Jersey to combat cybercrime with £240,000 EU grant

Jersey was able to secure the funding despite not being part of the EU by bidding as part of the European-wide Cyber Crime project

A £240,000 EU grant to tackle cybercrime has been awarded to Jersey, as part of a project led by police in Lithuania.

The money will fund an anti-cyber crime centre of excellence, in order to combat more crimes involving computers and technology.

The centre will analyse online threats and develop training techniques with 10 other centres in Europe.

Det Supt Stuart Gull said technology in crime had become "more sophisticated".

Mr Gull said: "It doesn't matter what sort of crime that we investigate these days, it always involves a smartphone, or a tablet, or a desktop computer."

There were 217 cyber crimes recorded in Jersey last year, while Jersey's High Tech Crime Unit supported more than 500 investigations.