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| PNG Police Officers Begin First Joint Cyber Forensics Course/Photo supplied |
A dozen Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary officers have started the country's first joint training programme in cybersecurity and digital forensics, part of an effort to sharpen police capability against cybercrime and cross-border criminal networks.
The week-long Cyber/BIRDE — short for Basic Incident Response to Digital Evidence — course opened this week through a collaboration between the RPNGC, the United States Embassy in Port Moresby, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
All 12 participants are drawn from the RPNGC Investigations Unit's Cyber Division and will spend the week learning how to handle digital evidence, trace cybercriminals, and capture and preserve data that can stand up in an investigation.
Opening the course at Airways Hotel, US Embassy Senior Law Enforcement Advisor Larry Foukas said the training builds on a wider partnership between the RPNGC and the Embassy, following a memorandum of understanding and letter of agreement signed in May to support joint law enforcement initiatives, cybersecurity training among them.
"Our number one goal is to combat trans-organized crime, because everything that comes in affecting PNG—we need to find ways to stop the citizens being affected by it," Foukas said.
He said the skills being taught would also help police respond faster to cyber offences hitting everyday citizens, such as online scams, extortion and harassment.
"Once reported to police, they would immediately act upon it and work on the investigation," Foukas said.
RPNGC Executive Director Rod Swain acknowledged that the Constabulary's cybercrime unit had been operating under strained resources but said that was beginning to shift.
"We are putting a lot of emphasis on the work that you do and the importance of it," Swain said. "You are a very important element of the Crime Division and the RPNGC more generally. It's an area that we're going to continue to develop over the coming years."
US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Alex Berenberg described the training as an investment in PNG's own capacity, saying it would give local investigators the tools and internationally trusted standards needed to play their part in wider regional security efforts.
The course runs through to September 4.