The Force hosted the 8th Meeting of the Interpol Asia-South Pacific Working Party on Information Technology Crime from December 19 to 21.

Welcoming representatives from 14 law enforcement agencies in the Asia-South Pacific Region to the meeting as Chairman of the Working Party, was Commercial Crime Bureau's Senior Superintendent (Technology Crime), Mr Alan Man. The meeting drew the biggest attendance to date, highlighting the growing importance attached to the meeting.

The meeting was honoured by the presence of Mr Li Zhao, Director General of the Information Security Supervision Bureau, Ministry of Public Security. Mr Li and Director of Crime & Security Tang Hau-sing (now Director of Personnel and Training) opened the meeting with speeches of welcome.

The Working Party has been meeting since 1997, following the success of the European Working Party formed in 1990. The aims of this IT Crime Working Party are:

* co-operation and sharing of knowledge and practical experience;

* promoting standardisation in investigation and training, and

* establishing good practice guidelines.

The three-day meeting commenced with the election of Dr Xu Jian-zhuo from the Information Security Supervision Bureau, and Mr Naotsugu Umeda from the Japanese National Police Agency as Vice-chairmen to assist Mr Man.

As a standard practice of the Working Party's meetings, the participating law enforcement agencies provided reports on technology crime trends and case studies in their jurisdictions, highlighting the challenges they are facing.

The presence of developing and technologically advanced nations at the meeting underscored the importance for those jurisdictions with resources to tackle cyber crime and share their experiences and training with developing nations.

During the meeting, Senior Inspector Frank Law from the Technology Crime Division (TCD) gave a presentation on a new forensic preview tool that the Force has modified in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong to adapt to Chinese language searching. The tool is being tested and it is anticipated that a pilot scheme will start soon to enable investigators to easily access computer contents at an investigation scene in a forensically sound manner.

An important feature of the meeting was coverage of IT Crime Investigation and Forensics training programmes. The Regional Representative of Interpol IPSG, Mr Kenichi Takao, outlined the training programmes provided by Interpol and, in particular, the successful regional "Train-the-Trainer" workshops. The Force fully supports the workshops, and has provided the bulk of the necessary material and sent an officer to act as course director for each of the five workshops that have been held.

In addition, Chief Inspector Paul Jackson from TCD CCB gave a presentation on the Force's own training programmes, highlighting the new annual series of four professional training courses held in collaboration with the Police College.

The meeting concluded with pledges on ongoing projects, in particular those related to Mobile Device Forensics, Voice over IP services and cross border investigation co-operation. The heads of the Working Party's sub-groups will report the progress of these projects at the next meeting scheduled to be held in Indonesia in late 2007.

The closing remarks by Mr Man rounded off a fruitful meeting where pledges of improved international co-operation and enhanced training partnership were made. The attendance of new member countries, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran, has further expanded the scope of the Working Party. With the closer ties among member countries, the IT crime investigation capability in the Region is certainly moving in the right direction and moving fast.

Many overseas representatives speak at the meeting