“Technology,” defined by Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Ninth Edition) as “a particular means for achieving ends,” is a denotative definition, that is, it is glossed as (extended in meaning to) the totality of means employed to provide objects necessary for human sustenance and comfort. Academic definitions range widely (for a daunting list, see Roberts and Grabowsky 1996, 411). The most sensitive of these suggests that technology includes what is seen and visible, as well as the material, logical, and social facets of technology. In operation, technology requires the cognitive and imaginative work that is required to understand, fix, maintain, and use technology (Roberts and Grabowsky 1996). Organizational “technology,” in general, is the means by which work is accomplished within a bounded authoritatively ordered social system defined in a narrow sense. It is a means of converting “raw materials” into ”processed outputs.” However, what is “raw” and what is “processed” remains complicated when both are the result of human interaction. A narrow definition, like Webster’s, is inadequate when both raw materials and the means used are interacting persons. Information technology (IT) is best seen as a means by which ”raw data” or ”facts” are converted or processed to become information, something that makes a difference in context. When applied to organizational analysis and when implemented with a clear intent and evaluated as to consequence, it is “knowledge.” Framing technology as a means avoids the larger question of the values and purposes, the hopes and dreams of those who use it and the connotations of its working. Technology is not just used; it is imagined, and it is therefore always more than is seen. Each technology competes for space, time, and legitimacy with other known means and is judged in policing by somewhat changing pragmatic, often nontechnical, values: its speed, its durability and weight, and its contribution to the uniformed officers’ notion of the essential role and its routines. New equipment is generally introduced without experimentation, clear expectations or standards, or proper repair and maintenance contracts. There is little evidence that thirty years of funding technological innovations have produced much change in police practices or in their effectiveness. Recent developments suggest that informational technology is a new and useful management tool, rather than an effective deployment of resources for environmental impact. Types of Technology Six types of technology are seen in police organizations (Manning 2003, 129-33). They are of quite different significance operationally. The most important of these are the last three, the communicative, transformative, and analytic technologies. The first type of technology is mobility technology, or ways of getting around— motorcycles, cars, trucks, SUVs, boats, bicycles, and horses. These are taken for granted as essential and are assumed to add speed, efficiency, and capacity to the force. The movement from foot patrol to mobile patrol increased the costs of patrolling beyond measure and when linked to computer-aided dispatch fueled the belief that reduced pass-through time increased the quality of policing. The consistent leader in expenditure and maintenance costs for technology is means of mobility. The purpose of […]
Criminal Justice System
Technology and Strategic Planning in Policing
Every criminal justice organization needs to occasionally examine its core values and evaluate the process by which it provides the advertised goods and services. Strategic planning provides the tools and steps required to examine the efficiency of an agency’s product delivery systems. Both public and private agencies have an obligation to their service population, and without such planning, agencies risk failing to meet the needs of their customers. Therefore, strategic planning is an integral part of modern agencies concerned about fiscal responsibility and adequate service delivery (Haines 2000). The push toward professionalism and public accountability has led police departments to adopt strategic planning measures and to apply concepts borrowed from the business world. The advent of information technology (IT) provides new opportunities and challenges for police strategic planning. Modern technologies have become indispensable parts of today’s police planning process, whether to manage personnel or to anticipate how best to address the crime problems of tomorrow. Basic Strategic Planning in Policing Strategic planning holds many benefits for police leaders. It can help an agency to identify and anticipate key trends and issues facing the organization, both currently and in the future. The planning process also explores options, sets directions, and helps stakeholders make appropriate decisions. It facilitates communication among key stakeholders who are involved in the process and keeps organizations focused on outcomes while battling daily crises. Planning can be used to develop performance standards to measure an agency’s efforts. Finally, and most important, it helps leaders to facilitate and manage change (Glensor and Peak 2005). Table 1 illustrates some strategic planning steps and the required actions. The need for IT in strategic planning becomes even more acute where the organization has adopted and is practicing the community-oriented policing and problem solving (COPPS) strategy. For example, under COPPS, the organization necessarily needs to maximize communication with and obtain feedback from the citizenry. Some technology applications for these purposes can be quite simplistic, such as issuing cellular telephones to officers and publishing officers’ telephone numbers. Or, on a higher plane, the agency might consider the development of a website. A web page can solicit input from the community concerning Such information can be very helpful for strategically planning the agency’s future. In addition, such areas as the agency’s history, mission, vision, values, and philosophy/methods under COPPS can be presented and explained in this website. Table 1 Strategic planning steps and required actions Strategic Planning Step Proposed Action/Questions Identify concerned stakeholders Invite city officials, police personnel, nonsworn staff, workers from other city agencies, and members of the public for their input and ask them to be part of the planning process. Assess the current situation How are things working? Are people satisfied with the agency? Are workers happy? Is the output satisfactory? Define organizational needs What are the short-term and long-term goals of the agency? Are there future goals that need to be anticipated? Review procedures How are things currently done? Are the systems in place efficient? Are there alternative methods? Develop a plan Incorporate needs analysis, […]
Technology and the Police
Security and Civil Liberties in the Twenty-First Century We live in a time of rapid social change, being driven by technology. Consequently, policing is becoming increasingly difficult as the technologies driving change become more sophisticated and society becomes more dependent upon them. Criminals, too, are relying more on technology, increasing criminal opportunities and threatening civil liberties. Many scientists and technology observers suggest that the rate of technologically induced change is accelerating, compounding the problems facing law enforcement at a time when global terrorism and criminal networks are expanding. At the same time, surveillance cameras, radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, and computers are getting smaller, cheaper, and more powerful, while enormous commercial databases containing information on millions of citizens are proliferating. All of this is reducing personal privacy and fueling a growing anxiety among civil libertarians that we are moving closer to Orwell’s 1984. Indeed, as the curve of technological advancement climbs exponentially and technology becomes cheaper, smaller, and more capable, it also becomes more usable and widely available to the average person and the average police department. As we move farther along the curve of advancement, new technology will give an increasing number of people the ability to do things that were once confined to large corporations and the military. There are, of course, tremendous benefits to society and the world as a result of this advancement. Technology drives economic prosperity, increases standards of living, and provides us with new and more powerful tools to mitigate or eliminate the death and destruction attributable to human-made and natural disasters. Technology can also be used in a variety of ways that range from annoying to genocidal. From inexpensive microsurveillance cameras to Internet-accessible satellite imagery, citizens within our communities will have increasing capabilities to spy on their neighbors, take advantage of the weak, or in many other ways cause harm to others. Of even more concern are those individuals and groups bent on destruction and illegal gain, whose power to harm not just individuals but whole communities and nations accelerates along with the technological tools that aid them in their pursuits. The first decade of the twenty-first century has shown there are many potential criminal and terrorist uses of technology. Discussion of chemical and biological hazards, backpack nuclear devices and dirty bombs, and airline and border security are an everyday part of public discussion in the years since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon of September 11, 2001. New topics and movies depicting humanoid robots and genetically engineered dinosaurs running amok fuel growing public concern about technology getting into the wrong hands, increasing demands for government regulation and control of technology. But while the public lives in fear of another terror attack, with the Department of Homeland Security’s terror alert system periodically changing between yellow, orange, and red, there appears to be even more concern with police misuse of surveillance technology and the growing body of private data on citizens available to law enforcement from open and private sources. Programs to improve the […]
Technology, Records Management Systems, and Calls for Service
Technology in Law Enforcement Technology can generally be described as a tool with a purpose. In the twenty-first century, when we use the term, we generally mean an automated or mechanically driven tool. There are many technologies used in law enforcement, including information technology such as records management systems, communication systems such as radios and computer-aided dispatch systems, evidence-based technologies such as DNA, digital photography, closed-circuit television, less-than-lethal force devices, and geographic technologies such as mapping software, global positioning systems, and automated vehicle locator systems. Information Technology in Law Enforcement While there are numerous technologies used in law enforcement, perhaps the most readily used are the technologies that transmit, store, sort, compile, and maintain information. While communications technology is used for receiving calls for service, gathering descriptive information from the caller, dispatching police units to the scene, and gathering detailed information about the incidents from the officers themselves, information technology (IT) in policing allows police to recall stored information and use information for daily operations and responsibilities as well as for problem solving, protecting community and officer safety, and providing detailed information to supervisors. Records Management Systems A records management system (RMS), the primary IT system in law enforcement, is an automated system that provides the framework for entering, storing, retrieving, viewing, and analyzing all records, including incident reports, calls-for-service data, personnel data, criminal investigations, and related information. According to Harris and Romesburg (2001), twenty-first-century RMSs go beyond the collection and storage of information by offering robust analytical tools, seamless sharing of information, and complex linkages between different data sources. As such, RMS technology serves as a key component of effective decision making. Data Inputs and Outputs Information contained within an RMS is input from officers, call takers, investigators, the personnel office, supervisors, and others connected to daily law enforcement functions in the agency. Once stored, the information can be retrieved, analyzed, and archived (see, for example, Boyd 2001; Dunworth 2000). In turn, various types of information can be made available to agency users, other justice agencies, and the public, where appropriate. Information can be provided to users via various reports and downloads of automated data to other software programs. Components and Uses of RMSs The goal of an RMS is to provide a single source for integration of all key law enforcement data in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness of operations. There are numerous components and/or modules in an RMS. These include arrest, booking, case management, citations, collisions and related diagrams, complainant demographics, dispatch records, equipment records, evidence, field interviews, field reporting, global positioning system (GPS) integration, investigations, name indexes, National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), offender information, pawn, personnel, photos, property lists, sex offender information, training, Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), use of force, victim information, warrants, and more. Often this information is integrated with other existing systems such as computer-aided dispatch (CAD) records, mapping software, case management software, an early warning system, a report writing software package, and more. A recent national survey supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community […]
Television Images of Policing
From the very beginning, the oxygen that has given life to the Rodney King story is television. (Alter 1992, 43) Nearly fifteen years have passed since the now-infamous ”Holliday videotape” was aired across the country, but the images captured on that sixty-eight second video clip still resonate in the public’s mind. California highway troopers attempted to stop Rodney King’s vehicle for excessive speed, and when he failed to stop, the troopers requested assistance. By the time King stopped his vehicle, at least twenty-three officers had responded. The situation escalated quickly as the officers struggled to subdue him. George Holliday began videotaping when the situation had peaked: Despite being hit twice with Taser darts, King continued to resist. The videotape then captures several of the officers beating King with their batons, pausing, and then beating him again. Estimates of the number of times King was hit and kicked vary, ranging from twenty-three to fifty-six (see Schlief 2005), but the impact of the video was significant: It took an incident that would have been ignored and made it a celebrated news event. Several police officers were charged in state and then federal court, the Los Angeles Police Department was forced to investigate and reconsider its use-of-force policy, many other police departments across the country were forced to investigate police brutality accusations, and the city of Los Angeles and its citizens had to recover from two days of rioting following the acquittal of the officers of state charges. This incident illustrates the challenges of policing in a television age. The public relies heavily on television for news and entertainment. Most national studies indicate that almost all households have at least one television set, and, on average, it is on for eight hours a day (Macionis 1997). Half of all Americans state that television is their primary source of news (Roper Center 1999). Since most people have only sporadic direct interactions with the police, what the public thinks about police officers is influenced by news and entertainment images. Television is a powerful vehicle through which a police department can communicate its goals, justify how it responds to crime, and request public involvement or assistance in solving open cases. Although there are opportunities for police departments to capitalize on the power of television, there are great risks. Accusations of police misconduct, case investigation errors, and high-profile cases put incredible pressure on police departments to be prepared to respond via the media when such situations arise. This article first discusses the strategies police departments use to influence how they are presented in the news and then describes the images presented about policing on television. The Relationship between Television and Police Organizations Research indicates that crime is an important news topic and that media organizations tend to emphasize the beginning stages of the criminal justice system (Chermak 1995; Surette 1998). Crime incidents, police investigations, and arrests account for approximately half of all crime stories presented. Television news organizations will present, on average, between three and five crime stories in a newscast […]