Everyone in the UK seems to agree that recorded crime is decreasing. This is one of the arguments the government is using to justify its savage cuts in police budgets. All we have to do now is to get the police more efficient—working smarter, making better use of IT. Reduction in crime means we don’t need so many police officers. This belief is based on a false premise. Recorded crime is declining, but that’s largely due to the fact that crime has moved from the physical world to cyberspace or the Internet: cybercrime is much safer and more appealing. The rewards are much greater, and the risks of being caught and convicted are vanishingly small. So if you’re a rational criminal with a reasonable IQ, why would you bother robbing people, breaking into houses, stealing cars and doing all the other things that old- style crooks do—and that old-style cops are good at catching them doing Each senior police officer believes that cybercrime has been at alarming levels but none seems confident that our law enforcement system can deal with it. These views are supported by the experiences of the 5% of UK Internet users who have been the victims of various cybercrime; they report a variety of responses—almost none of them helpful—from the local police forces to whom they turn for help. One good reason is that the criminals are hard to identify or turn out to be operating abroad. Other reasons include bureaucratic inertia, lack of technical knowledge and a shortage of resources, which means that cybercrime receives lower priority than other, more urgent, responsibilities. Or simply the fact that officers often don’t take it seriously. It’s exceedingly difficult to measure accurately, for a variety of reasons—the spectrum of wrongdoing, the fact that much of it is under-reported and widely distributed, and the high cost that includes not only the actual damage done, but the costs of self-protection and the costs of clearing up after an attack. And then there are the opportunity costs: for example, security software used by online merchants typically rejects 4.3% of orders out of fear of fraud, even though many of those potential orders are in fact genuine. The reality we face is that cybercrime is vast and flourishing. But do not expect to hear much about it in the election. What we actually need are more policemen on the net.
A.Good news—recorded crime is declining in the UK.B.How high-tech is used in cybercrime.C.These days crime doesn’t pay unless it’s done online.D.The important role of the police in fighting crime.
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