A major police officer in the UK has stated that cybercriminals should be punished for their behavior by installing Wi Fi signal jammers, rather than being sent to prison.
Gavin Thomas, chairman of the Police Chiefs Association and Chief superintendent, explained that a 21st century solution was needed to combat cyber crime.
Thomas said in an interview with the The Daily Telegraph that the "19th century punishment" for modern crimes is no longer applicable.
If you have a 16 year old child hacking into your account and stealing your identity, it is a 21st century crime, so we need a 21st century method to deal with it, "he continued.
We can continue to imprison criminals, but in the long run, this will not help the situation. As someone who has been putting people in prison for a lifetime, I speak up
We can continue to imprison criminals, but in the long run, it won't help the situation... My career has been to imprison people
Many people view wifi jammers as a profitable punishment. They work by disrupting the frequency of signal transmission.
Thomas suggests that they can be installed on the wrists or ankles of cybercriminals like electronic tags.
In addition to internet deprivation, Thomas also proposed that those who commit cybercrime follow an ethical plan in order to learn how to behave on the internet.
He told news providers, "The fundamental question is, how does a young person perceive their behavior online as completely different from their behavior in reality
In recent years, cybercrime has become an increasingly serious problem in the UK, currently accounting for 40% of criminal activity in the country.
Cybercriminals also seem to be getting younger and younger, according to data from the UK's National Crime Agency, the average age of offenders is now only 17 years old.
Thomas believes that the punishment for denying these people access to the Internet is much heavier than imprisonment.
