A new police unit dedicated to tackling electronic crime and internet fraud will kick off in 2009.
Dubbed the Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU), the team will provide advanced training for those investigating internet crime. It will also oversee initiatives designed to crack down on on-line offences. <br><br>Based in the Metropolitan Police, the PCeU will receive £3.5m of government funding, and £3.9m from the Metropolitan Police Service over three years. It is expected to be operational in spring 2009.<br><br>The Met will run the PCeU as a national resource, working with the National Fraud Reporting Centre and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, both of which are also currently being developed.<br><br>Together they can support police responses to e-crime across the country. <br><br>Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said the new unit will play a vital role in helping forces across the country crack down on electronic crime.<br><br>’It is important that we stay one step ahead of criminals, who increasingly use sophisticated computer networks and the internet to commit and facilitate crime,’ he said.<br><br>Attorney General Baroness Scotland said, e-crime is ‘the most rapidly expanding form of criminality’, in part because ‘it knows no borders’.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams, ACPO lead for e-crime said: "I am delighted that the Home Office has confirmed funding for this new unit that ACPO and law enforcement agencies have been developing. We can now work towards creating a national centre of excellence to combat e-crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“It is our aim to improve the police response to victims of e-crime by developing the capability of the Police Service. We will be co-ordinating the law enforcement approach to all types of e-crime, and providing a national investigative capability for the most serious e-crime incidents."
