Extant policing scholarship has largely focused on updating and evaluating traditional approaches to policing, including developing new and more efficient ways of executing various police duties.
EBP is concerned with determining ‘what works’ within the context of policing through rigorous, clear, transparent, peer-reviewed, and replicated/reproduced scientific research (Sherman, 1998 2013 2015 UK College of Policing, n.d.).
In fact, an assessment for the United Kingdom Home Office found that only 150 cybercrime incidents were reported to law enforcement for every 1 million occurrences, attributing low reporting to diminished public confidence in the police to resolve cybercrime inquiries (Wall, 2002).Īn approach that could assist and improve cybercrime policing is the emerging paradigm of evidence-based policing (EBP). If law enforcement responses to cybercrime do not improve, their institutional legitimacy as effective first responders may be negatively affected (Willits and Nowacki, 2016 Holt and Lee, 2019). In fact, cybercrimes have increased in both frequency and severity since the early 2000s 1, including online interpersonal violence (Bocij, 2004 Choi and Lee, 2017 Choi et al., 2017 Nobles et al., 2014 Reyns et al., 2012), child pornography (Clevenger et al., 2016 Holt et al., 2010 Jenkins, 2001 Krone, 2004), fraud (Cross, 2015 Wall, 2004), piracy (Burruss et al., 2013 Higgins and Marcum, 2011), and hacking offenses (Bossler and Burruss, 2011 Bossler and Holt, 2009 2012 Holt et al., 2018 Jordan and Taylor, 1998).Ĭybercrimes provide various complications for both domestic and international law enforcement due to its multi-jurisdictional and technical nature, often resulting in ineffective cybercrime responses and prevention strategies (Holt and Bossler, 2015 Holt and Lee, 2019 Holt et al., 2019 Lee et al., 2019 Willits and Nowacki, 2016). Though advancements in digital technology have allowed for increased global connectivity, its growth has also engendered opportunities for deviance and criminal activity (Hunton, 2010 Willits and Nowacki, 2016). While only a fraction of these are active and publicly accessible, the Internet has reached over 3.5 billion people worldwide, or 47% of the world’s population (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2016). IntroductionĪccording to the Netcraft Web Server Survey (2019), the Internet has over 1.3 billion websites across 237 million unique domain names. When citing, please cite the version of record. Policing: An International Journal, is available online at. Connecting Evidence-Based Policing and Cybercrime.
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Policing: An International Journal, following peer review. Keywords: Cybercrime Police Legitimacy Policing, Evidence-Based Policing Institutional TheoryĬorresponding Author: Jacek Koziarski – Originality/Value: This paper links cybercrime policing to the paradigm of EBP, highlighting the need for evaluating and implementing effective evidence-based approaches to policing cybercrime. Practical Implications: EBP approaches to cybercrime have the potential to improve police responses to cybercrime calls for service, save police resources, improve police-public relations during calls for service, and improve police legitimacy. Research Implications: Future research will benefit from determining what types of training work at the local, state/provincial, and federal level, as well as evaluating both current and new cybercrime policing programs and strategies. Findings: EBP approaches to cybercrime can improve the effectiveness of existing and future approaches to cybercrime training, recruitment, as well as officers’ preparedness and awareness of cybercrime. Methodology/Approach: Three examples of prominent cybercrime incidents will be explored under the lens of institutional theory: the cyberextortion of Amanda Todd the hacking of Ashley Madison and the 2013 Target data breach. Further, the paper makes preliminary links between cybercrime and the paradigm of evidence-based policing (EBP), providing suggestions on how the paradigm can assist, develop, and improve a myriad of factors associated with policing cybercrime. Purpose: This paper explores the various challenges associated with policing cybercrime, arguing that a failure to improve law enforcement responses to cybercrime may negatively impact their institutional legitimacy as reliable first responders. Article Classification: Conceptual Paper.