Changes to the national policing plan are necessary to encourage more forces to concentrate on investigating insurance fraud.
Det chief supt Steve Wilmott, head of the economic crime unit, City of London police, told delegates at Insurance Times' fraud question time that greater incentives could encourage all 43 police forces in England and Wales to make fraud a priority.
He also said forces investigating organised criminal networks were entitled to keep 50% of all assets seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Consequently, this had led more forces to concentrate on higher end crime.
Currently there are only 450 officers dedicated to investigating the issue of fraud in the UK, with 150 of those in the City of London police.
John Beadle, chairman of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), said: "Fraud is not in the national policing plan so police forces are not resourced to deal with those cases."
Police arrested 10 people in Bedfordshire on Tuesday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud insurance companies. The dawn raid was launched with the co-operation of the IFB.
The investigation is targeting an organised criminal enterprise based in Luton, accused of staging fraudulent accidents otherwise known as 'cash for crash' fraud offences.
