National Week of Celebration of Police Staff: Meet Rhiannon Evans

As part of this week’s National Police Staff Week of Celebration and Recognition, we talk to Rhiannon Evans, who works an Accredited Financial Investigator (AFI) in our Economic Crime Team and has worked for Dyfed-Powys Police for five years.

The Economic Crime Team has a team of 21 accredited fraud, cybercrime, and financial investigators and analysts, a mixture of police staff and officers. The team is responsible for delivering the Forces’ response to fraud and cybercrime by conducting criminal investigations, as well as providing expert advice, guidance and support to victims and facilitate an enhanced safeguarding program to vulnerable victims.

“The role is as close as you get to a modern-day Robin Hood – taking ill-gotten gains away from the criminals, who harm our communities and then re-investing that money into community projects and crime prevention initiatives.”

I’ve always worked in an investigative role, having previously worked as a Trading Standards Officer and an NHS Fraud Investigator. Several of my colleagues come from a banking background, so we have a good blend of experience in our team.

As an AFI, I have a busy caseload that sees me undertaking financial enquiries to support investigations from high risk missing persons to fraud and murder. Taking part in large scale investigations can be really rewarding ‑ helping to contribute to a team effort with officers and staff from across the Force.

My job also sees me conduct in-depth confiscation investigations, which involves calculating how much a convicted criminal has financially benefited from their criminality and identifying what assets they have available to them. This involves liaising with the officer in case, Crown Prosecution Service and the courts, so good communication skills and a decent head for figures is essential.

I absolutely love my job. It is varied, challenging and, like many law enforcement roles, always evolving.

We proactively seek opportunities to lawfully seize and confiscate money from criminals. You could say, the role is as close as you get to a modern-day Robin Hood – taking ill-gotten gains away from the criminals, who harm our communities and then re-investing that money into community projects and crime prevention initiatives.

“I’ve obtained forfeiture orders totalling over £800,000”

More recently I’ve taken the lead on civil recovery investigations, which use alternative disruption tools under the Proceeds of Crime Act to remove criminal property from circulation.

This has had some great success and in the last two years I’ve obtained forfeiture orders totalling over £800,000, 50 per cent of which is re-invested back into the Force and local community.

“Although cross-examination can be nerve-wracking, I really enjoy the theatre of court proceedings and the satisfaction of getting a good result.”

I spend a lot of time in court with both confiscation and civil recovery cases, which can initially be daunting, but it gets easier with practice.

Sometimes, we have the opportunity to go out to assist with property searches, which can be really beneficial, as we are looking with a different pair of eyes – to identify assets and financial material. I miss going out on warrants from my Trading Standard days, so it’s always nice to get out of the office and pitch in.

I am now studying for a master’s degree in Economic Crime, which is helping to develop my knowledge on subjects such as money laundering and criminology theory.

Interesting investigations:

Some of my most interesting investigations have included:

• A carer who was part of a UK-wide money laundering ring.
• A romance fraudster, who had blackmailed vulnerable young women into providing them with explicit images.
• A drugs organised crime group that had assets including cars, watches, boats and caravans.

Paul Callard, manager of the Economic Crime Team, said:

“Economic Crime is a fantastic area of policing to work in. We face a variety of new challenges every day, particularly because of the dangers presented by the increasingly digital world that we all live in, and we have to be innovative in our thinking to meet those challenges.”  

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