A virtual police academy?

Perhaps.

With corporations and politicians increasingly turning to the popular MMO Second Life in order to reach their target audience, law enforcement is taking an interest as well.

The Vancouver Sun reports that the city's police department will run a recruitment center in SL, staffed by officers in custom VPD uniforms, complete with badge, belt and radio. Recruiters are looking for web and tech-savvy individuals, and reasoned that online communities were a likely place to start. Insp. Kevin McQuiggin, head of the department's tech crimes division, explains:

Any new media that comes out, any new form of communication, crime is going to migrate there... As we move into the future, we're going to need people who understand technology - that are conversant with it, that understand the impact of it and understand how to use it.

But it's not just about recruiting. The VPD is also looking into how online crime will mesh with the real world. With MMO community membership spanning the globe, jurisdiction becomes a tricky issue:

It's going to be interesting when we start to receive crime reports - you know, harassment cases or things like that - in the virtual world... How are we going to deal with them? Where does the crime occur? Where is the suspect? Where is the victim?

For now the VPD will focus on recruitment, an idea McQuiggin got from the Great Northern Way Campus, a conglomeration of  universities which created a virtual campus in SL.

McQuiggin approached Great Northern Way, and program director Gerry Sinclair coordinated guidance and advice to VPD's virtual cops, from creating avatars to helping the design online uniforms and gift bags for SL visitors (which will include a t-shirt, mug, and virtual donut).

- Reporting from Canada, GP Correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes