CIVILIANS will join the fight against cyber crime in a new project being piloted in Hampshire.

The new scheme will see volunteers combine with police officers in a bid to tackle the growing threat of cyber crime.

However the move has been criticised by the Hampshire Police Federation, whose chairman John Apter described it as “policing on the cheap”.

The announcement came as Home Secretary Theresa May visited Hampshire Constabulary’s Forensic Innovation Centre at the University of Portsmouth.

The new Cyber Special Constable and Cyber Volunteers (CSCV) programme will be run by Hampshire and Gloucestershire constabularies as a pilot for the next six to 12 months.

There are currently two special constables and one volunteer who work for 16 hours a month carrying out roles such as advising on digital investigations, analysing phones or computers for evidence and providing advice to police investigators.

A decision will be made on whether to roll the scheme out nationally after the pilot is completed.

Ms May said: “We want to help forces to create a more flexible workforce, bring in new skills and free up officers’ time to focus on the jobs only they can carry out.

“At the same time, we want to encourage those with skills in particular demand, such as those with specialist IT or accountancy skills, to work alongside police officers to investigate cyber or financial crime, and help officers and staff fight crime more widely.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Hayes, who recently announced a £1.5m investment to tackle cyber crime, said the Home Office expected cyber crime to exceed traditional crime by next year.

He said: “We need this facility and volunteers in place to allow us to react quickly and effectively to new online threats; we must also constantly refresh our advice to the public on how they can protect their online lives.”

The forces chief specials officer Tom Haye added: "Cyber special constables and cyber police support volunteers have tremendous potential to reinforce the knowledge and capability of the workforce.

“The project also aims to build up a much closer relationship to industry and the IT community to support the role police are taking in tacking cyber crime.”

One of the volunteers involved in the project is special constable Stuart Moulton who works for Cisco UK and Ireland, who said: "I wanted to give back to my local area, so I contacted my manager who helped me get this setup and cleared internally at Cisco. That was three years ago now and I think Cisco get a better version of me back as a result.

“It was coincidental that this was an avenue I wanted to pursue and give back to my local community, and now some of the skills and intelligence I’ve accrued over the past fifteen years in my day job around cyber security will now benefit me in the police work. Cisco has a positive and forward-thinking volunteering policy, and it’s great to work for a company that not only supports my passions but creates opportunities to express them in this way.”

However the move has been criticised by police federation chief Mr Apter, who said the Home Office and policing had been “slow to react” to the threat of cyber crime.

He said: "To combat a technical and advanced type of crime such as this requires investment, and lots of it. The Home Office accepts that cyber crime is increasing, their response to this is to get well meaning volunteers to combat it for us. This not only undermines the seriousness of the problem but could also takes advantage of our volunteers. This is nothing more than policing on the cheap.

"Policing requires investment to deal with this problem, not asking volunteers with an IT background to do it as a favour.

"I accept that for such technical jobs we may need to look outside of policing to find the IT skills required to fight this epidemic. This takes forward planning and additional funding which is something the Government has failed to deliver on both counts. This is why we are now having to play catch up."