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With an increasing number of Calgarians reporting cryptocurrency-related crimes, the Calgary Police Service is launching a new training center and investigations team to help solve the problem.
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CPS is partnering with Chainalysis, a global blockchain data platform, which will provide data, software and research services to help create the Western Canada Cryptocurrency Research Center.
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The center will become an international training center for law enforcement officials to learn about emerging cryptocurrency and cybercrime trends, as well as investigative techniques.
CPS chief Mark Neufeld said the police service would "move heaven and earth" to help an elderly man who was robbed at an ATM.
โBut if that same person clicks the wrong link in an email and thousands of dollars are stolen, we need to be able to move heaven and earth in the same way and release those same hounds into the digital world, so what we can get that money back,โ the boss said.
By partnering with trusted private experts on Chainalysis, Neufeld says CPS will be able to get advice more quickly on its investigations, even if the experts don't work directly for the police service.
โCyber โโis quickly becoming a component of criminal activity and often requires collaboration between law enforcement and other industry experts,โ Neufeld said. โWe are delighted to be part of an innovative partnership with Chainalysis where cybersecurity expertise is shared between the Calgary Police Service and private business.โ
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Neufeld said that in addition to the investigations center, a new CPS Blockchain Investigation Team (BIT) will operate under the cyber forensics unit to assist local and national law enforcement agencies with cryptocurrency crime investigations.
Training center aimed at helping police close the gap in unreported crypto crimes
Calgarians reported $13.9 million in cryptocurrency-related crime last year and more than $3 million so far this year.
Police say many crimes of this nature go unreported, in part due to the complexity of the crimes and the investigative limits of the police. The training center is meant to help bridge that gap.
โI think once people understand that the Calgary Police Service is committed to keeping businesses and people safe in that space, I think you'll see people step up,โ Neufeld said. "And that's good. The more people that come forward, the better we can understand those trends and what's going on there, and respond to them."
Gurvais Grigg, director of public sector technology at Chainalysis, said there is a myth that cryptocurrencies are anonymous and untraceable.
โOne of the powerful things about the blockchain is that it is a publicly available ledger. So, I like to say that even if you didn't know who the research subject is today, those records will still be there six years from now."
He said crypto crimes can involve bad actors in multiple countries, but with cryptocurrencies, traditional jurisdictional challenges are more quickly overcome because blockchain records are publicly available instead of requiring court orders in each country.
โI would rather the subject of my cases use crypto than any other asset class because of the transparency, the immutability,โ he said.
brthomas@postmedia.com
Twitter: @brodie_thomas
