LAW enforcers and legal experts, from across the Caribbean are better equipped to combat cybercrime, after recently completing a Commonwealth-sponsored workshop.
The four-day “Train the Trainers” workshop was held in Barbados, and was aimed at increasing the regional knowledge about cybercrime and electronic evidence.
The session was put together by the Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS).
It was funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as part of the implementation of the Caribbean Regional Cyber security/Crime Action Plan.
Attendees included trainers from three major law schools in the Caribbean, the police, officers of departments of public prosecution, lawyers, officers of the regional security systems, parliamentary counsel, digital forensic examiners and information and communications technology officers.
According to a press statement from Commonwealth, the aim of the workshop was to equip participants from various Commonwealth Caribbean countries, with skills and knowledge of electronic evidence, which is required to fulfill their roles in cybercrime and cyber-enabled cases.
The workshop focused on the handling, presentation and admissibility requirements of electronic evidence. The session also provided trainers with the tools to embed the learning in their respective jurisdictions.
Materials produced by the Commonwealth, including a ‘Good Practice Guide for Digital Evidence: An Introductory Guide for Law Enforcement Officer, Prosecutors, Judges’, were given out as consultants took participants through the training exercise.
Acting Head of the Commonwealth Office of Civil and Criminal Justice Reform (OCCJR), Matthew Moorhead, said the 40-plus participants would now return to law enforcement agencies, courtrooms, and law schools across the Caribbean, ready to train colleagues to combat cybercrime and handle electronic evidence.
He added: “We are proud to be leading this important programme of work…Cybercrime is an increasing menace in the digital age, causing financial damage running into billions of dollars and having many other serious consequences.”
Michael Jameison, one of the Commonwealth consultants, in delivering the programme outline, said: “the training is a means of building and strengthening capacity, to enable the participants to train their colleagues in their respective countries, thus leaving a lasting legacy and prepare them for the challenges of the 21st Century.”
The Commonwealth’s cyber capability team will continue to work with CARICOM-IMPACS to support the regional body in effectively using the guide as a toolkit in member countries and delivering digital evidence training to institutes and agencies.
The UK High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Janet Douglas, also addressed the participants at the opening of the workshop.
