Avon & Somerset Police is receiving help from volunteers to help fight the “complex threat” of cyber crime and online fraud. Police chiefs said volunteers help bring specialist skills to the force in a wide range of roles, including cracking down on the growing risk of fraud.
Volunteers assist the police in many ways, from becoming special constables to looking after horses. But as rates of cyber crime across the country are increasing, a new area where volunteers are helping is digitally tracking down criminals.
Chief Constable Sarah Crew was asked about how the force supports volunteers during a performance and accountability board meeting on June 14. She said Avon & Somerset Police was leading the way with cyber volunteers, with other forces now showing an interest.
Read more: Avon & Somerset Police refuses to say how many rapes are reported in hospitals
She said: “We have a strong and developing offer for cyber specialist volunteers. At the moment that consists of three cyber volunteer roles. They’re pretty much different from every other volunteer role that we have in the force.
“We go to them when we feel that their expertise would help us in trying to achieve what we need to achieve in the field of cyber. That includes developing tools and applications to combat the threat of cyber crime both on our shores and internationally, providing tactical advice during searches and interviews of suspects, and also helping us review large datasets to identify vulnerabilities and attack methods and gather evidence from them.
“We also have five special constables who specialise in cyber crime. They’re utilised when we execute search warrants, particularly those that we know are going to have a digital element. They’re very much part of the team.
“That will have to develop as cyber crime evolves. One of the areas of cyber crime is fraud. We’ve recently developed our programme to include a fraud volunteer role, and that’s someone bringing in specialist skills to help us with cyber fraud. It’s supporting us to be absolutely on the front foot in a fight against a complex and ever-changing threat.”
Hundreds of volunteers have spent thousands of hours working for Avon & Somerset Police so far this year in a variety of roles. The chief constable said many have benefited from training and tutoring offered by the force.
Ms Crew said: “In Avon and Somerset we have 238 special constables and they’ve given us over 25,000 hours so far this year. We’ve got 152 police support volunteers who have already given us over 6,000 hours this year. And that’s not to mention our cadets, our community speedwatch, our neighbourhood watch volunteers, and there are many others in many diverse roles.
“We provide quality training and it’s bespoke to the role that they’re doing. So for special constables there’s a national College of Policing syllabus. There are also national standards for a number of the volunteer programmes as well, which we ensure that we comply with. If you’re a volunteer in a particular area, you receive training specific to the volunteering that you’re doing so that you can do that role to the best of your abilities and develop yourself.
“We’re also keen to provide our volunteers with the right equipment, with the right tools to do the job. We also make sure there’s tutoring and buddying, and that people have access to the force welfare provision. Those who volunteer can gain a great deal from working with the police, and with the experience they get they may secure roles within our organisation.”
