Law Enforcement Response to Cybercrime: An Examination of Organizational- and State-Level Correlates of Cybercrime Response

• In Event: Cybercrime Policing

Abstract

As the role of technology has grown in society in recent years, so too have the threats posed by cybercrime. Correspondingly, local and state law enforcement organizations are increasingly recognizing the need to respond to cyber threats. While early works have sought to examine what factors are correlated with law enforcement organizations developing specialized units to respond to cybercrime, less is known about police response to cybercrime through line-level personnel, or whether the correlates of response are consistent with organizational response to cybercrime via specialized units. Beyond this, it is unclear whether macro-level factors such as state composition, crime rates, political climate, and GDP may influence either informal or formal response to cybercrime. The failure to examine these factors clouds understandings of contemporary law enforcement preparedness to address this costly and consequential form of crime and may undermine efforts to promote cybercrime response at the organizational level. To examine these themes, the current study employs data from the 2020 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics as well as state-level data derived from various sources. Multi-level analyses will examine the organizational- and state-level correlates of informal and formal cybercrime response. Policy implications areas for future research will be discussed.

Author

• Cooper A. Maher, University of Cincinnati