Gov't pledges to take e-crime seriously

The government has pledged to meet with law enforcers to forge new policies on tackling cyber crime.

silicon.com's e-Crime Crackdown campaign is calling for a national UK cyber crime police unit.

The centre would provide leadership and expertise to co-ordinate investigations nationwide and collate reports from forces across the country, as well as offering a central point of contact for reporting cyber crime.

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The announcement comes in the wake of an e-crime discussion meeting between Home Office minister Vernon Coaker, Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) representatives and the Metropolitan Police's head of e-crime Charlie McMurdie.

But the Home Office has still not agreed to provide the £1.3m in start up funding for a Policing Central E-Crime Unit (PCEU), proposed by Acpo and the Met.

McMurdie recently added her voice to those supporting silicon.com's e-Crime Crackdown campaign, which has been backed by a large swathe of UK law enforcement and Plc.

McMurdie has said she is hopeful the government will make a decision on funding for PCEU in the near future.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "No decision has been taken on the formation of an e-crime unit, but we will be considering how we take an overall approach to issues such as electronic fraud, and will be discussing these with a number of law enforcement agencies.

"The government takes this form of crime seriously, and is currently considering how best to tackle such crimes."

The UK's recently announced National Security Strategy made no mention of any dedicated e-crime unit.