Volunteers on the Front Line: New research offers grassroots solution for global police forces to tackle cybercrime

With policing organisations across the world faced with tackling increasingly sophisticated threats, experts in the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice (IPSCJ) at the University of Northampton have joined forces with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to launch professional ‘how-to’ guidance for recruiting and integrating specialist volunteers into policing strategy.

Global cybercrime is on the rise, and the costs associated with this are expected to skyrocket to beyond £10.4trillion by 2028. To tackle these evolving and escalating forms of crime, police services are engaging volunteers with specialist skills to build capability.

In a bid to combat this, the IPSCJ as a global leader in research on volunteers in policing has shaped a framework which lays the foundations for successfully establishing a specialist volunteering programme – focused on cyber security and technology – for policing organisations nationally and internationally.

Professor Matthew Callender, a global expert in volunteering in policing and Director of the University of Northampton’s Institute for Public Safety, Crime & Justice (IPSCJ) has developed the framework in partnership with visiting fellows Dr Melissa Pepper (University of Greenwich), Dr Iain Britton (Global Foundation for Community Safety Volunteering), and Andrew Morley (PwC Policing and Public Safety Consultant).

As well as giving volunteers a heightened sense of purpose and sparking community spirit, this type of specialist volunteering delivers significant economic value, contributing to social resilience, future-focussed skills and long-term sustainability.

Professionalising the management of volunteers in policing will also increase its impact, better harness the collective strength, skills and expertise of individuals to support the delivery of strategic objectives and keep societies resilient in the face of future threats.

Drawing on global best practices and academic research, the framework advocates a four-pillar approach – consisting of rationale, experience, arrangement and performance (REAP) – to assess, activate and measure the impact of integrating skilled volunteer efforts into police strategy.

The REAP framework offers a structured approach to developing and managing effective volunteer programmes. It enables police organisations to align volunteer contributions with strategic objectives, optimise the impact of volunteerism and enhance overall organisational performance.

By leveraging this framework, police services can unlock the full potential of volunteer initiatives, strengthen public safety and support the broader transformation of cyber-policing.

This latest research from the University of Northampton and its partners delivers the foundations of a roadmap to pave the way for policing organisations to make use of technology specialists in their communities to increase their cyber-crime policing resilience.

Matthew Callender said: “We are very proud to have worked in partnership with PwC on this important agenda. Volunteers in policing across the world have played a significant role in supporting policing organisations. This paper sets out a framework to introduce and develop volunteering programmes to increase their value and impact. As the nature and forms of crime transform, volunteers offer important and dynamic skills to meet this threat and protect the public.”

While there are police volunteering initiatives on offer across UK and beyond, the global best-practice case studies included within this research creates a compelling case for integrating volunteering into national police strategies.

This research will act as a springboard for continued and enhanced research into the scope of integrating volunteers from the community into global police forces to address new and emergent threats.

The Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice (IPSCJ) at the University of Northampton delivers high quality research and evaluation, insight and innovation in the fields of public safety, crime and justice.

The full report is available to view via the PwC website.

Find out more about the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice via the University of Northampton’s website.