Police capacity for cybercrime response: Assessing the impact of officers’ perceptions and agency-level factors on England and Wales constables’ capability responding to computer hacking offenses

The advancement of digital technology has intensified the threat of cybercrime, particularly offenses involving computer hacking. Despite its growing prevalence, police officers remain underprepared to respond to such crimes, with both individual perceptions and agency-level factors influencing response capability. While prior research has examined these domains independently, few have explored their concurrent and interactive effects. Using data from 1350 constables and sergeants across 35 constabularies in England and Wales, this study assessed the independent, concurrent, and interaction effects of officers’ cybercrime perceptions and perceived agency-level factors on officers’ self-reported capability to respond to computer hacking incidents. Findings revealed that officers’ perceptions and perceived agency factors independently predicted self-reported capability. However, officers’ perceptions were no longer significant when modeled alongside perceived agency factors. A significant interaction effect revealed that officers’ perceptions enhanced response capability only when perceived agency support was high. The implications of this analysis for cybercrime policing are discussed in detail.