can improve to take the fighting of corruption to a higher level, and in doing so, improve their ranking on Transparency International’s scale, and their Corruption Perception Index. Design/methodology/approach—The author compared South Africa’s law enforcement agencies to those of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to identify possible areas where South Africa’s agencies can improve. Findings—The results indicate preliminary support for areas in South Africa’s law enforcement agencies that need restructuring and improvement. Practical implications—Improved law enforcement agencies will assist in the fight against corruption, improving South Africa’s corruption perception index (among others), which might encourage foreign investment. Originality/value—The results of this study point to opportunities to strengthen law enforcement agencies in South Africa, which will result in improved crime-fighting abilities, higher prosecution rates, and improved crime statistics. Research limitations—Law enforcement agencies (which deals with corruption in general) from the USA, the U.K., and Australia will be explored and compared with those of South Africa.


Introduction
"And maybe remind the few if ill of us they speak, that we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak" (Anon).
Law enforcement is not only about upholding peace under the law, but averting and identifying criminal activities as well (Collins English Dictionary; Cambridge Dictionary). Police officers play a crucial role in any law enforcement system: deterring illegal and dangerous behaviour (Kokemuller, 2015).
However, even though the police are the first line of defence, it does not guarantee them having integrity nor protecting the people. This statement is based on Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) Africa's report that the South African police force is perceived as being the most corrupt institution in the country (Pring & Vrushi, 2019, p. 12). According to this report, the top three types of corruption experienced are bribery, abuse of power, and dereliction of duty (Motala, 2018;Corruption Watch, 2019). Placing the above figures into perspective: A scale of zero to 100 is used to rate the level of corruption in a specific country. A score of zero means a country is highly corrupt while a score of 100 means a country is very clean. Thus, with scores of 69, and 77 respectively, the USA, Australia, and the U.K. are considered to have little corruption taking place (Transparency International, 2019).
South Africa ranked 70 out of 180 with a CPI of 44 out of 100, thus seen as a highly corrupt country according to Transparency International's scale. Possible reasons for lower-ranked countries are bad functioning public institutions such as the police and judiciary (Transparency International, 2019).
Various reasons for this may exist, for example:

1)
The law may not be enforced efficiently; 2) Inefficient communication between law enforcement agencies and regulators; 3) Prosecutions and convictions are not strict enough to deter criminal activities;

4) Basic morals of individuals; and
5) The citizens' perception of Government (Source: author).

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Published by SCHOLINK INC. The reason that the U.K., USA and Australia are high-ranked may be due to their independent judicial systems and the stronger standards of integrity of public officials (Transparency International, 2017).
Thus, by identifying and comparing the various law enforcement agencies of the different countries selected, one might discover (within this context) where South Africa's law enforcement agencies can improve.

Limitation of Scope
Law enforcement agencies (which deals with corruption in general) from the USA, the U.K., and Australia will be explored and compared with those of South Africa. The definition of corruption for purposes of this paper is: "abuse of public or private office for personal gain" (Van Vuuren, 2004, p. 11;OECD, 2007;Transparency International, 2011) with emphasis on the following forms of corruption: • Tax evasion, excessive profiteering and money laundering; • Black market operations and links with organized crime; • Misappropriation, diverted funds, misuse of funds; • Theft and fraud through illegal transactions; and • Institutional corruption. (Turner, 2008, p. 30;Fleming & Zyglidopoulos, 2009, pp. 6-7).
Human factors such as integrity, and personal principles and ethics will not be explored.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
The Mission of the FBI is to "protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States" through their vision, which is to be "ahead of the threat through leadership, agility and integration". One of the FBI's priorities relating to this study is to combat public corruption at all levels (Mission and Priorities). Other functions include assisting the litigating units in setting investigative priorities, in liaising with the interagency operational law enforcement centres and the intelligence community, and in coordinating MLARS' classified litigation (Special Financial Investigations Unit).

Internal Revenue Service: Criminal Investigation Unit
According to the IRS, the Criminal Investigation Unit's conviction rate has never fallen below 90%, and it is a success that is unmatched by federal law enforcement (IRS: Criminal Investigation at-a-glance).
The mission of the Criminal Investigation Unit is to "investigate potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes in a manner that fosters confidence in The evidence that has been gathered and analyzed will determine whether the case will be terminated or whether a recommendation of prosecution will be prepared. A "special agent report" is compiled detailing the findings of a violation of the law together with a recommendation of prosecution. If the case must be criminally prosecuted, this report is forwarded to the U.S. Attorney for all other investigations. This "special agent report" has to pass four levels before it is sent to the Department of

National Crime Agency (NCA)
The NCA is compared to the FBI of the U.S., mainly because it appears that the NCA was closely modelled on the FBI (Info Security, 2013). The NCA's mission is "to protect the public from the most serious threats by disrupting and bringing to justice those serious and organized criminals who present the highest risk to the U.K." (Our Mission).
The NCA has separate divisions of which the Economic Crime Command falls within the Prosperity Division with its main resolution to "reduce the impact of economic crime on U.K. society and U.K.
economy". The "economic crimes" referred to include money laundering, international corruption, fraud and counterfeit currency.
The Economic Crime Command's priorities can be divided into four areas. They are: • Combatting money laundering and criminal assets "by leading multi-agency action" on money laundering on a national and international scale; • Disrupting criminal access to professional skills with the help of law enforcement, regulators, banks and professional bodies and by increasing the impact of the NCA's operative skills in financial investigation, civil recovery and taxation; and • Leveraging change in the economic crime operating environment through, among others, the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce. (Economic Crime Command).

Figure 1. Breakdown of the Economic Crime Command's Units (Source: Author)
The Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT) The JMLIT works with the financial sector to combat high-end money laundering. High-end money laundering is defined as "specialist, usually involves transactions of substantial value, and involves the abuse of the financial sector and so-called professional enablers". In major frauds and overseas corruption, money laundering is specifically relevant because the crime is electronic and using cash will only be found further down the laundering process; it disguises audit trails. These "so-called professional enablers" are usually individuals in a profession such as lawyers, bankers and accountants who can set up a complicated process to hide the identity of the perpetrator (Money Laundering).
This task force has four key operational priorities: • Understanding and disrupting the funding flows linked to bribery and corruption; • Understanding and disrupting trade-based money laundering; • Understanding and disrupting the funding flows linked to organized immigration crime and human trafficking; and • Understanding key terrorist financing methodologies (Joint Money Laundering Taskforce).

Civil Recovery and Tax (CRT)
The objective of this unit is to recover property obtained through illegal activities. Because this unit has non-conviction power, it is used when the criminal process has failed or cannot continue or when the civil recovery and tax approach characterizes a better placement of resources. Civil recovery will be utilized if proof can be presented that the assets in question have been obtained through illegal activities.
The tax powers are utilized when reasonable grounds exist that income was obtained relatively through illegal activities and was not declared to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The NCA is authorized to then take over from HMRC and raise an assessment with penalties and interest on the tax due.

International Corruption Unit (ICU)
This unit has three main functions as part of the Economic Crime Command: • To investigate money laundering in the U.K. resulting from corruption of high-ranking officials overseas; • To investigate bribery involving UK-based companies or nationals that have an international element; and • To investigate cross-border bribery where there is a link to the U.K. As part of their duties, they also trace and recover proceeds of international corruption (International Corruption Unit).

Proceeds of Crime Center (PoCC)
This centre is tasked with the accreditation and monitoring of all financial investigators' performance.
It also provides training in financial investigation, asset recovery and the operation of the Proceeds of cases going through the criminal justice system, while the Financial Investigation Support System is a professional register, providing resources for investigators (Proceeds of Crime Centre).

The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)
The GCHQ is working with Her Majesty's Government and the industry to defend government systems from cyber threat and to provide support to the Armed Forces. According to GCHQ, they face four threats to the U.K.: cyber threats, threats from serious crime, threats from terrorism, and threats from espionage. For purposes of this paper, only the threats from serious crimes will be discussed (GCHQ: What We Do).
The GCHQ is working closely with the NCA and HMRC as well as other government agencies to protect the U.K. from severe criminals by identifying who these criminals are, what they do, and how they operate. There is a wide range of high-priority topics of which money laundering is one (GCHQ: The threat from serious crime, 2015).

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
HMRC is the tax and customs authority in the U.K. Their Fraud Investigations Service Unit has the responsibility of investigating severe tax fraud and aggressive tax avoidance (Gilbert Tax,  The types of cases investigated and prosecuted by this organization mainly: involve activity in many countries; involve alleged criminals who go to great lengths to hide their activity and the money they make from it; require analysis of substantial quantities of information and take longer than standard criminal cases to investigate and prosecute (More about our cases and how we work, 2017). There are four stages to a case:

1) Gathering information
The SFO's intelligence unit assesses the information received and generated (by the intelligence unit) to determine whether the alleged activity exists. Then it becomes the subject of a criminal investigation.

2) Investigation and prosecution
The Roskill model is used as the basis for the investigation and prosecution. The Roskill model refers to a report where it was recommended that investigators and prosecutors work together from the beginning. This is a model that is unique to the SFO as it is not standard practice for investigators and prosecutors to work together. "...because our cases need strong cooperation and management from both lawyers and investigators all the way through, to make sure that the lines of investigation are the best ones to uncover criminal activity, and eventually prove it in court". If enough evidence exists to support the prospect of a successful conviction, and prosecution is seen as being in the public's interest, charges will be filed.

3) Trial
The trial will take place in a court of law and takes typically longer than other trials.

4) Proceeds of crime
This stage involves the recovery of the proceeds of the crime to compensate victims wherever possible (Stages of a Case, 2017).

Secret Service and Secret Intelligence Service
The Security Service is also known as MI5. This organization investigates threats of terrorism (internationally and domestic), espionage, threats of cyber as well as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (MI5: What We Do). Pincus (2010) compares MI5 to the FBI, stating that MI5 is a domestic service. Unfortunately, there is not much information available to elaborate further on this organization.
An assumption made, however, is that money laundering will possibly form part of the terrorism threat as the financing of terrorism usually also entails money laundering. Based on the information obtained on the SFO, it may be possible that MI5 refers to some of these financings of terrorism or money laundering top-level cases to the SFO (author). Its mission is to provide the U.K.'s Government with "global covert capability" to keep the continent's people safe. The agency not only gathers secret intelligence, but it also conducts operations abroad to prevent and detect serious crime, and it also promotes and defends the national security and the economic security of the U.K. (MI6: Our Mission). MI6 works closely with MI5 and GCHQ and is governed by the British National Security Council.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)
The ASIO can be compared to the FBI (USA) and MI5 (U.K.) in being Australia's domestic security agency. Their primary responsibility is to gather and analyze intelligence to warn the Government of national security threats (Collins, 2013; Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security).

The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS)
ASIS can be paralleled with the CIA (USA) and MI6 (U.K.) in being Australia's international security agency, also called HUMINT (human intelligence). Their primary responsibility is to obtain and communicate intelligence that is not readily available by other means, about the capabilities, intentions and activities of individuals or organizations outside Australia (Collins, 2013; Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security).

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)
This agency's primary function is to collect, analyze and distribute foreign signals intelligence and forms part of the Department of Defence. It can be compared to the U.S.'s NSA and the U.K.'s GCHQ.
As with GCHQ and NSA, it is also the national authority on communications and computer security (Collins, 2013; Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security).

The Office of National Assessments (ONA)
This office collects information and assessments on international political, strategic and economic developments from all the other agencies. It reports its findings to the Prime Minister, senior ministers in the National Security Community of Cabinet and senior officials of government departments. It is also tasked with the coordination and evaluation of Australia's foreign intelligence activities. ONA operates under its legislation, stipulating the independence of its judgements (Collins, 2013; Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security).

The Australian Federal Police (AFP)
The AFP is a global policing agency whose role is not only to protect Commonwealth and national interests from crime but also to enforce Commonwealth criminal law. They are responsible for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences such as money laundering, among others.
On an international level, they are committed to international relations, which enables them to fight transnational crime anywhere in the world. On a national level, they are working with the Australian Government and other critical agencies on countering terrorism as well as crime-fighting and

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC)
The ACIC is Australia's national criminal intelligence agency whose functions are to investigate, research and deliver information to law enforcement agencies to improve their ability to prevent and deter illegal activity. Their mission is to protect Australia through "improved national ability to discover, understand and respond to current and emerging crime threats and criminal justice issues, including the ability to connect police and law enforcement to essential policing knowledge and information" by working with a comprehensive range of national and international partners (Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, 2016).

South African Police Service (SAPS)
The

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)
The powers of the National Prosecuting Authority are "to institute and conduct criminal proceedings on behalf of the State; to carry out any necessary functions incidental to instituting and conducting such criminal proceedings (this includes investigations) and to discontinue criminal proceedings" (Justice and Correctional Services, 2016; About the NPA, 2017).
The National Prosecuting Authority has six core business units, namely the: • National Prosecutions Service, • Asset Forfeiture Unit, • Sexual Offences and Community Affairs, • Specialized Commercial Crime Unit, • Witness Protection Unit, and • Priority Crimes Litigation Unit.
Only the units that have a direct link to money laundering and corruption cases will be discussed.

The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU)
The AFU has to ensure that the criminal assets seized would be used to their maximum effect in the fight against organized crime. The AFU seeks to, among others, build capacity to ensure that asset forfeiture is used as widely as possible to make a real impact on organized crime and to establish excellent relationships with SAPS and the South African Revenue Services (SARS) (Asset Forfeiture Unit, 2017).

The Specialized Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU)
As the name of this unit suggests, their mandate is to prosecute complex commercial crime cases originating from SAPS' commercial branches. These commercial crime cases do not include only state institutions, but also private individuals as well as corporate entities (Justice and Correctional Services, 2016).

The Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU)
The PCLU deals with cases that threaten national security. These cases are either allocated by the President or by the National Director of Public Prosecutions. The primary function of the PCLU is to manage and direct investigations and prosecutions concerning the following: • The non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; • The regulation of conventional military arms; • The regulation of mercenary and related activities; • The International Court created by the Statute of Rome; • National and international terrorism; and • Prosecution of persons who were refused or failed to apply for amnesty in terms of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission processes. Although there is no mention of money laundering and/or corruption in the above paragraph, the inference can be made that one or all of the above-mentioned cases, money laundering and/or corruption might flow from it; therefore, the reason for discussing PCLU.

The State Security Agency (SSA)
During 2009, the minister of the Cabinet was asked to review the structure of the civilian intelligence community to develop a more effective intelligence organization. The SSA arose as the new intelligence organization, with a mandate to provide the Government with intelligence on domestic and foreign threats or potential threats to national stability, the constitutional order, and the safety and wellbeing of our [South Africa's] people. When reading the mandate, it can be deduced that the SSA is the equivalent to the USA' CIA, the U.K.'s MI6 and ASIS. Figure 2 below illustrates the branches of the SSA. A discussion on the domestic and foreign unit as well as on the intelligence training, corporate services and national communications will follow. The National Intelligence Agency (the domestic branch) was also incorporated into the SSA as per presidential proclamation. As can be derived from the name, the domestic branch is responsible for the gathering, correlation, evaluation and analysis of domestic intelligence (SSA Domestic Branch, 2016).

The Result: Summary of Agencies and Recommendations
The aim of this summary (  Vol. 7, No. 4, 2020 133 Published by SCHOLINK INC. duties and responsibilities. This will simplify the comparison between countries and identify South Africa's shortcomings. (Ebrard, 2017).
Comparing the number of agencies of South Africa and their duties to that of the other countries, several gaps can be identified, leading to recommendations for improvement. These gaps and enhancements will be discussed in the next paragraph.
Gaps and Improvements: Recommendations for South Africa Refer to Table 1; the first gap identified was that South Africa does not have an agency that can be compared to or has the same responsibilities as that of the FBI, the NCA and MI5, the ASIO and the AFP.
The Scorpions was replaced with the Hawks, which is not nearly as successful as their predecessors.
This statement can be substantiated by referring to the decline in the number of convictions and prosecutions. There was a decline of 60 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively (Anon, 2016, Berger 2008, Roelf, 2008.
The second gap that was identified relates to South Africa's tax authority. The individuals tasked with investigations do not have adequate skills. While the USA' IRS has a Criminal Investigation Unit with special agents, who not only have financial investigative skills but also possess the skill to use specialized forensic technology, the same cannot be said of SARS.
The third gap identified relates to protecting the South African Government from cyber threats and supporting its Armed Forces. South Africa does have the Electronic Communications Security, whose primary responsibilities was mentioned in the paragraphs above. Although no mention of protection against cyber threats is made, protecting the Government against cyber-attacks may form part of "security threats". No mention of an agency that supports the Republic's Armed Forces was found. The closest identified by the analysis was the Office for Interception Centre, which provides an interception service to law enforcement agencies involved in national security threats.
The fourth gap is that South Africa does not have an organization that investigates, researches and delivers information to law enforcement to improve their ability to prevent and detect serious organized crime (Source: Author).
The fifth gap relates to the investigation and prosecution of top-level serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption cases. Even though South Africa has the NPA, no organization focuses only on the said top-level cases involving fraud, bribery and corruption (Source: Author).
Although these gaps are a good indicator for recommendations, it is not the only information that should be taken into account. The fact that South Africa has a CPI of 44 out of 100 is an indication that their law enforcement agencies (and other public organizations) are not functioning as they should. Recommendations: 1) Based on the admission requirements gathered from the agencies discussed, South Africa needs to increase the admission requirements and qualifications for personnel of public organizations and law enforcement.
2) Establish a new independent, elite law enforcement agency modelled after the FBI, NCA, MI5, and the ASIO.
3) Remodel SAPS after the AFP and instigate higher admission requirements for its personnel.

4)
For SARS to function at its most effective, the Minister of Finance must have the necessary qualifications, experience and understanding of South Africa's economy. The Commissioner, in turn, must ensure that the employees of SARS have the essential qualifications required to effectively run that specific department.

5)
A separate investigations unit must be established with employees who possess special forensic qualifications and skills to investigate white-collar crime before handing over to the NPA. Use the IRS' Criminal Investigation Unit, HMRC, and the ATO as a basis and restructure SARS accordingly.

6)
The current Electronic Communications Security department can be expanded to include protecting the Government against cyber threats as a whole. Currently, it seems that this department is only concerned with issues relating to communications.

7)
An organization should be established that can investigate and do research on serious organized crime to improve law enforcement's ability to prevent and detect. This organization can form part of SAPS with employees who also have an applicable accredited tertiary qualification. The Government can also consider funding a university department to do these types of investigations and research by using top researchers who already have the necessary experience.

8)
South Africa should seriously consider establishing an organization such as the SFO that specializes only in prosecuting top-level serious or complex fraud cases, irrespective whether it is criminal or civil. This organization must also function independently. Creating such an organization will enable the NPA to take on and prosecute more cases.
To conclude, South Africa still has much to learn from first-world countries to improve their ranking concerning corruption. Not only should organizations and law enforcement agencies be restructured, but qualifications, admission requirements, and general transparency should be improved.

Conclusion
The objective of this paper was to compare various law enforcement agencies who deal with corruption (in general) to determine where South Africa can improve. The research revealed that first-world countries have more law enforcement agencies and public organizations than in South Africa. Those agencies and organizations also maintain a high level of competency as was demonstrated by the CPI