Michigan State University's College of Criminal Justice will offer basic cybersecurity training to local law enforcement agencies in one- to two-day programs over the summer. Training will cover areas such as Michigan law regarding cybercrime and victim demographics.
“While some local law enforcement agencies understand the issue of cybercrime, the education and training of local police officers varies,” said criminal justice professor Thomas Holt, who directs the program.
“Our hope is that being able to offer this as a resource to local agencies will improve the overall capacity of law enforcement agencies across the state.”
Inconsistent education about cybercrime can lead to poor incident follow-up. “There is a lot of evidence that local agencies in particular are not doing a very good job of responding to certain forms of cybercrime, such as fraud,” Holt said.
He said there is currently no requirement for local agencies to document calls related to cybercrime. “That's going to change over the next five years or so. Federal law has changed to require reporting to local agencies.”
Holt said he hopes the new training program will give local agencies a better advantage when the law actually takes effect. “They will be able to provide appropriate services to victims. They will be able to increase the likelihood of future coverage and improve the overall state of basic response to this crime problem.”
This training program is funded for one year by the U.S. Department of Education. Holt said his interest in providing basic cybersecurity training at the federal level is low. His goal is to expand the program into different specialties.
“Our hope is to build professional training and seek funding for different agencies, different resources and specialties. We want to do something for school resource personnel. I'm interested in
The training will begin at a local agency in East Lansing and will expand across the state as more funding becomes available.
The program is scheduled to begin in early August.
