Stormont impasse blocks crucial PSNI power against organised crime
The Stormont impasse means police in Northern Ireland are left unable to enact measures against organised crime and paramilitary groups.
The Unexplained Wealth Order has already been introduced in England and Wales.
It allows police services to seize assets worth more than £50,000 from individuals who have no legitimate way of showing how they came to be in possession of them.
Both the PSNI and National Crime Agency believe that power could be used to curb the profits of those involved in organised crime and paramilitary activity here.
In fact, the £50,000 limit was originally set at around £100,000 but was reduced in part to help tackle criminals in Northern Ireland.
Billiy Beattie, Branch Commander of the NCA in NI, said it would be valuable for them to have the resource here.
"It would be another tool in our armoury," he said.
"The massive thing if you get an UWO, it flips the burden onto the bad guy to prove legitimacy for what he has and that's a massive thing.
"Rather than us having to prove something is the proceeds of crime, it actually puts the onus on the criminal to show it's legitimate and how he got it properly.
"Already you have confiscation, cash seizure, civil recovery and tax so this would be another very useful tool in fighting organised crime."
Powers currently available include the aforementioned civil recovery and confiscation orders.
"With a confiscation order, you must get a criminal conviction," he said.
"Once you have that, a judge would make a confiscation order for a monetary amount and it's then up to the criminal to satisfy or pay.
"Within civil recovery, we would focus on specific assets, like a house, boat or car," he said.
"We would determine if that was purchased with the proceeds of crime and then put a case into court to say that asset can be traced through the proceeds of crime be it drug profits or whatever.
"The court would then make a specific order for that asset to be forfeited."
Interestingly, under the civil recovery option, an NCA agent then becomes a trustee for the property or asset, until it is either sold through auction or other means.
This is essentially to stop criminals buying back their asset immediately, or from trying to get a relative or friend to buy it back for them.
However, while Stormont remains in stasis, so does the legislation for UWOs, meaning police and NCA officers will have to continue to fight their corner with one arm tied behind their back.