Government “over-simplistic and misleading” on crime

CUTS to policing are badly affecting the service’s ability to deal with the increasing threat of cyber crime, a report by the Home Affairs Select Committee has found.

Steve Williams, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, (pictured) agreed with the MPs, stating: “The government message that its reforms are working because crime is falling is one which is over-simplistic and misleading.”

The Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into E-crime found that specialist internet crime officers could be cut while online offences were falling into a ‘black hole’, having gone unrecorded.

The committee pointed out how, as well as providing a thriving platform for acts of fraud, the internet played a role in the tragic murders of April Jones and Tia Sharp, as well as that of Lee Rigby.

The Police Federation of England and Wales has maintained that cuts to the policing service of 20%, with a further 4.9% reduction to follow in 2015/16, have affected service delivery and official government statistics of recorded crime do not paint an accurate picture of the number of offences being committed.

The inquiry found that a quarter of the 800 specialist internet crime officers could be axed as a result of budget cuts and that the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) faces a 10% reduction in funding.

It states improvements need to be made in the way in which E-crime is reported and recorded, sentencing guidelines for E-criminals need to be reviewed and that current recording practices do not provide an accurate picture of the extent of offences committed over the internet.

Criminals who steal relatively small amounts of money online are not being reported to police because banks simply reimburse the victims

Mr Williams added: “It is extremely concerning that relentless cuts to policing are continuing at a time when there is a burgeoning cyber crime industry.

“Crime is clearly changing, not falling at the rate the figures suggest, and an unknown but extremely high number of offences are going unreported. The police service needs greater, not fewer, resources to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.”