UK Home Secretary to visit IP police unit
A senior UK politician has pledged to visit a temporary police unit dedicated to tackling IP crime following calls to make its funding permanent.
Theresa May, the UK’s Home Secretary, has agreed to visit the Police IP Crime Unit (PIPCU).
The unit, which has already secured several arrests for IP-related crime, was set up last year and will be supported by the UK IP Office until September 2015 but there are increasing calls to make it a permanent fixture.
May was invited to visit by Mike Weatherley, a Conservative MP and IP adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron.
Last month, WIPR reported that Weatherley had written to both Cameron and May to praise the “excellent work” of PIPCU, which is based at the City of London Police, and invited the pair to visit the unit.
In the letter, Weatherley said he “appreciated” that its future was not permanent but that would like to “put on record” his support for committing future funding.
On May’s visit, Weatherley said: “I have been very impressed with the work of the IP crime unit and am sure that the Home Secretary will recognise just how important a dedicated team tacking IP issues is to our country”.
The Home Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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