Churchill Fellowship Research
Emma Pickering
Head of Tech and Economic Abuse/Head of National Domestic Abuse Helpline, Churchill Fellow 2023
On Friday I met with a Team Leader from the Joint Policing Cyber Crime Centre based in NSW, Sydney. The was established in March 2022 to combat cybercrime in Australia. The purpose of the meeting was to gather insight into how cyber enabled crimes are categorised and how they reach the reach the JPC centre. How frontline police officers collect forensic evidence, preserve the evidence and share with the Digital Leads, any challenges that are identified and importantly how they communicate with survivors how their devices are being analysed. A number of challenges were evident relating to lack of training on the frontline Issues with storage and timeframes for analysing the data. There was also the challenge of the way in which tech is developing, tech that is created with the intention to cause harm is increasingly being seen as a facilitator within domestic abuse. There are reports that the misuse of stalkerware is on the increase in Australia. There was however, a number of solutions one in particular one of interest, the use of Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) and a number of forensic tools that can scan for stalkerware.
There are a number of solutions to consider for the recommendations section of the report that could be implemented into practice in the UK. This was my last last meeting in Sydney, I now head to Melbourne to continue my meetings and visits with agencies working in Victoria. #ChurchillFellowship
Emma, your reflections on meetings and research are insightful! Keep up the great work, as your contributions are undoubtedly making a significant impact. Your dedication to research and sharing valuable insights is inspiring.