Self-perceptions of English and Welsh constables and sergeants preparedness for online crime

Abstract

Purpose Cybercrime is the greatest threat facing law enforcement agencies in England and Wales. Although these crimes are transnational by nature, the burden of response has been placed on line officers. Not all officers, however, believe they are capable of responding to calls involving cybercrime. The current study, using latent class analysis (LCA) on a large sample of English and Welsh officers, finds two types of officers: those prepared (39 percent) and those unprepared (61 percent). Using logistic regression to predict who falls into either classification, the authors find that training and age are the best predictors of latent membership. Implications for policy and future research are discussed. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors used LCA to determine the number and character of unobserved categories of officers in how they deal with cybercrime. Findings The LCA indicated there are two distinct categories of police in the English and Welsh constabulary: those prepared (39 percent) and those unprepared (61 percent). Training and age were the two key determinants of this classification. Research limitations/implications LCA is an exploratory analysis technique that requires additional validation to confirm the findings of any one study. Practical implications The salience of training in helping officers feel prepared to deal with cybercrime cases as well as victims was demonstrated. A full 60 percent of the officers in this study fell in the “unprepared” category, which continues to highlight the limitations of local police to handle cybercrime cases; nevertheless, almost 40 percent of officer could be considered ready when responding to cybercrimes. Social implications As the harm cybercrime brings to our financial and social well-being, law enforcement agencies will be required to improve their response capabilities. Most current cybercrime responses address technical issues related to online fraud and abuse, but officers often perceive the problem as outside their legal and geographic jurisdiction. Knowing how officers perceive cybercrime as well as their own capabilities will allow us to begin changing enforcement policies, training capacity and individual response efficacy. Originality/value This study involved a sample of English and Welsh constables and sergeants to classify their cybercrime readiness. The analysis and particular data are unique to the study of cybercrime.

Determinants of police officers' support for the public-private partnerships (PPPs) in policing cyberspace

“…Nonetheless, the focus of this research is on exploring officer perceptions of the PPPs as a response to cybercrime, and the fact that the police subculture inhibits prompt adoption of new ideas and is resistant to change (Cohen, 2017) justifies using the data. Moreover, the findings contribute to the cybercrime literature as there still exist large variances in officer understanding of and preparedness in combatting cybercrimes (Bossler et al , 2020; Burruss et al , 2019; Holt et al , 2019a, b, c; Lee et al , 2019).…”

“…A recent series of research conducted on officer perceptions of cybercrimes in the cultural context of England and Wales offer further insights into policing cyberspace. The findings show that individual officers do not feel prepared to participate in policing cyberspace (Bossler et al , 2020; Burruss et al , 2019). There are also variances in how cybercrimes are perceived.…”

“…There are also variances in how cybercrimes are perceived. To illustrate, the view on the benefits of the Internet, experience of dealing with cybercrime incidents and training impact officer attitudes and preparedness to combat cybercrimes (Bossler et al , 2020; Burruss et al , 2019; Lee et al , 2019).…”

Situational Awareness and Public Wi-Fi Users’ Self-Protective Behaviors

“…The Internet facilitates ways for criminals to easily access valuable information. With occurrences of cyber-criminality on the rise year after year (Norton 2017) and hackers attacking computers and networks at a near-constant rate (Cukier 2007), in conjunction with law enforcements' inability to combat these occurrences (Burruss et al 2019), it is increasingly important to find ways to mitigate cyber-crime. Public Wi-Fi networks are often unsecured, which make their users vulnerable to attacks.…”

The Perceived Importance of Cybercrime Control among Police Officers: Implications for Combatting Industrial Espionage

“…Studies show that police officers do not believe they should be the primary contact authority for cybercrimes [20,41]. This is possibly due to little emphasis placed on cybercrimes at the organizational level or low self-confidence and lack of preparedness for responding to cybercrime cases [42,43].…”