With the rapid rise of the digital age, organizations across every sector face a similar challenge — how to ensure the workforce has the necessary skills to make best use of available technologies. Nowhere are the stakes higher than when it comes to upskilling the very people responsible for protecting the community and maintaining public safety by disrupting the criminal environment. Unfortunately, digital skills investment in the law enforcement and national security sector globally is currently well short of where it needs to be.

The online environment has radically changed how criminals and malicious actors operate, giving rise to new types of crime. “Cyber-dependent” crimes are rapidly increasing in volume and sophistication, whether they be distributed denial-of-service attacks, the use of ransomware and malware, or phishing scams.

Our analysis indicates that scam losses in the Five Eyes (FYES) community have increased significantly in recent years. For example, from 2020 to 2023 in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, these losses have grown by an average of 32%, 35% and 2%, respectively. This is despite an increased focus on countering these activities. The majority of these occurrences originated from mobile phones and social media activity.

Police and agency professionals need new digital and cyber investigative skills. There is almost no crime or criminal investigation now that doesn’t have a digital or online footprint. Some criminal activities are exclusively digital. Modern investigators need the capabilities to counter modern-day hackers targeting vulnerable individuals, large corporations with sensitive and often public datasets, and our most sensitive government entities and their information.

Equally, policing and agency practices are being digitized — moving apace as part of a broader modernization agenda — to keep up with contemporary investigative and intelligence support systems. While much of the focus to date has been on hardware and software, including commercial off-the-shelf tools and bespoke case management solutions for investigative processes, organizations often overlook the digital skills needed to implement and adopt these new approaches.

Urgent action needed to combat rising criminal sophistication

The future of law enforcement is grounded in data and digital policing. To combat rising cybercrime, agencies must prioritize upskilling their workforce in essential digital skills, including data management, data literacy, and analytics. Specialized roles such as cyber investigators and data scientists are critical, but a comprehensive approach to digital literacy is necessary for all personnel.

Key skills include social media monitoring, cyber prevention techniques, and online investigative methods. As cybercriminals become more sophisticated by leveraging advanced technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI), law enforcement agencies face an urgent need to enhance their capabilities. Investing in digital skills is vital for effective crime prevention, investigation, and prosecution. When it comes to investing in these fundamental digital capabilities, however, organizations could be doing a lot more.

While many agencies struggle to keep up, let alone close the gap, criminals’ sophistication is evolving rapidly as they invest in their own capabilities without restrictions or boundaries. 

Building internal digital capability instead of relying on new hires

The digital capability challenge is not new, and most agencies are already applying methods to source new talent to address certain skill gaps, particularly for specialist roles. New regional models and metropolitan hubs have been part of the solution — be it Boston, Brisbane, or Birmingham — where competition for digital talent is currently not as fierce as in traditional IT centers such as New York, Sydney, or London. However, when they do compete for human resources, agencies tend to poach talent from other organizations in the national security sector, resulting in a zero-sum game for those working against a common threat or set of adversaries.

Put simply, this is not a problem that agencies can simply recruit their way out of. Not only is it impossible to find enough people with the right skills in the current climate, it’s also impractical in terms of the time this would take to transition the workforce skill base through recruitment alone.

Agencies would be better served refocusing internally to maximize the potential of their existing workforce. Our support to many agencies globally has found a common theme: In failing to invest sufficiently in the development of their current workforce, agencies are missing a valuable opportunity to bridge their digital skills deficit by building internal capability.

The current status of digital capabilities across the sector often reflects the fact that upskilling in this area has been highly dependent on the whims of immediate supervisors and often lacks broader strategic alignment. According to a confidential capability review we conducted for one Five Eyes nation, 89% of police across the nation who are cyber and digital specialists stated that they urgently need new training to stay ahead of the threat.

Five steps to better invest in digital upskilling

A common mistake many agencies make when they look to invest in workforce upskilling is failing to align it to their overall strategy. Instead, they look at the entire spectrum of capabilities within the organization and try to address them all. The result is learning and development budgets and resources that are spread too thin to have any meaningful or lasting impact.

We have developed a more focused approach — one that coherently links an organization’s business and workforce strategies — that will be easier to implement and deliver more bang for buck from the limited resources available. Broadly, we see five steps driving this alignment and investment.

Identifying the most critical capability areas for strategy success

Pinpoint the specific key capability areas in enabling you to deliver your operational effect or business strategy. Focus on understanding the specific skills that constitute these critical areas.

Assessing the current digital skillset within the organization

Evaluate what skills your organization currently have and the skill gaps in relation to the critical capability areas. Identify existing skills that may be similar or aligned to the desired skills and map a learning pathway to effectively bridge these gaps.

Exploring available training and upskilling opportunities

Review and thoroughly understand the broader training landscape that aligns with your critical capability areas. Consider the full range of options, including online micro-credential courses that can be scheduled around other duties, accredited and non-accredited courses, and courses outside the security sector domain.

Targeting investments in critical capability areas

Invest heavily in developing the key capability areas that will allow you to deliver on your strategy. Concentrate resources on those areas directly aligned with your objectives. Address specific skill gaps and strategically redeploy your workforce to maximize impact.

Building internal and external agency buy-in for investment

Make a compelling case for investment to drive the targeted capability uplift. Develop a coherent narrative and plan for both the present and well into the future. For operational areas, technologists, or learning and development teams, this requires making a case to internal senior leadership and investment committees. For commissioners and senior leadership, it is crucial to help the government to understand why funding these initiatives and skills are critical to supporting public safety and agency objectives.