CID signs MoU with e-Crime Bureau Incorporated on capacity building

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with e-Crime Bureau Incorpporated, a cyber security and e-crime investigations specialist firm based in Accra, to build the capacity of CID personnel in e-crime investigations and cyber intelligence gathering.

The collaborative initiative, dubbed the “e-Crime Project” highlights the efforts of the CID to develop a national investigative response to the problem of cybercrimes and other electronic-based criminal activities in Ghana and the Sub-Region.

A statement issued by the CID in Accra on Tuesday and copied to Ghana News Agency said Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr. Prosper Agblor, Director-General of CID, signed on behalf of the CID while Mr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako, Founder and Principal e-Crime Consultant signed on behalf of e-Crime Bureau.

The MoU which was signed on May 17, requires collaboration of e-Crime Bureau and the CID for funding support in the form of grants and donations from corporate bodies, multinational companies, international development agencies, government agencies, foreign governments, NGOs, professional organisations and private individuals to support the implementation of the above initiatives.

The Project is being co-ordinated at the CID Headquarters by Chief Superintendent Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Danquah, Director of Training at the CID.

The capacity building initiative underscores the need for the CID to develop new policing and investigative approach to deal with the emergence of e-crimes.

The e-Crime Project is an integral part of a five-year Ghana Police Service Strategic Plan which outlines policing roadmap for modernisation of the CID, including capacity building in the area of e-crime investigations and intelligence gathering.

This will require criminal investigators to develop the capacity not only to investigate electronic-based criminal cases but to collect intelligence on cyberspace criminal actors.

The e-Crime Project focuses on five key areas of training for CID Detectives in the area of digital forensics, internet investigations and cyber intelligence gathering; the setting up of CID Detectives Training Laboratory for the practical delivery of the training programmes; the setting up of e-Crime Laboratory at the CID Forensic Science Laboratory which will handle computer-related forensic investigations.

The rest are; the setting up of Cyber Intelligence Gathering (CIG) System to gather intelligence on cyberspace criminal actors and developing a mechanism for effective cybercrime reporting to the CID.**