Law enforcement agencies alone cannot prevent cybercrime: Webinar

A webinar was organised on cybercrime under the initiative of Bangladesh Criminology Association (BCA) at 8pm on Saturday, (February 19).

Former Vice Chancellor of Chittagong University, Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury delivered the inaugural speech at the webinar. In his inaugural speech, Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury said "It is not possible for the law enforcement agencies alone to prevent cybercrime, rather it solicits a collective effort".

Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, BPM, PPM, was present as the chief guest in the webinar. In his address he highlighted geographical barriers, technological limitations, rapid change in the nature of cybercrime along with other reasons as the sterling reasons for committing cybercrime.

He further called attention to the steps taken by RAB to prevent those challenges and the success of RAB in tackling cybercrime. Terming cybercrime as a global problem, he invited people from all walks of life to come forward to prevent this problem.

In the webinar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mishuk Chakma, presented a key article titled "Crime in Digital Platforms: Bangladesh Police Perspective". In his article, he presentedl necessary information about what is cybercrime, the types of cybercrime, and how to deal with cybercrime in detail.

A discussant of the webinar, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, BUET, Dr Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam observed the need to take inevitable measures to strengthen security measures and ensure punishment of the culprits according to the nature of the cybercrime. He further suggested that instead of looking at all kinds of cybercrime in a similar manner, he advised to look at each cybercrime separately.

The MDS (Academic and Research) of Police Staff College Bangladesh, Md Golam Rasul put much emphasis on more academic research and post-graduation on cybercrime and suggested to launch a cybersecurity subject at the academic level. He further highlighted the need for trained manpower to combat cybercrime.   

Associate Professor of Criminology and Police Science at Maulana Bhasani University of Science and Technology, Dr Aziz Rahman, proposed to make the definition of cybercrime clearer and added that like other conventional crimes, the reasons behind the occurrence of this crime should be investigated and adequate preventive measures should be taken to prevent this crime.

East West University's Senior Lecturer in Law, and Convenor of the Research Cell in Cyber Crime Awareness Foundation Bangladesh, Monira Nazmi Jahan urged the concerned authorities to work on how to make the overall judicial system, including law enforcement, more women-friendly to prevent violence against women in the cyber world.

The event was moderated by Dr Mohammed Bin Kashem, Dean of the National University. He remarked that since the police are a social agent, it is difficult for police alone to curb cybercrime.  Other socia

l agents should also play an important role in curbing this crime.