As the second largest police service in the UK comprising over 23,000 police officers and staff, Police Scotland is responsible for policing across the whole ofScotland, some 28,168 square miles, covering a third of the United Kingdom’s land mass with a unique range of urban, rural, island and remote communities.
Cybercrime is a growing and evolving threat, both nationally and internationally and there was an identified and urgent need for relevant and accessible training for non-specialist police who carry out the initial response in dealing with this crime area.
Our solution was designed as an innovative approach to meet various challenges facing Police Scotland;
The “Cybercrime and Digital Forensics App, First Responder Guide (FRG)” was developed in partnership with Police Scotland and Abertay University, building on the strengths of each.
Working with the Police Scotland cybercrime expert we established the key learning outcomes and then conducted a ‘game jam’ with gaming technology students at Abertay University, a high energy and creative session which resulted in identifying an immersive approach that would make the training more engaging and encourage frequent interaction with the training materials, so that skills are not just learned but can also be refreshed within a safe, but realistic learning environment.
The scene by scene storyboard was then developed allowing our designers to create the incident ‘environments’, and then add the avatars and objects, which the user could engage with and answer questions relating to each incident. Users are presented with feed back followed selection of the correct answer option, providing additional context, advice and practical guidance.
The resulting ‘game’ comprises of 3D scenarios relating to real life cybercrime incidents, with supporting help guides and a glossary of cybercrime terms, all of which are accessible on a tablet or other mobile device, reducing the need for abstractions, but can also be used on corporate desktops.
Following extensive trials with front-line police officers and staff, we asked the Scottish Institute for Policing Research to undertake an independent evaluation of this larger trial. The results were extremely positive.
Police Scotland
“It is an interesting way to learn. It makes you think, but is different from just reading and answering questions.”
Police Scotland
"Excellent way of providing training.Interactive learning with realistic scenarios enables you to take in the points that are significant to enquiries.”
The full report can be found here
We have now converted this training for use in police forces across the rest of the UK and it is readily convertible for other jurisdictions.
