Cyber prevent officer

A cyber prevent officer is a digital and cybercrime position within the investigation sector of policing. It's a service deliverer role in the policing professional profiles.

Role purpose

The cyber prevent officer undertakes activity in their regional area, including diverting and deterring individuals from involvement in cybercrime in support of the national cyber prevent strategy.

They risk assess, manage identified risk and, where possible, mitigate the risk of the individuals identified as being involved in cybercrime. The cyber prevent officer works with partners to deliver a multi-agency safeguarding solution.

Key responsibilities

Key responsibility statements show the accountabilities for someone in this role. They focus on what is done, not how it is done.

• Undertaking regional identification of vulnerable individuals engaged or believed to be engaged in cybercrime to ensure they are properly risk assessed, that risk is managed and multi-agency safeguarding hubs are informed, where appropriate. 
• Receiving referrals from the national cybercrime unit (NCCU) regarding vulnerable individuals engaged or believed to be engaged in cybercrime to ensure they are properly risk-assessed and safeguarded.
• Receiving referrals from cyber officers and partners, ensuring deconfliction and further risk assessment is carried out, and referring to NCCU for further deconfliction to prevent duplication of work and inappropriate tasking of resources. 
• Undertaking the cyber prevent role for all coordinated operations, undertaking and coordinating the delivery of timely interventions such as cease and desist activity, diversions and offender management, to protect the public and mitigate the risk of offenders as part of a larger operation.
• Coordinating, managing and monitoring of subjects to prevent re-offending, including advising on conditional cautions and working with youth offending teams (YOT), Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and/or Probation Service to ensure positive diversion options are understood and implemented. 
• Coordinating and undertaking prevent intelligence interviews with offenders post-disposal to build knowledge on pathways into cybercrime in line with national cyber prevent intelligence requirements.
• Acting as a single point of contact (SPOC) for all NCCU-led cyber prevent campaigns, including running online messaging, social media and/or influencing activity, or utilising existing prevent messaging or activity, working with local digital or social media officers to support online influence activity and promote messaging. 
• Providing cyber prevent advice and publicising cyber prevent resources to school safeguarding leads, educational leads, parents, other carers, or local authorities to increase awareness and prevent young people from committing cybercrime.