Policing built for the streets cannot keep up with crime online, and the system is creaking because of it |
By Marcus Johnstone
Last week we learned that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is planning the biggest reform of policing in England and Wales since the 1960s to modernise the way we tackle crime from terrorism to shop-lifting offences.
As a practicing criminal defence solicitor of over 20 years, I have seen the way crime is committed evolve drastically over the past two decades. It is clear to anyone with experience of the system that policing has not caught-up.
One of the biggest challenges is in how the internet proliferates offending. The growth of social media and the rise in digital literacy now means that criminals can extort or abuse a victim anywhere on the planet - doing so from the comfort of their own home.
These cases are usually very challenging, requiring a great deal of technical expertise, resources and manpower to detect, investigate and prosecute.
In my practice, I have been........