The Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) was part of the Specialist Crime Directorate of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, dedicated to combating

e-crime Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cybercriminals may explo ...

in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The unit had a national remit, and was created in April 2008 to centralise the efforts of all police forces in the UK (excluding Scotland) to fight all forms of E-crime. The unit's responsibilities were quite specific and included activities once carried out by other bodies while excluding other activities, currently done by others. The unit's stated mission was to improve the police response to victims of e-crime by developing the capability of the police service across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, co-ordinating the law enforcement approach to all types of e-crime, and by providing a national investigative capability for the most serious e-crime incidents. The PCeU was created on 1 October 2008 and was responsible for improving the UK national policing response to cyber crime. The unit was housed within the Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD6) part of the Metropolitan Police Service based in central London. It had jurisdiction within England, Wales and Northern Ireland. However the unit worked closely with the SCDEA in Scotland and international law enforcement. The PCeU had a seat at the table at both the

Europol Europol, officially the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU). Established in 1998, it is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and serves as the central hub for coordinating c ...

and

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

cyber workstreams. Since February 2012 the PCeU had a presence outside London with the creation of 3 regional hubs. The hubs are located in England in the North West, North East and Midlands areas. The hubs were launched at the

ACPO The Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (ACPO) was a not-for-profit private limited company that for many years led the development of policing practices in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Established ...

cyber conference in Sheffield. The PCeU was one of the strands of work within the ACPO e-crime programme led by DAC Janet Williams. , the PCeU is being merged into the

National Cyber Crime Unit The National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) is a command of the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency. With the creation of the National Crime Agency in 2013, the unit was formed following the merge of the Serious Organised Crime Agency's cyber divisio ...

, part of the new

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a Law enforcement agency#natlea, national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; Human trafficking, human, Arms trafficking, weapon and Illegal drug t ...

References

{{reflist Computer security organizations Cybercrime in the United Kingdom Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Law enforcement in England and Wales Law enforcement in Northern Ireland Metropolitan Police units 2008 establishments in the United Kingdom