Technology has always made the Police Force better; advances in technology are mind blowing. Having the capabilities to access information and communicate from anywhere you go is a big advancement in technology. This paper examines the differences in technology during the Political Policing era through the Community Based Policing era. We will examine the Police car, the Radio, and Computer system.
When thinking about Crime Technology from past to future some of the technical feats that we have accomplished are amazing. Starting from the Phone Dispatch Center to the Command Center and all of the new technologies including the Police car and Patty Wagon it would be hard to imagine a world without technology. The Police Officer has come a long way from simply walking a beat, riding a horse to making a Patrol in a Police car. The Radio has been a very beneficial accomplishment in its self, saving both time and money. Another area of expertise is the computer system it allows Officers to be more versatile while policing; the capabilities of the computer are astonishing giving the Police Officers access to unlimited data.
Photograph of a Police Vehicle from source http://psabdns4.com/clarionboro.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/policecar17.jpg
The Police car took the place of the horse remaining the most common used means of travel from early 1910 until now the Police car has had many changes in its looks and productivity. The earliest usage of the Police car was the Patty Wagon when a Police Officer who walked his beat caught a criminal they would use a call box to dial into the Police Station to inform their superior of an arrest. Then the Police Station would send a Patty Wagon to take the criminals away to the local jail or prison. Used in the late stages of Political Policing era having the capability to call in problems and send a Police car made the response time to problem calls faster. Having a fast turnaround allowed the Police organization to lean towards the Professional style of policing being more problem oriented making the Police Department more reactive rather than being proactive. This meant when there was a call the Police Offices would get into the Police car and ride to the place of the crime. It was an efficient process for the era of policing it was designed for, but soon the Political era went away, it was replaced by the Patrol car that stayed constantly patrolling areas looking for instances to reconcile while patrolling being proactive by placing the Police Officer where a crime could occur thus slowing down the rate of crime. This type of policing brought about the Community Based policing that a patrol car would cruse the area it is assigned to. A later name for the patrol car became a squad car this meant that the vehicle was now in a squad of partners that work as a team in an assigned area to reconcile problems.
The technology of the telephone is a major technological advancement. The first telephone invented by Alexander Gram Bell in 1876 was called the electric speech machine. It interconnected most large cities by 1884. The telephone revolutionized the way people communicate by not having to use the telegram to send telegrams; this meant that communication was quicker and easier because Morris code no longer had to be deciphered. The first Police call box invented in 1883 was used in Washington DC for the Police Officers on the beat to call in their situation reports to the Police Station. Both civilians and the Police Officers had access to the call box. This idea quickly caught on and before long every other major city in the United States implemented call boxes.
Photograph of a call box, from sourcehttp://www.vintagevending.com/detroit-police-telephone-call-box
The switch was the main way of communicating between parties; an operator would answer the main line and then plug a the caller into another line connected to the location that the dialler has specified to the operator thus allowing the receivers telephone to ring. Before long the transistor was invented in 1947, Robert Noyce invented the integrated circuit in 1961, and AT&T invented the Enhanced 911 call in 1979. When calling 911 the AT&T switch would automatically send you to the Dispatch Center, where they decipher what type of dispatch and problem solving is needed for the situation.
Alexander Graham Bell and His Telephone By 1878, Bell had set up the first telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut. By 1884, long distance connections were made between Boston, New York and Chicago from source sln.fi.edu/franklin/inventor/bell.html
The invention of the transistor in 1947 later made the first transistor radio. Transistor radios or walkie-talkies have made Policing easier by allowing Police Officers to have two-way communication in a device that can be carried anywhere you go. This allows a Police Officer to report a problem while on the move. The main aspect of the band scanner radio is that a Police Officer is able to change frequencies and call for backup and assistance at any time. Having the capability to change frequencies allows for many different operations to take place in a single given area.
The microprocessor invented in 1971 allowed for the first computer systems to be built. At first computers did simple calculation and saved information in binary code by utilizing a Mainframe system. Servers and switches that provide internet connectivity later replaced the Mainframe. Having the capability to keep comprehensive databases helped improve Police Productivity by allowing Officers to have computers located in their Squad Cars. Most of the advances in incident-driven policing have been positive. The computer has made it easier for Police Officers to implement ticketing and give situations by being capable of logging information directly to a computer that is able to upload the citation to the internet. Other parts make it easier because most Police departments allow the person who receives the ticket to pay over the internet. In most cases, this speeds up the process, if it is a violation that you agree upon. Being a citizen technology makes it harder to get away with speeding and parking violations. Otherwise, the Policing model is usually affected by the information that is stored on the computer. The stored information represents evidence in court that allows the community the ability to reconcile differences by producing more quality evidence. Some of the evidence the computer may store are records of fingerprints and weapons ballistics. NCIC National Criminal Investigation Center and AFIS Automated Fingerprint Identification System both store and reference criminal information and civilian information that is useful to the Police Force for investigation purposes.
Most of the information that is presented by computer systems make the decision making for Police Officers easier because the Police Officers do not have to guess what happened on a crime scene but only collect clues that lead to a plot or that tell how a crime took place. Finding important clues using technology to view latent prints and finding computer information about the suspect make it easier to know who committed the crime and may identify why the crime was committed.
Computers help solve crime in many different ways they scan and keep data bases of mug shots , fingerprinting database system, and criminal records. These super computers, mobile, and office computers make Crime Scene analysis easier for the Police Officers and forensic investigators around the world. Being connected into the internet allows a fast easy passage to endless information. Being able to investigate crimes using computer data to obtain records, fingerprints, photographs and internet allow for Crime Scene investigators to be able to work quickly and expedient while not overwhelming themselves with too many files and paper work.
The first topic of using the computer for the Police Force would be to analyze crime information that is stored on databases. The basic police headquarters computer stores such information on the network as, complete records, photographs, names, side and front mug shoot views, social security numbers, height , weight, ethnic back ground, eye color, date of arrest, date of birth and address. The information located on the local Police server, state, FBI and CIA all provide a brief description of the crime they committed with details such as charges, court date, and complete description of the crime with previous criminal history including convictions. These police databases are exceedingly advanced by updated products programmed to query, find, and display large amounts of information in a report format.
The scalability of the Police reporting/tracking systems is very large. Some of the benefits of having a computerize reporting /tracking system are the capabilities of being portable using a laptop for patrol cars, remote access from places other than the office, and serviceability you can update records at any time. The modules located on most Police reporting/tracking systems include arrest & booking, biographical information, arrest information, supplemental information, inmate medical screening, inmate property, inmate visiting tracking, inmate cash accounting, automated line ups, criminal warrants, photographs of subject, automated checks A&B for outstanding warrants, and automatic print outs.
Data bases that are used to solve crimes include AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System), IBIS (Integrated Ballistic Identification System) , and NIBIS (National Integrated Identification System).
AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) is a computer system that collects finger print information. During 1999 the FBI initiated an operation to integrated all state AFIS computer systems into one large data base of nearly 50 thousand fingerprint profiles called IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint System), this identification computer system identifies fingerprints by analyzing whorls, loops, and arches to collect specific criteria of fingerprints . The IAFIS computer system corrects imperfections by automatically filtering latent prints and then enhancing the image. Every system scans fingerprint images, detects records information about the minuet differences between fingerprints scanned.
IAFIS is the largest biometric database in the world IAFIS is a 24 by 7 system that is up and running 365 days a year. It does not only have fingerprint information but also stores related information about the subject some of which includes mug shots, scares, tattoos, photographs, physical characters like height, weight, hair color, eye color and aliases. IAFIS also stores past U.S. Military and Federal Government workers information.
Livescan is an inkless device that scans fingerprint images, storing them electronically while communicating to an AFIS database. Before live scan in order to store fingerprint information an officer had to roll the fingers onto a standard ten-print card then transmit the fingerprint information to a computer database.
IBIS (Integrated Ballistic Identification System) was developed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, it had two programs that are incorporated the first, Bullet Proof a bullet ballistics program with analyzing module and second Brasscatcher a cartridge case analyzer. IBIS has digital comparison of microscopic images to identify ballistic features found on both bullets and cartridges. Not unless the states are using the same IBIS program the state system may vary, this variance disallows other states the ability to query each other’s information.
The FBI and ATF during the year of 1999 created an IBIS System that interconnected the states systems this integrated ballistics system is named NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistic Information Network) this network database is made of two programs that are combined, the first computer program is DRUGFIRE and the second program is IBIS.
Over two hundred law enforcement agencies have been trained to use the IBIS System for gun analysis, bullet ballistics, and cartridge ballistics to identify guns bullets and cartridges. There are over 800,000 gun ballistic images located nationwide Police Law enforcement agencies have connected more than 11,000 casings /bullets to more than one crime.
Other computer related data bases consists of internet access which review statistical crime data such as the state crime rate, criminal activity, national crime rate. Databases analyze Police work performed during the yearly performance, some of which include arrests, detainments, and complaints: In reference to www.NCJRS.gov.
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a computerized database of documented criminal justice information that is virtually available to every law enforcement agency across the United States of America open 24 hours a day 365days a year. It became operational on January 27, 1967 the goal was to assist law enforcement in apprehending fugitives, locating stolen missing persons, and further protecting law enforcement personnel and the public: In reference to www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm.
The UCR(Uniform Crime Report) is a program that saves statistical publications, it holds comprehensive United States crime data that is provided by nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. The UCR was established in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to produce a reliable source of statistical information that is crime related. In 1930, the FBI was assigned to the task of gathering, publishing, and saving crime information statistics in an easy to read format.
The NIBRS stands for National Incident Based Reporting System in which agencies collect data on single crime occurrences. The NIBRS started in March of 1988 after participants at the UCR conference approved the new system. The NIBRS provides relevant information of how to report incidents to the correct authorities. This data is then subjected to researchers that produce incident reports. Next, they make an overall report or warning so others do not have the same crime happen to them.
Computers are a very useful tool in the Criminal Justice field they allow operation of many Crime information centers. Computers allow Criminal Justice agencies the ability to look up records, crimes, and detailed reports in a quick easy manner.
The Call Center Dispatch is very important to the police department they house computer systems that have software on them personalized to the specific Police Department that provides analysis tools for the Police Analyzer and Dispatch Personnel workers. The information provided by this system allows the Police Squad Cars quick access to search warrants and records by former offenders. Being able to search data about vehicle registration and owner information is very useful by Police Officers that patrol. The Analyzer has to search in dept information to find out what the crime variables are in specific areas in order for the Police Department to build a schema of how to combat the problems that they face in the specific areas they have to patrol.
As you can see, technology is used in the Police Department for many reasons. From hundreds of years of inventions and advancements to products and procedures by Law Enforcement agencies the Police Department has come a long way from foot patrol, horse, and buggy operations to a full scale squad of tangent Police Officers that are trained and ready for any situation. Police cars, communication and computer systems have revolutionized the Police Force.
American Library.gov (2011) from source: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/recon/jb_recon_telephone_1.html
Foster, Raymond E (2005) Prentice Hall, Pearson Education Inc, Police Technology
PBS.com (2011) First transistor radio from source: www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/tradio.html
Pennsylvania State association Of Boroughs (2011) from source: http://psabdns4.com/clarionboro.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/policecar17.jpg
Saferstien Richard (2007) Criminalistics An introduction to Forensic Science Ninth Edition
Vintage Vending (2011) from source http://www.vintagevending.com/detroit-police-telephone-call-box
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