This week, a police officer from ROCU. ROCU is the ‘Regional Organised Crime Unit’ which operate throughout in the West Midlands. ROCU is made up from 4 police forces: West Midlands Police, Staffordshire Police, Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police.
Firstly, we learnt the difference between 2 categories of cyber crime:
- Cyber Dependent Crimes which are crimes that can only be done with technology (for example DDoS attacks)
- Cyber Enabled Crimes which are crimes that don’t require technology but might be done with technology to assist (for example fraud)
Then we learnt about how ROCU approaches crimes (whether they are cyber or not):
- Pursue offenders (perhaps going to their address and catching them in the act)
- Prevent people from becoming involved in (or remaining in) cyber crime
- Protect the public and organizations from becoming victims of cyber crime
- Prepare for the consequences when cyber incidents occur
We then went on to talk about some different cyber crimes that had happened in our area (both criminals and people/companies who had been affected) and looking at some consequences of the criminals actions (like their prison sentence, fine, etc…)
We learnt how easy it is for teenagers to get involved with cyber crime and how to prevent people from getting down a wrong path as well as a deeper understanding of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and how it still applies to technology 29 years on.