What is the RART? 

The RARTs (Regional Asset Recovery Teams) are dedicated multi-agency teams formed to support law enforcement agencies to assist them in their task of confiscating as large a proportion as possible of the £25 billion pounds generated each year by the criminal economy.
                                                             
Empowered by the provisions of POCA (Proceeds of Crime Act 2002) there are five regional teams - North East, North West, Wales, Midlands, Wales and London - which
are being funded by the Home Office to the end of March 2008 in the amount of £36 million.

The RART in the North East is a regional collaboration involving the police services of:

West Yorkshire                    
South Yorkshire          
North Yorkshire          
Humberside          
Cleveland          
Durham
and Northumberland.         

and the following agencies: 

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
Asset Recovery Agency (ARA)
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
          
The team includes police officers, customs officers, a tax inspector, an analyst, police staff financial investigators, support staff and a CPS lawyer.

The NE Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART) provides a multi agency approach to reducing crime through asset recovery. The activity of the NE RART, which commenced operations in January 2004, is focused on engaging serious and organised crime that operates across individual police service boundaries.

The proactive use of the new powers contained in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) is key to the units' delivery of an enhanced response to financial investigation.

This will ensure that criminal assets are identified at an early stage and recovered through confiscation orders made by the courts following conviction. This in turn reduces the funding available to finance future criminality and increases the amounts available to be recycled into law enforcement and crime reduction initiatives.