UK Insurers to Fund London Police

Yesterday, on July 11th it was announced that UK insurance companies will fund a new specialist police department that will investigate and fight insurance fraud.

The unit of 35 specially trained policemen will join the City of London police.

The Association of British Insurers said it will spend as much as 8.2 billion pounds to fund the unit in the first 3 years of its existence. Member insuring companies said they consider it a good investment as this money will be used in the interests of ABI.

The London police, in its turn, highly appreciated the initiative. Adrian Leppard, the City of London police commissioner, said that it "represents another important landmark for private sector funding in policing, something that we should actively encourage within the current financial climate"

Let us remind that insurance fraud costs approximately 2 billion pounds per year to insurance companies. It also increases costs for consumers as it adds 44 pounds to each insurance premium.