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So I recently started working in LE as an IT specialist. The biggest issue is that there's more criminals than there are LEOs/detectives. So often you have to c
by donkeyd 5y ago
So I recently started working in LE as an IT specialist. The biggest issue is that there's more criminals than there are LEOs/detectives. So often you have to choose between working a physical crime or a digital one. If someone gets robbed of $50 at gun point, that usually gets more attention than $600k stolen by hackers. The reason is that a robbery is deemed to have more impact on the victim.
So yes, not every crime gets investigated. No, it's not because they just don't feel like helping people.
Also, some people think there are different people working on these types crimes. But because every criminal has a phone, a lot of work in physical crimes is digital. Therefore the amount of people working on on digital crimes is small and they often work on really large cases, like Darknet markets etc.
- filleduchaos 5y agoI have never heard of the US police doing much more than taking a report for someone who was robbed of $50 either. In fact people get mugged/robbed of items that are much higher in value (phones, bicycles, etc) without investigation. My impression has been that if you're out by less than a few thousand dollars in value you might as well not bother.
- donkeyd 5y agoThe $50 was an example, not a benchmark for when police does investigate. Like I said, there are more criminals than LEOs and this general hateful attitude towards LEOs doesn't really make people want to do that job. So if people want computer crimes to be solved, they should start motivating people to take those jobs in stead of hating on people who are working hard to solve crimes.
- TheAdamAndChe 5y agoWhere do you find a position in the police force as an IT/computer forensics specialist? Everything I've researched indicated that I needed to join the FBI in order to focus on cyber crimes, and their agents are required to work a minimum of 50 hours per week, which is nuts.
- donkeyd 5y ago> in order to focus on cyber crimes That's the thing, I don't focus on cyber crimes, I focus on regular crime. There's always a digital aspect in crimes these days. I can't tell you what you can join in the US, however, since that's not where I'm located. But it could be useful to check vacancies at local police forces, since they might also have positions for people with digital skill sets, just not cyber crime related, per se.
- bigbillheck 5y ago> hateful attitude towards LEOs doesn't really make people want to do that job Good people shouldn't do that job, because either they'll stop being good people (either by becoming like other police or not whistleblowing on bad police) or suffer the consequences (being forced out or retaliated against).
- TravisLS 5y agoCounterpoint: a friend in Brooklyn was mugged for only around $10 but almost immediately after ran into street police on patrol. They jumped in the car with him and summoned other local cars to catch the robbers successfully. The police want to catch the bad guys too, but after 8 hrs has passed, it becomes virtually impossible to succeed.
- filleduchaos 5y agoIf we're sharing anecdotes: a former schoolmate, also in NYC, had their phone stolen and was quite literally able to track the phone to the thief's home, but all the police did was take a report. Hmmm. Maybe the problem is that the police are Luddites.
- donkeyd 5y agoMaybe the problem is that legally, you can't just bust open a door if someone says: "my phone was stolen and is now in this location". Because especially in buildings, the location isn't always accurate, for example. Also, who says the phone was stolen and wasn't planted by the person filing the report? Who says it wasn't found by this person after the person who stole it threw it in some bushes? Before you can bust down a door, you often need to do a lot of work. People tend to underestimate this greatly. And any hours spent on this one iPhone isn't spent catching rapists (for example). If only the issues were as simple to solve as people commenting here make it seem.
- Arrath 5y agoGiven how popular it is to call a SWAT team on someone as a 'prank' I can't say I see too much truth in "Before you can bust down a door, you often need to do a lot of work." The perceived emergency in the bogus 911 call adds some weight of course, but in lots of cases the Police seem far too gung ho to roll out heavy and bust down some doors. Not to say that it is an appropriate response to go raid a house in search of a reportedly stolen phone, but goddamn.
- 5y ago