14 DAY TRIAL // An upcoming version of the Policing and Crime Bill in the UK will give British police the legal option of recruiting volunteers to help with cybercrime incidents while also providing them with the legal powers needed to perform their duties.
This new bill comes to complete police reform legislature started in 2010 and is specifically aimed at reforming the powers and roles of police staff and volunteers.
Besides self-standing police officers, UK law enforcement includes about 17 other types of agents. Two of them are Special Constables and Police Support Volunteers.
Constables are paid police officers, not sworn to any stations, and brought in to help in periods of crisis or when a police station is short of staff. Constables have full police powers.
On the other hand, support volunteers are just what their name says, volunteers, and have a very limited set of investigatory powers.
According to the UK government, the upcoming police reform will give Police Support Volunteers the same powers as Special Constables.
UK wants to make it easier for IT volunteers to join cybercrime investigations
As UK Home Secretary Theresa May explains, this change was primarily driven by the need to boost the police's cyber/digital crime investigative powers.
"We want to encourage those with skills in particular demand, such as those with specialist IT or accountancy skills, to work alongside police officers to investigate cyber or financial crime, and help officers and staff fight crime more widely," Mrs. May explains.
Unfortunately, this won't fix the UK Police's lack of trained IT professionals.
We're willing to bet Mrs. May never spent a few hours sifting through job listings on LinkedIn. Cyber-security experts are in high-demand everywhere around the world, and most jobs are extremely well paid.
It is highly unlikely that IT and cyber-security professionals would flock to lend UK police a helping hand, especially for free, when they could be making a nice salary at a private corporation.