Online crime adds new complexities to policing, says Federation

ESSEX officers are being tasked with dealing with more varied crime than ever before, says Essex Police Federation.

The National Police Federation of England and Wales said that officers shouldn’t have to deal with rows or slander claims on social media and instead should be using their time to tackle more ‘visible’ crime such as burglaries.

In Essex, demand is up and is becoming more complex especially online, says Federation Chairman Steve Taylor.

“Part of that complexity comes from online crime, be it online fraud, be it online malicious communications, and a whole raft of other far more dangerous, far more destructive crimes.

“So, it’s the whole spectrum, the whole panoply of crime is going on online as well as face to face.

“It does add an extra element, it does add layers of complexity to what we have to deal with, and for some of it we do need specialist skill sets which the average officer perhaps isn’t equipped with.

“But against all that is, if that’s where the crime is happening then that’s where we need to be.

“The challenge is if you’re measuring success in these areas against traditional crime, if you’re putting in checks and balances with we used in traditional crimes, for example contacting and updating victims, getting a crime turned around in a certain amount of time, those checks and balances might need to be refreshed when you’re dealing with online complexities which require more time, which require more expertise,” he said.