4 Week Masters' Program Cybercrime Class
Holt, Thomas J., George W. Burrus, & Adam W. Bossler. (2015). Policing Cybercrime and Cyberterror. Carolina Academic Press. ISBN: 978-1-61163-256-9 Notes for: Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6
Robert M. Worley, Ph.D.
1
Chapter 4: Police Officer Attitudes toward the Law Enforcement Response to Cybercrime
Perceptions of Traditional Strategies to Combat Cybercrime
Most recommendations for how local law enforcement should respond to cybercrime has come from management
Bossler and Holt (2012) found that line officers’ views differ from that of management
Top four recommendation from patrol officers were regarding citizens needing to be more careful on the Internet and for changes to legislation and prosecution
Lowest ranked recommendation was to work with “online” citizens
Perceptions of Traditional Strategies (cont.)
Many officers were indifferent to many of the questions as they had no strong opinion
Stronger opinions on who should respond
73% believed cybercrime calls should be responded to directly by a computer crime unit
Support of Cybercrime Investigations within Police Departments
Unclear how the importance of cyber investigations has improved among the rank and file
Traditionally, little emphasis had been placed on cyber investigations, other than child pornography cases
Holt et al. (2010) found that half of FLETC trainees thought that an increased focus on cybercrime detracted attention away from traditional crimes
Bossler and Holt (2012) found support in Savannah and Charlotte
2/3 thought it did not drain valuable resources
½ thought that a computer stakeout was just as important
Support of Cyber Investigations (cont.)
Patrol officers did not have insight on how upper management was responding to cybercrime
2/3 did not know if management was taking it seriously enough
71% did not know if management was taking the appropriate steps
Officers trained in cybercrime investigation and those with recent cyber experience were less likely to believe that management was taking it seriously enough
The evidence is mixed regarding whether the police culture supports cyber investigations or if officers are simply uncertain
Innovative Strategies
Police response to cybercrime has historically been through traditional means
Researchers believe that law enforcement can reduce cybercrime, however, by working with non-law enforcement partners
Possible collaborations include:
Online citizens
Internet service providers
Web-hosting companies
State sponsored non-public policing agencies
Other law enforcement agencies
COP Online
An effective collaborative program may be the use of community-oriented policing (COP)
May develop response capabilities by increasing awareness of offense prevalence and by improving reporting rates
Internet users may increase police resources by increasing their knowledge
Challenges:
Resistance of citizens toward working with officers in unregulated space
Officers who may view it as online social work
COP Online (cont.)
Few existing online community policing programs exist
Unclear how a COP online program would be structured or operate
Workshops could:
Provide information to public about cybercrime risks
Give citizens safety precautions
Should concentrate on youth populations
Officers’ Views on Online COP
Working with online citizens ranked last with patrol officers as a recommendation
Bossler and Holt (2013) found:
Officers either agreed or were unsure whether COP could apply online
Majority of officers agreed that their agency should educate the public more regarding on-line risks and prevention
60% thought it was important to work with citizens online
Most consistent predictor of support for COP online was support of COP in physical world
Computer proficiency was not related to support
Interest in Working with High-Tech Industries and Service Providers
¾ of the officers in the two cities thought it was important to work with high-tech industries and service providers
Predictors of support:
COP
Frequency and severity of cybercrime
Not believing that it drained resources
Saw value of cybercrime investigations
Viewing cybercrime as altering policing
Not believing that upper management had it under control
Interest in Working with High-Tech and Service Providers (cont.)
Not significant predictors:
Computer proficiency
Perceptions of the Internet
Officers’ experiences with cyber cases
When police leaders identify officers to work with non-law enforcement agencies, they should place more emphasis on their views on COP and cybercrime, not on technical skills and past cyber experiences.
Conclusion
Scholars and law enforcement administrators’ calls for more involvement of local police officers does not match the wished of line officers
Large proportion of officers are unsure about what they think about cybercrime and what should be done about it
Officers would prefer changes to citizens’ online behaviors and to the legal system
Officers do think it is important to try innovative strategies, such as working with high tech-industries and service providers
Chapter 5: Stress, Strain, and Satisfaction among Cybercrime Investigators
Police officers experience work stress from various sources
Role conflict from competing job demands or unclear standards
Role ambiguity, or a lack of clear guidelines for work tasks
Insufficient training
Lack of support for officer decision-making
Inability to affect workplace policies
Agency size – as agency size increases, so does the stress
Work stress can have adverse effect on job performance
Higher work stress leads to low job satisfaction
More stress is associated with increased aggression
Support from colleagues can reduce stress
To find out how handling digital evidence affected officers, the authors looked at a variety of measures
Agency size
Experience in years
Role conflict
Supervisory support
Dangerousness
Job satisfaction
Experience with digital evidence
Image exhaustion
Age, female, white, married, and education
Few officers cope with stress through negative coping mechanisms
Research on work stress in policing looks at various coping mechanisms
Positive coping: work harder, talk with friends, seek professional help
Negative coping: smoking, drinking, or drugs
Few officers engage in negative coping
Less than 20 percent engages in things like smoking, taking tranquilizers
Only 30 percent sought the help of a counselor
Cybercrime investigators report experiencing trauma from viewing obscene images
Eight survey respondents (or 21 percent of sample) reported trouble dealing with cybercrimes
However, very few reported extremely negative consequences from exposure to child pornography
Most common reported problems were:
Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, irritability, numbness, and easily startled
Most cope with problems silently
Would police officers seek professional help if they felt it necessary?
Most felt supervisors would accept officers going to counseling services (75%)
But less felt peers would support decision (58%)
Only 17% of respondents used counseling services
The use of counseling and symptoms of trauma were not correlated in the authors’ study
CHAPTER 6:
Implications for Policing, Policy, and Practice
Changing CJ Policies
The general public needs to recognize the threat of cybercrime and when they may be victims
Local law enforcement can provide educational programs to the public
Research is needed to understand when and how cybercrime training is introduced to patrol officers
Task force models may be useful to deal with complex cybercrimes
Changing CJ Policies
Management awareness and support
Improved responses from management to patrol officers
Careful supervision and resource allocation for digital forensic investigators
Investigative and forensic tools
Automation of analysis when possible
Development and evaluation of tools