THE world of cyber crime fighting was the subject when an MP met up with a top cop.

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller met up with Tom Haye, chief officer of Hampshire Special Constabulary to hear about the innovative Cyber Specials and Cyber Volunteers (CSCV) Programme for which he is the national lead.

The CSCV Programme was developed by Hampshire Constabulary as part of a pilot project with Gloucestershire Constabulary where specialists were recruited from the commercial IT and digital sector to work as police specials and volunteers with the high-tech crime units and local digital intelligence and investigation teams.

With funding from Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane, Hampshire Constabulary has created a national toolkit to support other police forces to adopt the CSCV programme, with nine other police forces taking it up so far.

Mrs Miller said: “I was very interested to hear about this innovative way of increasing police capability against the growing threat from computer based crime, and very proud that this has been developed by our own police force here in Hampshire. Cyber crime is of great concern to us all, particularly the growth in financial fraud – often against the most vulnerable members of our society, and I applaud Tom Haye and his team for the excellent work they are doing to tackle this.”