British Police, AI & The Fight Against Cyber Crime

Uploaded on 2024-02-16 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Artificial Intelligence, GOVERNMENT-Law Enforcement, FREE TO VIEW

Nik Adams City of London Police Temporary Assistant Commissioner, in an exclusive interview with Policing Insight, explains how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionise fraud and cyber-crime and frontline officers in the UK have a significant part to play in reducing these crimes.

“Every police officer has a key role in supporting the fight against fraud and cybercrime, which affects thousands of victims in local communities every day. They can make a huge difference by safeguarding vulnerable victims, providing the latest crime prevention advice, and submitting intelligence."

“And the new national public fraud campaign, launching in 2024, will be another fantastic opportunity for frontline colleagues to support the public and contribute to our mission to tackle offenders,” says Nik Adams.

Fraud is the most common type of crime affecting England and Wales currently. The most accurate data available, found in the Crime Survey for England and Wales, shows that there were 3.3 million fraud offences in the year ending June 2023; this vast figure doesn’t even include fraud against businesses.

The National Crime Agency claims that 86% of fraud incidents aren’t reported to the authorities, with some estimates suggesting that fraud costs the UK economy £137 billion every year. That is equivalent to the GDP of the Largest Country in the World

Unsurprisingly given the prevalence of fraud and cybercrime today, T/AC Adams is clear that this is one of the top risks facing the UK. “It’s a serious threat and the loss to the UK economy is significant, as it is to other economies around the world... I think if you took the globally combined impact of cybercrime now, the cost together would be equivalent to the GDP of the largest country in the world. So you’re talking in the trillions in terms of cost.”

The fraud and cybercrime landscape is going to be profoundly transformed by AI.

Although T/AC Adams made it clear he didn’t have all the answers around its long-term impact however he offered a few concerning examples of what’s to come. And frontline officers in the UK have a part to play. “Every police officer has a key role in supporting the fight against fraud and cybercrime, which affects thousands of victims in local communities every day. They can make a huge difference by safeguarding vulnerable victims, providing the latest crime prevention advice, and submitting intelligence."

T/AC Adams’ aspiration is that platforms seeking to attract customers will increasingly view fraud prevention as essential. “My hope is that, in 10 years’ time, with all the legislation and frameworks and progress that some of the big companies will make, it’ll become commonplace that you want to demonstrate that you’re preventing fraud. Even before you get that licence to operate, you’ll have to show all the things that you’ve already got in place.

On the policing side, he makes a rather different argument, we need to stay the course and trust the new approach for the long term.

“There’s lots of organisations who do research into [fraud and cybercrime], including some academics and think tanks. And lots of people have different views on how things could be designed and configured differently... That’s everything up to the idea that there should be a single national force that looks after fraud. But fraud’s international and complex, while also being very local and high volume as well."

“So, having a single agency that manages all of that when it’s 50% of all crime - with the rest of policing then looking after just the other 50% - that feels absolutely bonkers. Especially as the harm that’s caused to victims happens in local communities, even if the offenders are overseas."

“There will have to be things that change in the future. But my big plea, to those working in and with law enforcement, and those in roles where they have political power or can influence those who do, is that people look at what we’re already doing. Look at what’s working and how we’re going to build on that."

“Because if we reach the point, over the next year or so, where we have a completely new and different colour of government coming into play... And we start to think ‘let’s shut down everything we’re doing and build a totally new model’, we will have taken a huge step back... Even if there’s a perception that transforming the system again could be better in the long term, we need to build on what we’ve got now.”

For the Full Interview and More Information - Please go to: https://policinginsight.com

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