Civilians Can Join Fight Against Cybercrime, Says UK Home Secretary

"We want to help forces to create a more flexible workforce, bring in new skills and free up officers' time to focus on the jobs they can carry out," Theresa May said.

Chief constables would be given the power to hand over more responsibility to police volunteers, allowing forces to enlist members of the public who specialize in computing or accountancy to help tackle cybercrime.

​​However, the home secretary's reforms of the role of police volunteers has been labeled "policing on the cheap" by the Police Federation.

"We have seen no convincing arguments on the need to provide powers above or beyond those that already exists to police staff and volunteers," Steve White chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales said.

"Special constables and a significant army of volunteers up and down the country do sterling work, but they should not be a replacement for sworn-in professional officers," said White.

Technology firm TechUK has called for police forces in England and Wales to work with computer industry experts to fight cybercrime — but news that the home secretary intends to give police volunteers the job, is causing concern among forces.

However, according to Theresa May, reforms to police volunteers will "encourage those with skills in particular demand, such as those with specialist IT or accountancy skills, to work alongside police officers to investigate cyber or financial crime, and help officers and staff fight crime more widely." 

Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed that there were on average 625,000 cybercrime offenses a month in England and Wales, although security experts believe that figure to be a fraction of the reality of offences.