Meet DC Paul Wood

Meet fourth generation Detective Constable, Paul Wood. Paul recently joined our cybercrime team who tackle this fast-evolving crime. He brings with him 20 years of policing experience. Find out why Paul wanted to become a police officer, the most rewarding thing about his job, and what advice he'd give someone to help prevent them becoming a victim of cybercrime. 

I graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering which doesn’t necessarily lend itself to being a police officer but for me I made the choice in becoming the fourth generation of my family to serve with the police.
My Great Grandfather joined in 1926 and he was one of the first officers who found PC George Gutteridge shot dead by fleeing criminals which led to the first successful firearms forensic conviction. My Grandma worked in the Women’s Auxiliary Police Service (WAPS) at the end of WW2, based in Clacton. My Dad served 30 years and I crossed over with his service when I joined some 20 years ago. Policing runs deep through my family, and it was a natural progression. Not only did I want to follow the family tradition, but I wanted to make a positive difference to the community in which I live.
In my first 17 years I held various roles such as community policing, response policing, roads policing, and public order. For the last 3 years I have worked in the Investigations and Domestic Abuse Investigation teams. There is so much scope within policing - there is a role for everyone.

I joined the cybercrime team 6 months ago. I decided I wanted a change from where I had been working. The good thing about working in the police is the vast number of different roles. I saw cybercrime and specifically cyber enabled crime was becoming more prevalent within many areas of policing.
There is a whole scope of computing devices out there and it has been coined that we are in a fourth industrial revolution. The Cyber Crime Unit investigate offences which fall under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. This can be anything from social media and email hacking offences, ex-employee hacking, to things like ransomware attacks. The team are also trained to complete crypto asset seizure and asset tracing.

Finding that one piece of evidence, whether it be from a mobile phone download or buried deep in a spreadsheet that proves the offence, to me is the icing on the cake. There is a lot of data that I go through daily and at times it can be like looking for that needle in a haystack. The great feeling when you find it and can use it to secure a conviction is second to none.

I qualified as a detective three years ago having been a uniformed officer for 17 years. As part of this I had specific training in how to investigate serious and complex cases I have also received specialist training in the cyber field, through various courses and learning from the team. This has enabled me to develop my knowledge in the technical side of things such as extracting data from different types of computing devices, from mobile phones and tablets to much larger computers and servers.
I am also gaining national accreditation within the Cyber field.
With the constant development of cyber incidents and the technology around it a lot of learning and studying is required.

Use a password manager and making sure multi-factor authentication is activated would be something we recommend people consider. The number one tip from National Cyber Secuity Centre is to use a strong a separate password for your email, online baking and shopping websites.
For businesses, our top tip would be to make sure you back up your data regularly as this will allow the business to recover much easier and faster should they be victim of a cyber incident.

With my family history as it is throughout my 40 something years of life, I have always been a part of policing. directly through me but also previously through my dad. It has been the constant that has given me access to an extended policing family. So, in summary it hasn’t change my life, but it has given me job satisfaction and some great friends.

At Essex Police, we value difference. We know we’re strongest when we work together. And we want a workforce that represents our communities. 

If you share our values and want to help people, keep people safe and catch criminals, then join us as a police officer, member of staff, special constable or volunteer.

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