Stalking and harassment cases make up almost three quarters of cyber crimes dealt with by Merseyside Police.
From April to December 2021, almost 10,000 offences related to cyber crime were recorded by the force, with an increase of 170% expected by the end of the financial year 2021/22. A scrutiny meeting of Merseyside Police, held by Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Emily Spurrell, was told that 72% of offences in an eight month period were linked to stalking or harassment.
PCC Spurrell said the figures represented a “huge increase” and Louise Kane, head of performance and analytics for Merseyside Police, told the meeting that within that data set, the biggest issue related to non-domestic stalking. She added that cyber crime had been on an “increased trajectory” for some time.
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PCC Spurrell asked senior officers if they had a plan to “get a grip” of the increasing number of stalking and harassment cases. Assistant Chief Constable Chris Green admitted it had been a “big increase”.
He said: “It’s quite clear this has been replicated right across the country so we’re not unique by any means and it’s a challenge for everyone.” ACC Green said with more people using internet enabled devices cases were likely to increase and there were “a lot of steps to go through” to identify an offender online.
He added that investments had been made into a digital programme that will support officers during the initial stage of reporting offences to speed up the process. Cyber crime was becoming an area of “specialist investigation” but ACC Green conceded that the force have “lots of staff investigating these issues who don’t have those specialist skills.”
Work was being done with the College of Policing to upskill those working on these cases to ensure they can identify offenders. Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley said officers were able to establish where there had been previous contacts by an offender to a victim and work was ongoing to establish where the force needed to enhance its digital capability.
DCC Critchley added that the progression of the Online Safety Bill through Parliament was key to pushing those hosting web platforms to take “some of this off in the first place.” He added that elected representatives needed to push for the Bill to pass to further ensure women and girls in particular could be kept safe from harassment.
