Police lack skills to tackle cyber-crime

Police and business do not have the skills to successfully prosecute cases involving computer crime, according to parliamentary lobby group Eurim.

The organisation has called on the government to come up with a cyber-crime strategy that will increase skills and co-operation between business and law enforcement.

Of the UK's 140,000 police officers only 1,000 have received basic levels of training to deal with computer crime, and only 250 are experts, said Eurim.

Increasingly sophisticated criminals, combined with the huge rise in domestic PC use, are posing significant threats, according to David Clarke, chief executive of the British Computer Society.

"Unless law enforcement and those in the private sector can easily and cost effectively attain the necessary forensic skills, public confidence in the information will be severely eroded," he said.

Eurim general secretary Philip Virgo insisted that police and professionals need a common framework for tackling computer crime.

"The evidence must be sound. Courts will need to be sure that IT managers and police can work together on this," he said.

Eurim is calling for the establishment of an accreditation system for mid-level forensic computing qualifications, something equivalent to NVQ3 standards.

The Home Office is committed to publishing its e-crime strategy this spring, but no date has yet been set.