Money laundering, fraud and VAT fraud: Police investigators lack training

Half of all police investigators do not feel professionally prepared to investigate financial, economic and cyber crime.

This includes money laundering, VAT fraud and fraud cases requiring specialist knowledge and updated tools due to their complexity.

According to the Danish magazine 'Dansk Politi' (Danish Police), this is the result of a membership survey made by the Danish Police Union (in danish).

To the magazine, several investigators from the Copenhagen Police point to lack of training and skills enhancement – and to crime being under constant development.

At the same time, a generational change has eliminated important experience, good tools are lacking and police IT systems are described as "slightly ancient".

External specialists have become indispensable

The police also struggle to retain employees who become skilled and experienced in handling cases related to financial crime as they are often able to get better conditions in the private sector, including banks and insurance companies.

Civilian specialists have therefore also become indispensable in order to get to the bottom of the many cases of financial and cyber crime. 

"We can't carry out this type of investigation in our departments without being supported by resources with no police training. We need former tax accountants, auditors, commercial lawyers; in other words, people with completely different backgrounds," says Tina Skovhede, police consultant and union representative of the Economic Crime department 'Øko 2'. 

The Danish government is currently negotiating the budget and a multi-year agreement for the police. Among the proposals are budget increases and strengthening of training efforts, including a new basic training programme.