Police need to establish the scale and impact of digital crime, at both the national and local level, and how to respond. So concludes a report by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of Constabulary on the digital crime and policing. The HMIC spoke of a ‘mixed’ picture whether police provided good advice to victims of digital crime.
For the 82-page report visit the HMIC website.
National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on Digital Intelligence and Investigations, Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh said: “The scale of cyber-crime in the UK continues to grow and law enforcement must evolve to meet the threats posed by digital crime. The NPCC, College of Policing, Home Office and the National Crime Agency are working in a multi-agency group to make sure that every officer has the skills, knowledge and access to technology to carry out digital investigation.
“Considerable efforts and resources have been allocated to protect vulnerable people but more still needs to be done. Child abuse offenders are increasingly collecting more and more images on a variety of devices enabled by the internet. To combat this we will continue to work with partners in the criminal justice system to streamline the process, whilst not jeopardising investigations.
“We will be allocating funding and resources for digital investigation which will be invested to build the skills, knowledge and capabilities needed to protect all members of the public, including the most vulnerable, from harm.”
HMIC findings
Although, for the most part, victims of crime are aware of what has happened to them when the crime is tangible (such as an assault or burglary), the picture is different with a digital crime, according to the inspectors. The victims that HMIC spoke to were broadly unaware of the threat that digital crime posed. They were generally unaware too of the prevalence of such crimes and, on occasion, were uncertain about the specific offence. Some victims were passed straight to Action Fraud, regardless of whether that was the appropriate. Others complained of a lack of police action. The report quotes one unidentified victim of online auction fraud told by police that it wouldn’t be ‘crimed’ ‘as if they dealt with all cyber [sic] crime it would be all that they did!’.
HMIC found a perception among digital crime victims that the police are not well-equipped to deal with what has happened to them. “The police are seen as responsible for investigating crimes that have a physical manifestation, such as an assault or a burglary. Victims do not yet see the police as the first port of call when they suffer a digital crime.” In cases of online fraud, victims tended to contact their bank rather than the police.
