City of London Police to pilot e-crime database

The City of London's economic crime unit is preparing a pilot project to collect, match, assess and report e-crimes. If successful, the pilot could lead the way to a national e-crime reporting centre.

The pilot, which is now being staffed, will start in the summer. It will use information from four groups that represent public and private sector, said detective superintendent David Clark, who heads the unit.

"We have the protocols in place and we are recruiting the team," he said.

The unit is interviewing potential software suppliers, among them Detica, which has done similar data matching work for the Insurance Fraud Bureau.

Clarke said the pilot would end in late-summer, and the performance assessment would show the way forward for a national unit to collect, match, assess and disseminate intelligence on e-crime. "It will inform us on what to do next," he said.

A key feature will be to test reporting relationships between law enforcement agencies such as the Serious Organised Crime Unit, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), the Association of Chief Police Officers' e-crime office, the Metropolitan Police and others, such as the planned National Fraud Reporting Centre.

Clarke declined to say what the pilot would cost but said it was a low-budget project.