Hi-tech crime is quickly becoming an important issue for the world’s law enforcement. This means more and better training is needed for police forces across the globe. A new European initiative is seeking to bridge the existing knowledge gap, identified several years ago, by setting up a new IT training course for police officers. The first courses in this program will be held in Ireland in October and November this year, using the expertise of the Computer Crime Investigation Unit of the Irish Police or Garda. The idea for the course stems from the successful Falcone program that operated between 1998 and 2002, which aimed to increase cooperation and educational exchange between EU law enforcement bodies.

The 1st International Cybercrime Investigation Training Conference, held in 2005 by Interpol, identified a global lack of hi-tech training initiatives that would help harmonize both the knowledge and working methods of law enforcement agencies. EU enlargement has also been a major challenge, as many new member states have not had the same access to key training as police forces in countries such as the UK, Germany or France. In comments made to siliconrepublic.com Detective Inspector Paul Gillen of the Garda, who will run the new training courses in Ireland, has indicated that this was one of the major reasons behind the initiative. “Obviously, high-tech crime is a global phenomenon: evidence might be in one jurisdiction and the crime in another,” he said. “All investigators should have access to high-quality training and work on a level playing field.”

Both national and European bodies, including the European Commission, which is extremely keen to promote harmonized educational projects, will provide funding for the courses. The intermediate training course has been developed by the Garda in conjunction with University College Dublin, which already offers police officers a two-year part-time Masters program in forensic computing and cybercrime.