Century of the cybercop

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No area of policing has seen faster growth in recent years than cybercrime, says Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, with resource implications for all forces as well as a need to learn new skills.

Like all police chiefs, I am currently trying to manage the enormous financial challenge facing our service, to deliver quality policing with fewer resources. Those challenges are many and varied and go beyond the frontline uniformed presence on the street that I am committed to. Often less visible but significantly damaging is the increasingly complex threat from serious and organised crime, a challenge that the coalition government is currently seeking to address.

It is the job of politicians to decide on a way forward; it is the job of the police to give professional advice so that government is fully informed when forming legislation to put before Parliament.

The police service must adapt to counter this changing threat. In a world of unprecedented technological progress, new crimes such as e-crime and identity theft are becoming more prevalent, while old crimes such as counterfeiting, extortion and paedophilia are being committed in new ways.

Organised crime undermines our economy by stealing money and savings from people when they can least afford it and are least able to endure it. Organised criminals cause misery and deprivation in our neighbourhoods, harming people both physically and emotionally.

UK specialist police resources devoted to addressing this threat are uncoordinated and have been for many years. We must reconsider how we use them to protect the UK from this changing threat.

Organised criminals have one thing in common – they are seeking to make substantial profits. In 2004 the Home Office estimated the cost to the UK at between £20-£40bn per annum. To put that figure in context, the policing budget for England & Wales last year was £18bn. Organised crime effectively puts a surcharge on every item we buy in every shop in the UK. It is not a victimless crime. It reduces the amount of money in the economy, limiting the amount available to government, damages legitimate businesses and leads to higher prices for all of us.

Technology is changing the threat from organised crime. Just recently two London teenagers were arrested as a result of an investigation into the establishment and running of an £8m global internet forum with 8,000 members. The forum is believed to have facilitated the theft of personal information, credit and debit card fraud and the buying and selling of passports and pin numbers. We recovered 65,000 ‘compromised’ credit card numbers, which could have resulted in the theft of £7.9m. We are living in an era when international crime can be orchestrated and organised from a laptop in a teenager’s bedroom.

Organised crime does not operate in a vacuum or virtual space – the damage to our communities should not be underestimated. It is at the local level where violence and the exercise of control takes place, where perpetrators live, find their support, hide the proceeds and evidence of their crimes and launder them. Crucially, it is where organised criminals become the negative role models and mentors of our next generation. The impact is felt in our most deprived and vulnerable urban communities, but it is also evident in our most affluent rural villages.

There is a high return on investment on any police resources we devote to tackling organised crime, but in the current financial climate, all public servants must find ways to deliver more for less. Technology is changing quickly and being exploited by organised criminals – the police must change just as quickly to stay ahead of them.

This article first appeared in the House Magazine.