EDMONTON — In a world of ever-evolving technology, the Edmonton Police Service will be forming a new specialized unit to deal with cybercrime.
The EPS Cyber Crime Investigations Detail will launch in 2015. It will work alongside the service’s Tech Crime Unit, which has been in place since 1994.
“It’s going to become a necessity, I think, with the way technology is going, for any major organization to go in this direction,” said Insp. Chad Tawfik with the EPS.
From personal computers to smart phones, cybercrimes can be committed from any location, using any type of device.
“Cybercrime is borderless and some of the offences that you can see range from anything from identity theft up to and including homicide,” explained Tawfik. “So you have to be able to respond and have the right people with the right skills to be able to handle any investigation.”
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According to the StatsCan Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, there were 9,084 incidents of cybercrime in Canada in 2012 – 51 of those were in Edmonton. In 2013, the number of incidents in Edmonton jumped to 144.
“The variety and diversity of products being used and the types of offences being conducted using those sort of devices is causing us to have to respond,” said Tawfik.
“It could happen anywhere. Ultimately, we want to be in the best position possible to first of all, prevent and educate people so they know how to prevent themselves from being targets, and to investigate it when it does happen.”
The Cyber Crime Unit will be made up of four officers who will work with forensic examiners from the Tech Crime Unit to analyze devices and determine who is behind any online crime. Tawfik says the EPS would also like to add two more members to the Tech Crime Unit.
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