EL PACCTO organises a regional workshop on Cybercrime

This regional workshop has brought together 16 countries and focused on improving the skills of the bodies that work in the fight against cybercrime. The topics discussed revolved around the design of procedures and organisational models for police units and other specialised bodies to combat this type of crime.

The event was inaugurated by the director of the International Cooperation Unit of the Office of the Prosecutor of Chile and by the director and the coordinator of the police cooperation component of EL PAcCTo, Juan Gama and Pascal Benítez.

In addition to specialists in the field, the workshop was also represented by Ameripol, Ciber Red, the Ibero-American Judicial Summit, GLACY+, Europol and Interpol.

One of the aspects highlighted by the audience was the importance of international police relations and achieving more coordinated management between units, departments and agencies dedicated to fighting cybercrime in each country.

Another key point, pointed out by the participants, was the need for modernisation to ensure that the actions of the police units are effective and that there is a central contact unit between the networks that are fighting this type of crime.

Likewise, the debate generated at the meeting evidenced the need to improve institutional coordination among peers in the Latin American procedural framework in order to apply European research techniques such as online content monitoring, cyber patrol activities, electronic evidence extractions and above all the requirement of judicial control for access to electronic evidence.

Lieutenant-Colonel, Juan de Sotomayor, head of the telematic crime department of the Spanish Guardia Civil Central Operational Unit, during his speech, stressed the importance of coordination and cooperation at all levels, operational and strategic, local/regional and central and added that “the cross-cutting nature of cybercrime makes coordination and cooperation necessary between different actors with different responsibilities and capacities in cyberspace protection”.

The Prosecutor attached to the Central Unit against Computer Crime of the General Prosecutor’s  Office of Spain, Patricia Rodriguez, emphasised that “new investigative techniques such as undercover agents, the searching of computer systems and mass storage devices and remote searches of computers and computer systems are exceptional techniques to be used for serious crimes, which must be implemented when an immediate and forceful response is required by State institutions.”

For his part, Manuel de Almeida Pereira, representative of GLACY+, spoke about the current legislation and the principles of the Budapest agreement, aspects that helped to clarify aspects related to data preservation and protection, prescription periods and effective characterisations.

The EL PAcCTO program, funded by the European Union and managed by the FIIAPP and Expertise France, provides assistance in Latin American countries to fight organised transnational crime and works to continue the fight against cybercrime through regional and multi-country activities. The ELIPSIA Network was created as a result of this – police officers specialising in the fight against child pornography over the Internet between Latin America and the EU, by integrating EMPACT and Europol into the same network.