500 WORD ESSAY #2

Police Perceptions of Computer Crimes in Two Southeastern Cities: An Examination from the Viewpoint of Patrol Officers

Thomas J. Holt & Adam M. Bossler

Received: 25 February 2011 /Accepted: 30 June 2011 / Published online: 19 July 2011 # Southern Criminal Justice Association 2011

Abstract Although scholars and law enforcement administrators have provided input on how local law enforcement is responding to various forms of computer crime and how officers perceive of it, patrol officers have been rarely surveyed to understand their perceptions of computer crime. Examining officer perceptions is vital considering that patrol officers are being asked to be more effective first responders to digital forensic crime scenes as a critical step in combating computer crimes at the local level. This study therefore addressed this gap by surveying patrol officers in two southeastern cities regarding their perceptions of computer crime, specifically regarding its uniqueness, offenders and targets, and seriousness and frequency in comparison to traditional forms of crime. Results indicated that many officers do not have strong opinions on several aspects of computer crime. However, they perceive it to be a serious problem and consider some computer crimes to be as serious as traditional forms of crime.

Keywords Computer crime . Police . Severity. Cybercrime . Perceptions

The Internet, computers, and cellular telephony have drastically improved the ways that individuals communicate and engage in business over the last two decades (Brenner, 2008; Wall, 2001). At the same time, the rapid adoption of computers and the World Wide Web have affected most forms of crime (Brenner, 2008; Taylor, Fritsch, Liederbach, & Holt, 2010; Wall, 2007). For example, pedophilia (Durkin & Bryant, 1999; Holt, Blevins, & Burkert, 2010), prostitution (Holt & Blevins, 2007),

Am J Crim Just (2012) 37:396–412 DOI 10.1007/s12103-011-9131-5

This project was partially supported by a Research & Scholarship internal grant received by one of the authors while employed at Armstrong Atlantic State University. The opinions and insights are those of the authors and do not reflect any university or agency involved.

T. J. Holt (*) School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 434 Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA e-mail: holtt@msu.edu

A. M. Bossler Department of Political Science, Georgia Southern University, PO Box 8101, Statesboro, GA 30460, USA e-mail: abossler@georgiasouthern.edu

fraud (Burns, Whitworth, & Thompson, 2004; Chu, Holt, & Ahn, 2010; Newman & Clarke, 2003), and media piracy (Higgins, 2005) have been enabled or enhanced by computer technologies. The emergence of interconnected sensitive technologies and resources have also fostered the likelihood of computer-based terror attacks against electrical grids, nuclear power plants, and financial systems (Brenner, 2008; Denning, 2001; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Taylor et al., 2010).

Though there is increasing attention paid to computer crimes in popular media (Furnell, 2002) and academic research (Wall, 2007), there is an absence of data on the prevalence of these crimes in law enforcement agencies (Holt, 2003; Wall, 2007). This is due to a lack of knowledge among victims as to the appropriate police agency to report experiences with computer crime, as well as difficulties in the ability to recognize when an offense has occurred (Holt, 2003; Stambaugh et al., 2001). Data from various governmental and non-governmental sources indicate that computer crimes have a substantial impact on individuals and businesses alike (Taylor et al., 2010). For instance, the GAO (2007) estimates that various forms of computer crime cost the U.S. economy over $117 billion dollars annually. Similarly, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (2010) found that the total dollar losses attributed to computer crime complaints was $559 million in 2009, with an average dollar loss of $575 per respondent. In addition, the computer security vendor Symantec reported over three million malware attacks in 2010, which is a 93% increase from 2009 (Skinner, 2011). Computer crimes can also have devastating emotional and psychological consequences, particularly for those who experience cyberbullying or harassment (Finn, 2004; Holt & Bossler, 2009; Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006).

In order to respond to the increasing problem of computer crime, scholars and police administrators have argued that local law enforcement agencies must become more involved in the investigation of these offenses (Goodman, 1997; NIJ, 2008; Stambaugh et al., 2001). Even though computer crimes present clear jurisdictional and evidentiary problems for local law enforcement (Brenner, 2008; Goodman, 1997; Hinduja, 2007; McQuade, 2006; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Taylor et al., 2010; Wall, 2001), it is argued that patrol officers can play the same role in computer crime cases as they currently do in non-computer related offenses. Specifically, line officers must be effective first responders who arrive and secure the scene, collect some evidence if required, and interview possible witnesses (Goodman, 1997; Holt, Bossler, & Fitzgerald, 2010; NIJ, 2008; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Taylor et al., 2010).

Unfortunately, few empirical studies have examined the local law enforcement response to computer crimes, primarily utilizing surveys of administrators or representatives of local agencies (Hinduja, 2004; Marcum, Higgins, Freiburger, & Ricketts, 2010; Stambaugh et al., 2001). Patrol officers are rarely surveyed in order to understand their perceptions of computer crime and the steps necessary to improve their response capability (see Senjo, 2004 for exception). This study therefore addresses this gap in the literature by surveying patrol officers in two southeastern cities regarding their perceptions of computer crime, specifically regarding its uniqueness, offenders and targets, and seriousness and frequency in comparison to traditional forms of crime.

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Local Law Enforcement and Computer Crime

Over the last several decades, scholars have argued that computer crimes pose a significant challenge to law enforcement, especially at the local level (Burns et al., 2004; Goodman, 1997; Holt et al., 2010; McQuade, 2006; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Swire, 2009; Wall, 2001). A long list of issues have complicated the investigation of computer crime at the local level, including: lack of public outcry to improve investigations of computer crimes in comparison to that of traditional crime; the difficulty in investigating “invisible” crimes; insufficient funding to acquire and maintain required technologies; difficulty in training and retaining officers; and gaining managerial support (Goodman, 1997; McQuade, 2006; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Taylor et al., 2010; Wall, 2001).

The small body of scholarship on computer crime and local law enforcement indicates that these agencies do not place a high priority on computer crimes, unless they are child pornography or pedophilia related (Hinduja, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). Agencies are increasing their overall investigative capacity for financially driven computer crimes, though they rarely focus on hacking or computer intrusion cases (Holt et al., 2010; Stambaugh et al., 2001). Additionally, there is mixed evidence that police officers view computer crimes as a general distraction to more serious offenses (Hinduja, 2004; Holt et al., 2010). Local officers also believe that both management and prosecutors do not have the knowledge or resources to adequately investigate and prosecute computer crimes (Burns et al., 2004; Hinduja, 2004; Holt et al., 2010; Stambaugh et al., 2001). They therefore believe that the responsibility for addressing computer crimes should lie with state or federal agencies rather than with local law enforcement (Burns et al., 2004; Goodman, 1997; Hinduja, 2004; McQuade, 2006; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Swire, 2009).

Senjo’s (2004) study of 251 patrol officers in four municipal jurisdictions in a single Western state provides one of the few studies that have examined patrol officer perceptions of computer crime from their viewpoint. He finds that 84% of the patrol officers surveyed agreed that computer crime was a serious problem. In addition, they thought that computer crimes were mostly committed by adults and took place outside of corporate environments. The officers were also asked to rank the severity of five different forms of computer crime, including: pedophilia, credit card fraud, electronic theft, copyright infringement, and espionage. They believed that pedophilia was the most serious computer crime, followed by credit card fraud. Copyright infringement was viewed as the least serious of the five offenses. Senjo, however, did not ask the officers about the seriousness of traditional forms of crime, preventing a comparison between the perceived seriousness of computer crimes and traditional crimes.

The limited body of research in this area significantly restricts our understanding of the ways that line officers perceive of the new offenses they may respond to while on the job. Researchers, however, have argued that it is vital that patrol officers act as effective first responders to computer crime because of their proven success in real world criminal investigations (Brenner, 2008; Goodman, 1997; Hinduja, 2007; McQuade, 2006; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Wall, 2007). In fact, government documents and training manuals have been developed to improve the ability of

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local officers to respond to computer crime scenes (NIJ, 2008; Stambaugh et al., 2001). For example, NIJ’s (2008) “Electronic Crime Scene Investigations: A Guide for First Responders” appears to be primarily written for patrol officers and explains the basic steps that need to occur upon arrival at a digital forensic crime scene, including both basic and advanced information on how to recognize, seize, document, handle, package, and transport evidence from an electronic crime scene. Thus, it is imperative that researchers begin to consider their attitudes and perceptions to better understand their response to computer crimes.

Present Study

Both scholars and law enforcement administrators have provided their views on how local law enforcement has responded to computer crime and how officers perceive of it. We suggest, however, that insights from patrol officers could provide invaluable information on how they perceive computer crime and whether it is worth combating computer crime at the local level. Surveying patrol officers could thus verify or refute findings based on administrator surveys or scholarly commentaries. In addition, their perceptions could provide insights into whether the proposed changes coming from administrators and scholars would fall on deaf ears. This study therefore examined perceptions of computer crime among line officers in two police departments in the southeastern United States in order to fill this gap in the literature.

Data

The survey data analyzed were collected from patrol officers in the Charlotte- Mecklenburg police department (CMPD) in Charlotte, North Carolina and the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan police department (SCMPD) in Savannah, Georgia. Both cities are in the southeastern region of the U.S. However, they differ on several characteristics allowing for comparisons between departments and cities. Charlotte has a large population consisting of approximately 687,456 residents within the city limits and over two million in the combined statistical area, compared with Savannah’s smaller population of 134,669 residents (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). Charlotte is also second only to New York City in terms of banking centers and financial institutions, making it a major financial hub. Savannah’s primary economic drivers are tourism, shipping, and military bases. The racial composition of these cities differs as well. African-Americans compose the majority of the Savannah population (57%), compared to Whites (36%). In Charlotte, Whites are the largest racial group (55%) with African-Americans as the largest minority group (33.5%).

The CMPD and SCMPD vary by size and demographic characteristics as well. The CMPD had over 1,400 patrol officers while the SCMPD had a little under 400 patrol officers at the time of surveying in the Spring of 2008. Roughly 85% of the officers were male in both departments. However, 78.3% of the CMPD were White and 16.4% were African-American, compared to 59.4% of the SCMPD being White and 33.4% being African-American. The CMPD also has a specialized computer

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crime task force while the SCMPD does not. Thus, the differences between both the two cities and departments provide important points of comparison to examine for consistency and generalizability of the results.

We created a survey instrument using questions adapted from studies focusing on computer crime awareness among the general public (Furnell, 2002) and the police (Hinduja, 2004; Senjo, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). Since the focus of the study was to assess the perceptions of patrol officers, we did not ask administrators, managers, and detectives to participate since these officers have more managerial and supervisory responsibilities. Instead, all patrol officers at the rank of Sergeant and below were asked to complete the survey. In order to collect data from Savannah officers, paper copies of the survey instrument were given to command staff at a weekly departmental meeting in the Spring of 2008 and were then distributed to patrol officers. The command staff returned 144 completed surveys (36% response rate) back to the research team. Due to the large number of CMPD line officers, the survey was uploaded on an internal departmental website for patrol officers to complete. 124 Charlotte officers completed the survey (9% response rate). We discuss the volunteer nature of the sample and the lower response rates in the limitations section.

We analyzed a total of 268 surveys. The majority were male (86.4%) and White (75.6%), which closely matches the demographic characteristics of police officers in U.S. police departments (LEMAS, 2007). In keeping with the demographics of the two departments, the percentages of male officers in the two samples were equivalent but the CMPD had more White officers than the SCMPD. The mean age was 37.1 years old, ranging from 22 to 63. Half the sample had more than 10 years of policing experience, while only 21.3% of the sample had 2 years or less of policing experience. Forty percent had completed a 4-year degree, while another 9.7% had taken or completed graduate or law courses, similar to the demographic composition of the police workforce nationally (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009). The CMPD, however, had a higher concentration of officers with more policing experience and higher levels of education. Finally, 44% of the sample had some type of military experience. The SCMPD had a higher percentage of officers with previous military experience due to Savannah’s close proximity to two military bases in the region.

Analysis

This analysis sought to examine patrol officer attitudes regarding various issues on computer crime, including its seriousness and frequency in comparison to traditional forms of crime. We examined the robustness of these findings by exploring whether significant differences exist between departments and different groups of police officers. Demographic and experiential characteristics examined were: sex, race, age, highest level of education, years of total policing experience, recent computer crime case experience, whether they have received computer crime investigation training, and the amount of computer crime investigation training received. Multiple tests of significance (e.g., chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, t-tests, Spearman correlations) were used to explore for significant relationships between measures (p≤.05), depending on the level of measurement.

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Results

In order to provide context for the officers’ responses, we asked respondents about their comfort levels with computers, the amount of computer crime investigative training received, and the recency of their exposure to computer crime cases. The officers in this study reported a moderate ability to use computers on a four-point self-report scale (Rogers, 2001). A sizeable percentage (43.4%) indicated that they could surf the Internet and use most common software; another 48.1% stated that they could use a variety of software and fix some computer problems that they have. 3.4% stated that they were afraid of computers. Only 5.2% reported advanced skills (being able to use Linux, most software, and fix most computer problems that they have). 44.2% of the officers also reported that they were very comfortable with the computer, followed by 35.2% who said they were only comfortable. Only 6.7% of the officers reported that they were somewhat uncomfortable, uncomfortable, or very uncomfortable. Interestingly, the only significant differences in computer proficiency related to whether the officer had received computer crime investigation training and the amount of training received. Thus, the officers displayed an adequate ability to use computers in their everyday lives to have informed opinions on technology.

The respondents across both cities generally reported having little computer crime investigation training. Only 11.2% (n=30) of the respondents had been provided computer crime investigation training (15.3% of Charlotte officers; 7.6% of Savannah officers; p≤.05). Only half (n=15) of those who had computer crime investigation training received more than 8 h of training (5.6% of the total sample). Younger officers and those with more formal education were more likely to have received computer crime investigation training, while only formal education was correlated with receiving more hours of training.

In addition, respondents across both departments reported having little experience with previous computer crime cases. 61.5% stated that they have never had any experience with a computer crime case. 16.9% had some experience, but the case was over a year ago. Two-thirds of the Charlotte officers, compared to 55.9% of the Savannah officers, had never been involved in a computer crime case (p≤.05). The officers estimated that 11% (range of 0–95%; median 5%) of the officers within their agency had worked on a computer crime case. Officers with more recent computer crime case experience reported higher estimates of fellow officers working similar cases. Since most calls are randomly assigned to available patrol officers, it was not surprising to find that no demographic indicators were correlated with actually working on a computer crime case. However, this means that officers who responded to computer crime calls were no more likely to be trained in computer crime investigations than others. Overall, these data illustrate that these line officers rarely responded to computer crime calls in the course of their daily routines and that their perceptions of computer crime are presumably not based on direct personal experience.

Impact of Internet

Respondents were first asked about their perceptions of the Internet and its impact on society (see Table 1). A majority (61.5%) of respondents felt that the Internet’s benefits outweigh the negatives. 26.8% had no opinion on this issue.

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Officers with more recent computer crime experience and those who had gone through computer investigative training were more likely to believe that the

Table 1 Perceptions of patrol officers on computer crime

n Mean (SD) (1) Strongly agree

(2) Agree (3) Neither (4) Disagree (5) Strongly disagree

Impact of Internet

In general, I believe that the Internet’s negatives outweigh its positives.

257 3.65 (0.98) 3.1 8.6 26.8 43.2 18.3

The Internet has caused more problems for law enforcement than it has helped.

258 3.45 (0.97) 4.7 8.5 36.4 38.0 12.4

Computer Crime Offenders

The majority of computer crimes are perpetrated by younger individuals in their teens and twenties.

256 3.06 (0.97) 5.1 21.9 41.8 24.6 6.6

Computer criminals are often individuals living in foreign countries rather than here in the U.S.

257 3.37 (0.86) 1.9 10.9 44.0 35.0 8.2

When businesses are victimized by computer crime, it is usually perpetrated by ‘insiders’ (employees).

256 2.99 (0.75) 2.7 18.0 59.4 17.6 2.3

Targets of Computer Crimes

Computer crime occurs more frequently in businesses rather than among home users.

255 3.30 (0.90) 3.1 13.3 40.8 35.7 7.1

Computer crimes have a greater impact in corporate settings than in home settings.

258 3.14 (0.99) 6.6 16.3 40.3 30.2 6.6

Uniqueness

Computer crime is mostly traditional crimes using a computer.

256 2.84 (0.86) 2.3 36.7 37.9 20.7 2.3

Stealing $100 from a person's bank account electronically is equivalent to someone pick-pocketing $100.

255 2.16 (1.07) 29.0 44.3 10.2 14.1 2.4

Harassment on-line is less serious than traditional harassment.

259 3.61 (1.04) 3.1 15.1 17.8 46.3 17.8

Seriousness

Most types of computer crime are minor annoyances.

259 3.57 (1.07) 3.1 17.0 18.1 43.6 18.1

Computer crime is a serious problem in American society today.

255 2.07 (1.02) 28.6 50.6 10.6 5.5 4.7

Citizens in our community understand the risk of computer crime.

257 3.67 (0.91) 1.2 11.3 21.8 50.6 15.2

Police officers who investigate violent crimes should be given more recognition.

258 3.10 (0.95) 5.0 19.0 43.4 26.4 6.2

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Internet was a positive force in society. Thus, exposure to technology in various forms appears to affect officers’ perceptions of the value of the Internet relative to their colleagues. Older officers and those with more years of experience were more likely to agree that the Internet’s negatives outweigh the positives, reflecting a general resistance to technology among more “traditional” law enforcement.

In addition, officers were asked to rate their agreement with the following statement: “The Internet has caused more problems for law enforcement than it has helped.” This item allowed officers to move beyond societal value and consider how technology has directly affected their activities. Half the sample disagreed with the statement and 36.4% were unsure. The findings indicate that a large proportion of officers can look beyond the harmful application of technology to recognize how these resources can aid their mission. Similar to their views of the Internet in general, officers with more years of experience were more likely to believe that the Internet was problematic for law enforcement, suggesting that there may be a need for greater training to expose senior staff to the beneficial application and value of various technologies (Stambaugh et al., 2001).

Computer Crime Offenders

The patrol officers were also asked about their perceptions of computer criminals generally. 41.8% of the officers had no opinion following the statement, “The majority of computer crimes are perpetrated by younger individuals in their teens and twenties.” 27% of respondents agreed with this statement; 31.2% disagreed. This conforms to previous findings, suggesting officers are mixed as to the average age of a computer criminal (Senjo, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). This perception did not differ by any personal or experiential characteristic.

Respondents also varied in their views on the location of computer criminals. Only 12.8% of respondents believed that computer criminals usually live overseas, though 43.2% disagreed. Similar to the previous item, there is a high degree of ambivalence (44%), indicating that many officers are simply uninformed about the increasing problem of computer crimes performed by individuals living in foreign nations, particularly Eastern Europe and Russia (Chu et al., 2010), to have an informed opinion on the topic. Respondents’ perceptions also varied based on several factors, including city, race, age, years of experience, and education. Savannah officers were more likely than Charlotte officers (53% to 32.5%) to believe that computer criminals usually did not live abroad. This may be a consequence of the large percentage of financial institutions in Charlotte that are regularly targeted by offenders living across the globe (Chu et al., 2010), thereby increasing Charlotte officer exposure to international cases. In addition, officers who were White, older, with more years of policing experience, and higher levels of education were more likely to agree that computer criminals often reside in foreign countries.

One-fifth (20.7%) of the respondents believed that insiders, or employees, typically commit computer crimes in businesses; one-fifth (19.6%) also disagreed with this statement. 59.4% of the respondents thus had no opinion. There were no significant differences between demographic and experiential groups. These findings support evidence that the general public (Furnell, 2002) is unaware of the dangers posed to corporations by insiders.

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Targets of Computer Crimes

In examining officer perceptions of the most common targets of computer crime, 42.8% of the patrol officers felt that home users were more likely than businesses to experience computer crimes; 16.4% felt that businesses were more affected. This is a difficult issue to assess, as both individuals and corporations are equally valuable targets for certain forms of computer crime (Chu et al., 2010; Wall, 2007). This may account for the fact that 40.8% of the respondents had no opinion on this issue. In addition, 22.9% of the officers felt that computer crime had a greater impact in corporate settings while 36.8% disagreed. The only factor influencing either item was that officers with previous computer crime experience believed that computer crimes can affect home users more heavily than businesses. These findings differ from previous studies. Senjo (2004) found that 29.5% of the officers he surveyed believed that most cybercrime occurs in the corporate world. Stambaugh et al. (2001) found that the law enforcement participants ranked businesses as the most frequent target over both individuals and financial institutions.

Comparing Computer and Street Crimes

We then asked officers about the uniqueness, seriousness, and frequency of computer crimes in comparison to that of traditional crimes. 39% of the respondents agreed with the statement that “computer crime is mostly traditional crime using a computer.” 37.9% were unsure. Thus, officers appear to have some variation in their outlook on the uniqueness of computer crimes, in keeping with some confusion over these behaviors in the general public (Furnell, 2002). The only differences noted were that those officers who had received computer crime training, and had received more training hours than others, were more likely to conceive of computer crime as traditional offenses enabled by a computer than officers without the training.

Officers were also presented with items comparing the impact of virtual and real offenses. A majority of officers (73.3%) viewed stealing $100 from an on-line bank account as being the equivalent of pick pocketing $100. This view did not differ by any personal or experiential characteristic. There was, however, less agreement with the notion that harassment in virtual environments was equally as serious as traditional harassment. Almost two-thirds (64.1%) of the officers thought they were equally serious. This second item significantly differed by city and race. One-fourth (25.8%) of Charlotte officers believed that on-line harassment was less serious, compared to 11.1% of officers in Savannah. Additionally, non-White officers were more likely to believe they were equally serious.

Comparing the Severity of Crimes

In order to understand line officers’ perceptions of the seriousness of computer crimes, respondents were asked to respond to the following, “Most types of computer crime are minor annoyances.” 61.7% of the officers disagreed, indicating they recognized the prospective impact of computer crime in their community. 20.1% of the patrol officers agreed with this statement and another 18.1% had no opinion. This suggests a proportion of officers may perceive computer crimes to be

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of little investigative value, in keeping with Hinduja (2004) who found that one-third of the Michigan agencies believed that responding to computer crimes detracted from focusing on more traditional crimes.

There were significant differences for this item by city, sex, race, and previous computer crime case experience. Savannah officers were twice as likely to strongly disagree with the statement (24.4% to 11.3%), indicating Charlotte officers were less likely to perceive the overall impact of computer crimes relative to other officers in the region. In addition, officers who were female, non-White, or had previous computer crime experience were more likely to believe that most types of computer crimes were not minor annoyances.

Building on the last finding, the officers in these two cities agreed that computer crimes are a serious problem in American society. In fact, 79.2% perceived it as a serious problem, slightly lower than Senjo’s (2004) study of Western patrol officers which found that 84% thought that computer crime was a serious problem. However, two-thirds (65.8%) believed that citizens did not understand the risks posed by these types of crimes. These findings were robust across all personal and experiential factors examined except for having previous experience with computer crimes. Officers with previous experiences were more likely to agree that computer crime is a serious problem for the U.S., suggesting their experiences have some impact on their outlook relative to their peers. In addition, these robust findings across all demographics suggest that line officers recognize that computer crimes pose a threat to the citizens they serve.

Finally, they were asked whether officers who investigated violent crimes should be given greater recognition. 43.4% of the officers were unsure. One-fourth (24%) believed that there should be greater recognition while one-third (32.6%) disagreed. Officers with more recent computer crime case experience and who had received more hours of computer crime investigative training than their fellow peers were more likely to believe that violent crime investigations should not receive greater recognition, possibly indicating that experience with training and working with these cases heightens the awareness of both the importance and difficulty of these cases.

Further Exploration of Seriousness

In order to further assess officer perceptions of the seriousness of computer crimes, offices were asked to rate the seriousness of 12 offenses [five traditional offenses (armed robbery; burglary; selling cocaine; shoplifting; vandalism) and seven computer crimes (copyright infringement such as software and media piracy; credit card fraud; electronic theft of money from accounts; harassment over the Internet; identity theft; pedophilia on the Internet; viruses and malicious software infection)] on a five-point scale from not serious (1) to very serious (5) based on the “financial and emotional harm to victims, and their threat to life, liberty, and personal property.”1 We chose these traditional offenses because we believed that the officers would perceive them as having varying levels of seriousness. Table 2 presents the

1 Due to survey space limitations, we could not have the officers assess the seriousness of each crime based on each criteria of seriousness, such as emotional, financial, and physical consequences. Instead, we provided a definition of seriousness that encompassed all criteria of seriousness.

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descriptives for these offenses listed in order from most serious to least. The findings provide an interesting perspective on the perceived impact of both computer and real world crimes and the relationships between these offenses.

The 12 offenses fall into three groups: (1) serious crimes (armed robbery; pedophilia; burglary; electronic theft; identity theft; selling cocaine; and credit card fraud); (2) moderately serious offenses (viruses and malicious software infection; harassment over the Internet); and (3) less serious offenses (vandalism; copyright infringement; shoplifting).2 These findings were substantively similar for both cities, illustrating generalizability of findings.

Officers ranked armed robbery as the most severe offense. This is sensible given the significant emotional and economic impact this crime can have on victims. The only differences between respondents were that older officers and those with more experience viewed this offense as somewhat less serious than those younger, less experienced counterparts. Pedophilia in on-line environments was ranked the second most serious offense, congruent with previous research on police attitudes toward computer crimes (Hinduja, 2004; Senjo, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). The high ranking may be due to the significant social stigma associated with child sex offenses (Durkin & Bryant, 1999; Holt et al., 2010). Child victims can be easily taken advantage of and coerced into acts due to their innocence and naiveté (Durkin & Bryant, 1999). There were also no significant differences between respondents, suggesting that officers consistently perceive this to be a significant offense.

The mean seriousness of burglary, identity theft, and electronic theft of funds were closely clustered, followed by sale of cocaine and credit card fraud. These offenses are presumably grouped together due to the economic impact most of these offenses have on their prospective victims, despite the fact that they operate in different environments (Newman & Clarke, 2003; Wall, 2001, 2007). The relationships between traditional theft, such as burglary, and on-line theft (i.e. identity theft; electronic theft; credit card fraud) have been proposed by a variety of scholars (e.g., Newman & Clarke, 2003; Wall, 2001). These findings indicate that patrol officers may share this same point of view. The similarities noted may also be a reflection of the difficulties inherent in investigating and clearing these offenses without substantial evidence or witnesses (Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2010; Newman & Clarke, 2003). Interestingly, the impact of cocaine sales on drug abusers and the larger community is seen by these officers as equally comparative to that of various forms of serious theft. The only significant difference was that officers with higher levels of education viewed selling cocaine as less serious than those officers with less education. The overall perception that on-line and off-line theft is equally serious, however, was a widely held belief among these officers.

Malicious software infections and on-line harassment, which we categorized in group 2, were considered less serious than traditional and on-line theft. In group 1, at least 50% of the officers believed that the offenses were very serious and 90% said it was at least serious. Only 31.8% of officers considered malicious software infections

2 We categorized these offenses based on both means (see Table 2) and medians. All of group 1 had medians of 5. Group 2 had medians of 4. Group 3 had medians of 3. Some might argue because of the small mean differences, on-line harassment could be included in group 3 and malicious infection could be treated at its own category. Based on the medians and the logical grouping of the offenses in group 3, we included on-line harassment in group 2.

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to be very serious. 71.6% thought it was at least serious. Though officers recognized the problem of malware, they did not consider the damage caused by these tools in the same light as drug and property offenses. Older officers and those with more experience perceived these offenses as more serious. Thus, the impact of malware may not be fully evident to less experienced officers. Though the problem of on-line harassment is gaining increasing significance in the media and academic research literature (Finn, 2004; Holt & Bossler, 2009), only 19% of the patrol officers considered it to be a very serious offense. Non-White officers thought it was more serious than White officers.

Table 2 Perceived seriousness and frequency of offenses

Mean SD (1) Not serious

(2) A little serious

(3) Somewhat serious

(4) Serious (5) Very serious

Seriousness

(1) Armed robbery (n=264) 4.83 0.49 0.4 0.4 1.5 11.7 86.0

(2) Pedophilia on the Internet (n=264)

4.69 0.68 0.4 1.5 5.3 14.4 78.4

(3) Burglary (n=263) 4.56 0.64 0.4 0.4 4.6 31.9 62.7

(4) Electronic theft of money (n=264)

4.52 0.67 0.4 0.4 6.4 32.2 60.6

(5) Identity theft (n=262) 4.52 0.65 0.4 0.4 5.3 34.7 59.2

(6) Selling cocaine (n=263) 4.47 0.75 0.8 0.8 8.7 30.4 59.3

(7) Credit card fraud (n=263) 4.42 0.74 0.4 1.5 8.0 35.7 54.4

(8) Viruses/malicious software (n=264)

3.93 0.98 1.9 6.8 19.7 39.8 31.8

(9) Harassment over the Internet (n=263) 3.58 1.01 3.0 10.6 30.8 36.5 19.0

(10) Vandalism (n=264) 3.38 1.02 3.0 15.5 37.1 28.8 15.5

(11) Copyright infringement (n=263)

3.37 1.12 6.5 15.2 30.0 31.9 16.3

(12) Shoplifting (n=263) 3.16 1.04 6.5 18.3 38.0 27.4 9.9

Mean SD (1) Rare (2) Somewhat rare

(3) Somewhat frequent

(4) Frequent (5) Very requent

Frequency

(1) Burglary (n=263) 4.55 0.69 0.0 0.4 8.7 26.2 64.6

(2) Selling cocaine (n=264) 4.51 0.82 1.1 1.5 9.8 20.5 67.0

(3) Shoplifting (n=263) 4.51 0.81 0.8 1.9 9.9 20.9 66.5

(4) Armed robbery (n=264) 4.30 0.88 0.8 1.9 17.4 26.1 53.8

(5) Vandalism (n=263) 4.17 0.93 0.8 3.8 20.2 28.1 47.1

(6) Credit card fraud (n=264) 4.16 0.90 0.4 4.2 18.9 32.2 44.3

(7) Identity theft (n=264) 3.91 1.00 1.9 7.2 21.6 36.7 32.6

(8) Electronic theft of money (n=263)

3.83 1.08 3.4 7.2 25.5 30.4 33.5

(9) Pedophilia on the Internet (n=263)

3.82 1.20 5.7 9.5 19.4 27.8 37.6

(10) Viruses (n=264) 3.78 1.21 6.1 14.8 23.9 23.5 37.9

(11) Copyright infringement (n=261)

3.69 1.22 7.3 8.4 26.1 24.9 33.3

(12) Harassment over the Internet (n=260) 3.59 1.15 5.8 10.0 30.4 26.9 26.9

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Finally, officers viewed vandalism, copyright infringement, and shoplifting as the least serious offenses overall. This clustering is instructive as these offenses can have large costs, but they generally have small impacts on citizens directly. Instead, corporate entities are primarily harmed by these offenses. Officers therefore appear to consider theft of property from stores in the same light as music or media piracy. There were a few significant differences among the respondents. Non-White officers viewed vandalism and copyright infringement as more serious offenses than White officers. Older officers viewed all of these offenses as more serious than younger officers. Finally, officers with more education viewed vandalism as a less serious offense than those with less education.

Frequency of Offenses

Finally, officers were asked to indicate the frequency of the 12 offenses discussed above. Options ranged from rare (1) to very frequently (5). These items were meant to assess officer perceptions of the frequency with which computer crimes occur relative to street crimes, not as objective measures of how often these crimes actually occur. The findings suggest that officers view street crimes as more common than computer crimes (see Table 2). The top five most frequent offenses according to these officers were the five traditional crimes.3 Burglary, shoplifting, and cocaine sales were viewed as the most prevalent crimes, with no significant differences across the respondents for these three offenses. The fact that the offenses that were perceived to be the least frequent were the seven computer offenses is sensible, since they are less frequently reported to local law enforcement agencies (Finn, 2004; Wall, 2001). Malicious software infections (Bossler & Holt, 2010; Taylor et al., 2010), harassment (Finn, 2004; Holt & Bossler, 2009), and copyright infringement (Higgins, 2005; McQuade, 2006), however, are increasingly common among various populations and arguably occur more often than many traditional offenses. This raises significant concerns about the ability of local agencies to recognize the problem of computer crime.

Conclusion

The emergence of computer technology over the last several decades has greatly increased the capacity of individuals to engage in offenses both on- and off-line (Brenner, 2008). In response, scholars and law enforcement administrators have provided their perceptions of the problem and the necessary steps to combat computer crimes (Brenner, 2008; Goodman, 1997; Stambaugh et al., 2001; Wall, 2001). As part of this strategy to better address these offenses, patrol officers are increasingly pressed to serve as effective first responders at computer crime scenes (Goodman, 1997; Hinduja, 2007; NIJ, 2008; Stambaugh et al., 2001). Few researchers have considered line officers’ perceptions of computer crime, including

3 The rankings by frequency were substantively similar for both departments. Charlotte officers, however, believed that armed robbery, vandalism, and on-line harassment occurred more frequently than Savannah officers.

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its seriousness, and the affect this might have on their response to these offenses (Senjo, 2004). As a consequence, it is unknown how officers will support or resist administrative policies and procedures to respond to computer crime cases. Thus, this study surveyed patrol officers in two southeastern US cites in order to understand their views on the uniqueness, seriousness, and frequency of computer crimes.

We found that these officers had little training for or experience with computer crime cases, as noted in research with other local police departments (Burns et al., 2004; Hinduja, 2004; Holt et al., 2010; Taylor et al., 2010). In addition, many officers had no opinions or solid perceptions on the various aspects of computer crime. For example, a large proportion of respondents were “unsure” about the demographics of computer criminals, their common targets, the uniqueness of computer crime, and whether officers should receive more recognition for catching violent criminals in comparison to other offense types. Though this may appear to be a lack of concern about computer crimes (Goodman, 1997), these officers had little if any direct experience with computer crime to have formed opinions on certain aspects of these offenses. Thus, their opinions may change as they gain greater exposure to these cases.

The results of the attitudinal survey suggest that patrol officers were cognizant of the overall risk that computer crimes pose to the community. In fact, these offenses were viewed as a rather serious problem for American society, rather than a minor nuisance. The results comparing computer offenses to street crimes provide some valuable insights into the nature of computer crime investigations in general. For example, officers viewed various forms of on-line and traditional theft as equally serious, positively reflecting the amount that was lost, and not the manner in which the money was stolen. Fewer officers viewed on-line harassment and “real world” harassment equally, placing more importance on physical danger. Officers perceived pedophilia to be the most serious computer crime in keeping with past research (Senjo, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). The ways that computer crimes were ranked in terms of seriousness closely matched that of Senjo’s (2004) study of officers in a Western state. Some of the most common forms of computer crime, including copyright infringement, were neither perceived as serious nor frequent offenses. The patrol officers also thought that computer crimes occurred much less frequently than real world offenses. This may be a result of underreporting by victims to local agencies, or a consequence of differential exposure to computer crimes generally (Stambaugh et al., 2001; Wall, 2007).

Taken as a whole, the findings indicate that patrol officers are generally supportive of computer crime investigations based on the perceived seriousness of these offenses. This is a welcome finding in light of the increasing role of technology in the day to day lives of citizens and the prominent threat of computer crimes. These results also validate the notion that law enforcement agencies have improved their awareness of and response capability to these offenses over the last decade (Senjo, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). In fact, a majority of officers felt that computer crimes were a serious problem, and some of these offenses were comparable to street crimes. In turn, patrol officers do not appear resistant to taking a more significant role in the investigation of computer crimes. At the same time, line officers appeared less supportive of investigations of computer crimes that affect

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large corporations rather than those targeting individuals. This may be a function of the nature of offenses reported to local police, as computer crimes affecting business are more likely to involve federal law enforcement resources due to the scope of the offense (Brenner, 2008; Wall, 2007). Alternatively, there may be some other issues affecting officer attitudes reflective of the protective role of local policing in general. Further research is needed to understand how officers perceive of their role in responding to computer crime cases whether the victim is a corporate entity or individual citizen. The findings may provide insights into the ways that officers view their role in reducing computer crimes across various victim populations.

In addition, the findings of this study consistently indicate that officers with minimal computer crime training and case experience were uncertain about various aspects of computer crime. Their perceptions were relatively similar despite the geographic, departmental, demographic, and experiential characteristics of officers. Thus there is a clear need for comprehensive training and educational programs implemented in police academies to increase officer awareness of computer crimes and improve their efficacy as first responders to these offenses (Senjo, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). For example, officers with some computer crime training did not view these offenses as being significantly different from street crimes. The ability to identify common patterns across street and computer offenses, while at the same time recognizing some of the distinct characteristics of computer crimes, would substantively improve the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate these offenses (Hinduja, 2007). Additionally, officers who serve as first responders who understand the dynamics of computer crime may be better able to secure computer crime scenes for subsequent forensic evidence collection relative to more technology-phobic officers (NIJ, 2008).

It is also critical that training programs incorporate police administrators during roll calls and departmental meetings to ensure that command staff understand the challenges and dynamics of computer crime. Managerial support is critical in the investigation of computer crime at the local level to ensure that line officers are supported in the course of their investigations (Hinduja, 2004; Stambaugh et al., 2001). If line officers recognize that management will accept and approve of the investigation of computer crime cases, then they may be more likely to pursue these case in the future. Thus, training programs must touch on all elements of police staff in order to improve the general response to computer crime at the local level.

There are, however, limitations of this study that must be noted. Since two Southeastern cities were studied, the findings may have limited generalizability. Although the findings were quite robust across the two cities, and both departments have been used to study complex and controversial policing issues such as police officer decision making in regards to stopping and questioning citizens (Alpert, Macdonald, & Dunham, 2005; Dunham, Alpert, Stroshine, & Bennett, 2005), police officer stress (Lord, 1996), and the impact of street crime units on fear of crime (Rutherford, Blevins, & Lord, 2009), studying a larger number of agencies in other regions of the country would strengthen these findings. In addition, our study experienced low response rates similar to previous research on the law enforcement response to computer crime (Burns et al., 2004; Marcum et al., 2010). Although the response rate from the SCMPD was similar to that of previous studies (Burns et al., 2004; Marcum et al., 2010), the CMPD response rates were probably lower due to

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using an online delivery system (Dillman, 2007). However, it should be noted that the demographics of the sample closely resembled that of the two departments and of policing in general (LEMAS, 2007). Finally, if a volunteer bias existed in the sample, more officers would have had stronger opinions, leading to fewer “no opinions.” This study adds to our knowledge of how patrol officers perceive of computer crime and strongly supports the need for additional research on how local law enforcement has responded to cybercrime.

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Thomas J. Holt is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri - Saint Louis. His research focuses on cybercrime and the ways that technology and the Internet facilitate deviance, as well as the law enforcement response to these events.

Adam M. Bossler is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies at Georgia Southern University. He has a doctorate in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri - St. Louis. His current research focuses on examining the application of traditional criminological theories to cybercrime offending and victimization, how law enforcement responds to cybercrime, and exploring innovative correctional programs.

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