Police to patrol internet

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Police to patrol internet

17 July 2006
By JO MCKENZIE-MCLEAN
NZ

Police are planning to patrol internet sites to target organised crime, violence and sexual crimes. The move is part of a new police strategy that pressure groups say is long overdue.

Christchurch parents worried that their children are becoming targets on social networking websites have also welcomed the move.

Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope said the new strategy, which was still being finalised, had been developed to combat the growing phenomenon of on-line crime. "There is no doubt that crime committed with technological assistance is capturing the attention of police agencies around the globe," he said. "Most critically, New Zealand police faces a capability gap among general police staff." Police aimed to "ramp up" their e-crime training and awareness.

The aim was to develop an understanding of the on-line environment, identifying who was offending, what offences were being committed or facilitated by technology, and when this was happening.

Pope said the country's first electronic crime strategy would collaborate with other agencies but not duplicate their work. It would also plug in to international agencies to monitor emerging risks and crime fighting opportunities. "What I can assure you is that even though e-crime is the new kid on the crime block, it is getting close attention," Pope said.

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said the proposed strategy was positive and overdue. "More and more serious crime and organised criminals are moving their activity to the internet. "I'm confident this police-management team has a full understanding of the specific issues around e-crime and you can see they have started to address these things through the establishment of a national unit. Certainly, we are due for one."

Police cyber-crime units were common overseas, Cocker said. The existing e-crime unit based in Wellington was not enough. "The e-crime unit is not pro-actively on the internet, looking for offenders, but we can foresee a move in that direction." Police headquarters spokesman John Neilson said the national e-crime unit was essentially a forensic unit, not a criminal-investigation unit.

A concerned parent whose 15-year-old daughter had been offered drugs on the social networking site Bebo.com said it was a step in the right direction. "Anything that can be done to put some sort of focus on what's effectively going on in secret at the moment has got to be good.

"Overseas they have really picked up on it. In the States they are very active, specifically in protecting minors."

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