The advancement of the Internet and digital technology has enabled individuals to commit crimes affecting both virtual and real targets at will. Criminological scholarship related to cybercrime and technology-enabled offending has primarily focused on offenders and victims, calling to question how police agencies effectively respond to these incidents. Limited empirical research has largely focused on line officers, who view these cyber offenses to be less serious in comparison to traditional crimes. Research examining the perceptions of detectives and inspectors is virtually nonexistent, though they are much more likely to have an investigative responsibility to pursue offenders and engage with citizens about the offense. Thus, there is a need to understand the attitudes inspectors hold toward online crime in order to improve our knowledge of police views and inform policy makers in building effective strategies to aid their response to unique and emerging crime types. This study examined the attitudinal factors associated with online crimes and incidents using a sample of 155 inspectors from 26 local agencies across England and Wales. The implications of this study for both police detectives and law enforcement agencies are discussed in detail.

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The ubiquity of the Internet and computer technology has enabled individuals to engage in bullying, threats, and harassing communications online. Limited research has found that local line officers may not view these offenses as serious compared to real world crimes despite their negative physical and emotional impact on victims. The perceptions of officers can produce poor interactions with victims during calls for service, particularly victim blaming, which can reduce citizens’ confidence in police agencies generally. However, local law enforcement agencies are increasingly mandated to respond to these cases, calling to question how their views may impact the community. This study examined the attitudinal and demographic factors associated with the negative views of online harassment and bullying within a sample of 1,348 constables from 34 local agencies across England and Wales. The study found that constables with negative views toward cybercrimes and worked in agencies with inconsistent messaging related to online crimes were more likely to view online harassment as less serious and believe that these offenses could be avoided by victims. The implications of this study for local police staff and command are discussed in detail.

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Minimal research has considered the extent to which pedophile social support forum users disclose physical relationships with minors in the course of their posts. As these forums cater to those who express sexual interests in minors, the users may be at higher risk for contact offenses and require unique treatment and supervision. To address this gap in the literature, this study utilized a quantitative analysis of the posts from 806 users from four separate pedophile support forums to identify the correlates of self-disclosed contact with minors. The findings demonstrated that although most users do not disclose physical contact, those who do share several common traits, specifically fantasies of minors, mentions of relationships with minors, and a sexually suggestive username. The implications of this analysis for our understanding of the role of online forums and potential clinical treatment are discussed in detail.