the Metropolitan Police and other forces. Plans are being discussed for the second time of moving the Serious Fraud Office into the NCA. The process of looking at moving counterterrorism into the NCA was put on hold on 9 October 2014 by Home Secretary Theresa May due to an increase in the terror threat level. In October 2011, it was announced that Keith Bristow, the then Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police, would head the organisation. The NCA came into existence under provisions granted by the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013. Until 20 May 2015, the agency was only able to carry out border and customs functions in Northern Ireland. This was due to the fact that under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that led to a political settlement and power-sharing in Northern Ireland, policing was subjected to a far higher degree of community oversight and monitoring than in other parts of the UK. The chief constable and officers are responsible to the Policing Board. Jurisdiction Powers The NCA operates across the UK, respecting the devolution of policing in Scotland and Northern Ireland. A large number of NCA officers, including Investigators, can be designated with the powers and privileges of a police constable, immigration officer, or customs officer and general customs officer (or any combination of the three sets of powers) under the Courts and Crime Act 2013. When NCA officers are designated with all three sets of powers it is known as being triple warranted, or "tri-warranted". Although NCA officers can be designated with the above powers, they do not hold the office of constable and are civil servants. This is a different legal position to police officers who serve in the various police forces of the UK. The NCA is not a police force but an operationally independent non-ministerial government department. Scotland In Scotland, the NCA's operations and powers are limited to those inherited from its predecessor, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and the powers to operate in Scotland are conditional on authorisation from the Lord Advocate and through co-operation with Police Scotland. Previously co-operation was with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (a police force which was responsible for similar matters in Scotland). Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland, the NCA is "fully operational", through the passage of The Crime and Courts Act 2013 (National Crime Agency and Proceeds of