As another former investment banker, and current NCA Investigator, and - for what it's worth - Cambridge graduate, I can tell you your description of the relative competencies of the good guys and bad guys is just elitist crap.
Well, I mean you didn't provide /any/ examples, you stated something false.
My point was more that this "battle of wits" cops vs robbers narrative is just Hollywood nonsense.
Do you feel the same about MI6/GCHQ (organisations staffed to a large degree by Cambridge grads) vs ISIS (an organisation staffed mainly by idiots and conspiracy theorists)?
Clearly the two sides are not playing the same game, and any disparity in ability will be completely overwhelmed by structural differences in their respective challenges.
The uninformed opinion you're spreading is damaging because it implicitly implies that these crimes wouldn't happen if only our cops were a bit brighter.
If only they were as clever as those City boys! Too bad old chap, better luck next time, all's fair in love and war etc etc.
I seem to have touched a nerve, but I'm quite simply explaining what I've seen. I believe it to be true, much like you believe your version to be true. Without giving names, it's hard for me to prove my point unequivocally, so I'm afraid that's where I'll have to leave it.
But it's not just cops. It's also internal compliance. The truth is money attracts people. A front office person offered 40% more starting salary than compliance will attract the top performing grads. Lower paying jobs will get second pick (barring exceptions where people are committed to a career due to passion, regardless of payoff).
I was gonna guess BB, things are more fast-paced and everyone's wrapped up tight that it's a bit harder to get the time to set those kinds of deals up (but it's not unheard of ;). As for HFT, I assume you were more systematic than discretionary (like our OG), and that would lend itself to not having the leeway needed to carry anything like that out.
