Expertise Integration in Cybercrime Policing: Exploring Civilian Career Lifecycles

This study examines the internal dynamics and composition of federal police
cybercrime units with a focus on civilianization. The study is based on interviews
with 56 sworn and civilian (unsworn) members of two federal law
enforcement organizations located in two of the Five Eyes countries. Both
police organizations had a significant number of civilian employees in their
cybercrime units and were in the process of actively recruiting more. The
findings relate to civilianization across four domains: organizational design
and structure; recruitment and remuneration; education and training; and
attrition and retention. These four (interrelated) domains were identified as
core organizational challenges that impacted the capacity of police cybercrime
units to optimally harness civilian expertise to enhance cybercrime
capability. Our study finds widespread support for civilianization within
federal police cybercrime units as an approach to improving capability but
highlights several challenges for police organizations across the civilian
career lifecycle. The main challenges relate to recruitment and retention.
A much broader tension relates to how police organizations remunerate
sworn and civilian employees and provide opportunities for career advancement.
There is an increasing need for new policy solutions to this issue as
police organizations continue to adapt to evolving cybercrime challenges.