Law Enforcement - Research Paper Example

Law Enforcement Introduction Technology has been playing evidently important role towards the betterment of law enforcement management strategies and information. In the contemporary era modernization of information technology has proved to be beneficial because it includes accuracy of information and swiftness of delivering message from one section to other. This factor has been very effective because it has impacted the rate of criminal activities in the society. Over the last decade, technology has undergone some extraordinary rate of developments. The progress of computer technology has resulted in the increase of competition in the different levels of law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies are expected to conduct investigations, utilize finest technology available in the world, respond to crisis, protect citizens and prevent crimes. In order to cope with such expectations the use of computers and information technology has been proved to be increasingly essential. The law enforcement agencies can acquire information about a crime related issue swiftly if modern technological equipments are used by them. It has been observed that patrolling in the street and physical presence of police officers are very important in order to assure security; however it is also correct that physical presence of law enforcement officers cannot be assured in every part of the world. Therefore, technology can be recognized as a tool that can be used to bridge the gap between the occurrence of crime and presence of law enforcement officials prior to the occurrence of a crime. This research paper illustrates the value of the management of information within a law enforcement organization using technology. Discussion This part of the essay will follow the three mentioned areas. Measuring organization’s approach towards technology In order to measure the approach, commitment and emphasis of law enforcement agencies towards technology there are two basic approaches that can be used. First of all, the COPS MORE program that helps to recognize the potential of information technology with respect to the enhancement of the operations conducted by law enforcement agencies. The COPS MORE program provides the ability to measure the usefulness of technology in the policing activities. The primary objective of the COPS MORE program was to increase the ability of the police officials, who were responsible for patrolling in streets. The installation of mobile digital computers in the patrol vehicles proved that the implementation of technology in the law enforcement organization was extremely successful because it helped the police officials to address community issues effectively and quickly. In the year 2002, the COPS MORE program focused on interviews that were conducted on the officials of different law enforcement agencies regarding the installation and working of the advanced equipments. Interviews were conducted every 6 months for a period of two years and the officials were asked several questions regarding the delay in the installation process and lack of proper usage. Finally, it was observed that various external factors affected the use of technologically advanced equipments. Delays by vendors, budgeting funds for acquisitions and changes in policies and procedures affected uninterrupted use of technology in law enforcement agencies. Therefore, the COPS MORE program was found very efficient to measure the usage of technology in the law enforcement agencies. Secondly, assessing information technology i.e. effectiveness, efficiency and enabling of technology is a possible method that can be used to measure the commitment and approach of law enforcement organizations towards technology. AFRS is an integrated technological application used by patrolling officers, which allows completion of incident reports. It has been evident that prior to the use of AFRS in law agencies, the time duration required was more than 40 minutes. However, after the use of AFRS technology the completion of incident reports take less than 20 minutes time because the advancement of the application narrows down the calculations and sorting procedures. This kind of implications in the law enforcement agencies definitely increases the efficiency of the officials because of the ability they have. Moreover, the efficiency and the enabling increase the effectiveness of the work. An AFIS, for example provides the opportunity to conduct extensive search on latent prints, which is not possible to conduct otherwise. This shows that the three E’s can be very useful to measure the commitment towards technology. Therefore, the three E’s are directly proportional to each other and they increase the safety and security of the community by reducing the issues quickly and effectively. The COPS MORE program and the three E’s approach are very useful for measuring organization’s approach, commitment and emphasis towards technology. With the help of the programs, law enforcement managers can analyze the usefulness of technology while managing information (Pattavina, 2004). Previously, the information available to law enforcement agencies were not centralized i.e. they differed in different agencies. However, with the implementation of technologically advanced equipments information available to the law enforcement officials are tracked and secured appropriately for future uses. Therefore, the emphasis in the technological area is at par with the management of information in the present world. It has been significant that modern technological advancements and implementations have played crucial role in the modes which law enforcement officials use to tackle community issues. The management and broadcast of information, safely and accurately was difficult earlier but it has become easier with the equipments that are used by the law enforcement agencies. Despite the factors, it is essential to understand that crime rate has increased in the past few years because technology is also available to the criminals. Therefore, scientists and crime researchers should incorporate better methods for reducing crime and related issues from the society. After the 9/11, attacks in the United States of America several precautions are being taken in order to avoid similar incidents in the future. Governments of different countries work together to reduce the political tensions and work against the terrorism related issues. The law enforcement agencies share information across the globe but it is also evident that the information available to them is also known to criminals some time. In order to reduce the chances of errors or leakage of essential information, it is important that better strategies are incorporated by developing equipment and networks with the help of technology. Furthermore, new technological advancements for securing information should be done quickly and effectively without worrying about budgets because safety and security of civic life is one of the most essential parameters that law enforcement agencies should consider. Thus, it can be stated that the modern technological advancements are appropriate but they are not effective to deal with the future problems. The contribution of information system technology towards the current scenario of law enforcement organization The law enforcement organizations are believed to be group of parties that can be other organizations or individuals for specific shared concerns related with law enforcement. The contribution of information system technology and management of knowledge has been immense towards the development of current law enforcement organizations. Over the past decades, the expanded usage of computer technology has seen rapid upsurge. In law enforcement organizations, there has been substantial growth on innovative applications and development in mobile communications. The Bureau of Justice Statistics released survey to state that computer has seen substantial progression towards variety of law enforcement functions within the organizations. The information system technology has been used for crime mapping and crime analysis. Furthermore, computers are used for more than 50 percentage of information sharing, 60 percentage of crime investigation and 79 percentages of law enforcements functions. The agencies of contemporary law enforcement organizations have implemented varied range of information system technologies to improve their crime reporting and expand their communication with officers. Additionally, this enables to have better management over planned application of resources and tactical positioning of forces. The information system technology has been effectively altering the operation and structure of law enforcement organizations (Bidgoli, 2006). This enables law enforcements to target intervention, monitor crime trends with high precision level and manage administrators efficiently. Moreover, the introduction of technology and information system has been facilitating to have collaborative and strong relationships with the community and law enforcement organizations. The technological advancement has substantially expanded the ability of law enforcement organizations to verify and establish the identity of individuals with the help of biometric correctness. The information system technologies are believed to be pivotal tools for criminal investigations. It benefits towards application, storage, transfer, retrieval and creation of investigation based evidence. The use of automated routine investigation tasks can benefit law enforcement organizations to use their time dedicated towards the criminal investigations in a productive way. The application of mobile digital terminals technology has helped to recover crimes based on motor vehicles robbery. Furthermore, the introduction of cellular digital packet data from information system technologies helped to make more percentage of arrests than that of control group. Undoubtedly, the application of information system technologies in law enforcement organizations has benefited the organization and agencies to expressively involve in the process of problem solving method. The success of integrating new technologies within law enforcement can turned to be difficult over the period of time. The contribution of management of knowledge towards the current scenario of law enforcement organization The management of Knowledge is considered as the field of study that is primarily concerned with cultivating and shortening the process of understanding, distribution, generating and allocating knowledge. The adaptation of these advanced information technologies has facilitated the knowledge management activities within the law enforcement organizations. Most of the law enforcement organizations implement knowledge management within their work of knowledge. The four stages of management to knowledge are officer to information systems, officer to officer systems, officer to application systems and officer to technology systems. The major incident policy document of law enforcement organizations is the example of officer to technology systems. On the other hand, the officer to officer systems is resembled as the information who knows what is being made accessible to selected partners and people in the firm (Popp, 2006). The common practice of management of knowledge is the mapping of internal proficiency and creation of corporate manuals. The officer to information system is believed to be stage where information are being stored from knowledge workers in the law enforcement organization and then made accessible to external partners and other people. The information from data warehouse can be easily obtainable by the help of data mining techniques in knowledge management. Finally, the officer to application systems is resembled as the stage where solved knowledge problems of the police organizations are being made available to the solution seekers and knowledge workers. The management of knowledge in law enforcement organization and agencies is effectively presented by recognizing the knowledge management systems and knowledge categories. The greater understanding of knowledge management and sharing of knowledge can benefit law enforcement to understand effectiveness of the information that is required to be shared at operational level. The application of latest knowledge management systems within current status of law enforcement helped to aid policing activities. There are many activities that police forces are involved in are arrests, roadblocks, proactive and reactive measures. The application of effective knowledge management systems helps professionals from law enforcement organizations to organize next gen police officers with vast amount of knowledge to bear. Strategies to improve information management technology system Utilization: It is essential that utilization of information is done appropriately from the data available. There are some factors that should be taken care of, while utilizing information. Transformation of data should be done into actionable insight and strategic decisions should be made before taking any action. For instance, law enforcement officials should immediately cross-check their data-base after getting report about any crime that is supposed to happen (Lazer, 2007). This would reduce the cost of operation and enable the officials to act quickly based on the prior information available to them regarding a criminal or an incident. Accessibility: It is essential that police officials ensure efficient and secure access to the information that is stored by them in disturbed environments. It is significant that technology enables people to store high amount of information appropriately but it also increases the chances of information leakage or data theft. Data should not be made accessible to every official during a case assignment. Some officials should be responsible for maintaining the security of information available to them because criminals can use the information against the law enforcement officials if they have access to them. Furthermore, data discovery should be emphasized in order to have access control. Sharing: Technology has been very efficient and useful with the law enforcement organization with respect to sharing information. In the modern world, there are several devices, such as mobile computers and smart walkies that enable officials to keep in touch with each other (Chu, 2001). However, the mode and frequency at which information is relayed might not be very secure. Therefore, new development should be made in order to increase the safety of messages that are shared among the officials. Information should also be made efficient and effective to be shared beyond organization. Quality: To realize the value of IT systems, information that is sourced should be meaningful and appropriate. Common data-entry standards should be used in order to make the information accessible to every person authorized to handle the system. Ensuring data quality in disturbed environment is also mandatory. The messages that are fed in the system should be double-checked and they should be encrypted after storing. The quality of information is based on the accuracy of the data and the capacity of the system to store the required amount of information. Therefore, it is also essential that advanced systems should be used and data saving procedures should be done by software programmers, in order to avoid misplace of information. Safety and security: Safety and security of information is very essential. Law enforcement officials should have proper infrastructure to plan and operate their tasks and they should have new and advanced technology in order to reduce the risks related to loss of information. Policing information are very crucial, therefore the systems should be checked every week in order to prevent system failure or system crash, which may lead to misplace of information. Safety and security of information can be very helpful, while acknowledging crime scenarios and verifying criminal records. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is possible to state that technology plays a crucial role to manage information. Law enforcement agencies use technology on a large scale in the modern world because it enables them to work effectively and appropriately. Technology not only reduces the time to solve criminal cases but also helps to increase the efficiency of law enforcement officials and reduce criminal activities from the society. Management of knowledge in law enforcement agencies can effectively be presented by technology. Information security and safety is very essential because it includes several risks of leakage of information or misuse of data or loss of data. These factors can lead to terrible effects because the criminal records and information enable law enforcement officials to work actively. In the modern world the technological advancement in the law enforcement agencies is up to mark, however there are challenges that needs much emphasis from the future criminal perspectives. Therefore, development of current technological equipments and up-gradation of knowledge sharing system must be installed in order to prevent any kind of alien penetration to the secured information. Finally, it can be concluded that the value of the management of information within a law enforcement organization using technology is crucial. References Bidogli, H. (2006). Handbook of information security. London: Routledge. Chu, J. (2001). Law enforcement information technology. New York: Springer. Lazer, D. (2007). Governance and IT. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Pattavina, A. (2004). Information technology and criminal justice system. New Jersey: Pearson. Popp, R. (2006). Emergent information technology and legal agencies. London: Sage. Read More