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Form of work
SalaryHere is your opportunity for you to be part of a fast paced, vibrant specialist team who fight organised crime across our region.
West Midlands ROCU is a collaboration between the police forces of Staffordshire, West Midlands, West Mercia and Warwickshire to reduce the impact and increase the disruption of serious and organised crime within the region and beyond. We target those areas of criminality we believe pose the greatest regional threats to the people and businesses of the area we cover. Working alongside other UK law enforcement agencies and many other partners from both private and public sectors, the ROCU will directly influence the capabilities of these groups, stifling and reducing their criminal activity.
Our Aim:
To reduce the impact and increase the disruption of serious and organised crime with the West Midlands region and beyond.
Our Objectives:
To target all ROCU resources against the greatest threat and risk.
To influence forces and partners to target their resources against the same.
Our Values:
To lead, support and co-ordinate the fight against serious and organised crime across the West Midlands region.
Serious and Organised Crime affects more UK citizens, more often, than any other national security threat. It has a daily impact on citizens, public services, businesses, national reputation and infrastructure. SOC is estimated to cost the UK economy at least £37 billion a year with this cost increasing year on year.
Growing numbers of children and young adults are becoming involved in SOC. In parts of the UK, crime groups made up almost exclusively of young people have emerged, adopting business-like operating models rather than relying on identity or postcode.
Serious and Organised crime is defined as individuals planning or coordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks.
Within the West Midlands Region there are currently circa 170 active OCGs. These groups vary in their crime types which are identified within the ROCU Control strategy and will continue to exploit the vulnerable, use violence to dominate communities and chase profits in the criminal market place.
The main categories of serious offences covered by the term are:
• Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse;
• Illegal Drugs;
• Illegal Firearms;
• Fraud, Money Laundering and other economic crime;
• Bribery and Corruption;
• Organised Immigration Crime
• Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking;
• Cyber Crime.
About the role:
Modern technology plays a growing part in a variety of serious organised crime types; such as facilitating the supply of firearms and child abuse material via the internet or conducting ransomware attacks against local businesses.
As a result of these evolutions in crime we need to ensure that our investigations remain one step ahead, and that we maintain our security against these increasingly sophisticated threats. The ideal applicant will be a widely experienced full stack developer and security expert with a broad base of experience, able to turn their hand to rapid development and prototyping on any platform in a variety of languages, building and deploying prototype and production grade systems within our secure network environment. They will also be able to advise on new opportunities, threats and mitigations that may arise as technology continues to evolve and new security vulnerabilities are discovered.
This role emphasises training and personal development - both through formal training and self-driven study - with suitable candidates ideally maintaining and developing their skills through individual security research, open source software projects or participation in capture the flag (CTF) events.
Essential Skills:
- A broad knowledge of software development, fluent with at least one programming language
- Knowledge of modern development patterns and tools (git, code review, agile)
- Networking theory and application in the context of information security
- Familiarity with Linux (Ubuntu preferred) and Windows
- Excellent analytical skills
- Natural passion for technology
- Applied information security / penetration testing skills
- Digital and network forensics, data acquisition and analysis
- Electronic engineering and embedded systems
- Reverse engineering
- Experience with Python (Django), C# (Dotnet) or Javascript (React)
- Experience as a network administrator in a sensitive environment
- Knowledge of operating system internals (Android/Linux/iOS/Windows/OSX)
- Experience with cloud environments such as GCP, AWS or Azure
- DevOps experience, such as building and maintaining CI/CD systems
- Experience working in or leading a team using agile methodologies
- Knowledge of cryptography
- Experience with mobile device development
- Experience with self-directed security research
Medical: Appointment to this role will be dependent upon successfully medical checks, which may include a drugs test and if required a fitness test.
Hours: 36.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday but needs to be willing to work outside those hours when urgent advice is required including being on call for critical incidents. Flexible working hours are available.
Contact Point: Should you have any queries about the role, please contact either;
Detective Inspector Phil Buck (phil.buck@westmidlands.police.uk)
Detective Sergeant Helen Ainsworth ( helen.ainsworth@westmidlands.police.uk )
West Midlands Police is a Disability Confident Leader - the highest level an organisation can achieve under the scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions. As part of our commitment we operate a 'Disability Confident Interview Scheme' - all candidates who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.
It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job. For example: in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances, the employer could select the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job, as they would do for non-disabled applicants.
"Diversity and Inclusion Vision: Maximise the potential of people from all backgrounds through a culture of fairness and inclusion to deliver the best service for our communities"
