UK police spends over £1.3m on cybercrime training

UK Police has spent £1.3m in the last three years to train its staff on cyber security issues,  according to new figures released by Parliament Street think tank in a report.

A total of 39,483 of police staff and officers have taken part in this training across UK.

Between 2015 and 2017, North Wales Police spent the most (£375,488) in training its staff in cybercrime issues. Most of its funds were allocated for ‘Main Stream Cyber Training’, a five-day course that saw 147 key staff being trained at a cost of £160,000.

West Mercia and Warwickshire Police figured in the list, spending £125,633, followed by Lincolnshire at £119,834 and West Midlands Police at £91,200.

According to the report, although police forces work together occasionally to develop cyber crime training programmes, the clear majority are working alone in this process.

Among the key recommendations in the report include establishment of a national police cyber strategy. While individual forces have varying challenges in terms of crime, headcount and volume of citizens to protect, a more standardised approach is required to cybercrime strategy. This would enable security specialist companies to provide an agreed standard of training for all officers and staff across the country and prevent variation of standards and skills between forces. Further, there is an increased need for recruitment of officers with existing cyber skills.

Police forces also need to work closely with schools, colleges, universities and private companies to ensure a pipeline of workers are encouraged to join the police.