UK cops caught key jamming to avoid remote work

"Police in the United Kingdom appear to be taking a cue from Homer Simpson's playbook, with officers in multiple departments accused of "key jamming" to make it look like they were working from home when they likely weren't. While there was no mention in reports from Greater Manchester Police or the Durham Constabulary indicating whether dippy birds were involved, both departments noted that their officers appear to have been using something to hold keys down on their department-issued machines while working from home."

"The department had installed keylogging software on the machines to make sure they were only being used for official purposes. According to Greater Manchester Police Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods, 26 police officers, staff and contractors allowed to work from home were served misconduct papers after GMP's investigation identified "abnormal keystroke behavior" on those devices. "The abnormal keystroke behaviour comes from repeated key presses and could be from an item left on a keypad, pressing down one key," Woods said in a statement."

"The GMP has now revoked work-from-home privileges for the entire department, it said. The GMP didn't mention whether anyone was being terminated or disciplined for their key jamming habit and didn't respond to questions, but a hundred miles away in Durham, Detective Constable Niall Thubron's key jamming earned him an entry on the College of Policing's barred list of individuals barred from future employment in policing (subject to appeal)."

Police in the United Kingdom faced allegations that some officers jammed keys on department-issued computers to simulate activity while working from home. Greater Manchester Police and Durham Constabulary reported abnormal keystroke patterns detected by keylogging software installed to ensure official use. Greater Manchester served misconduct papers to 26 officers, staff and contractors after identifying repeated key presses consistent with an item pressing down a key, and revoked remote-work privileges for the entire force. In Durham, Detective Constable Niall Thubron resigned and was placed on the College of Policing barred list after jamming his keyboard to simulate work on multiple occasions.

Read at Theregister