Essay 1 High Tech Policing PDF

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In this essay, I focus on high tech policing and why it is valuable in the work force. ...

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Samara Weissmann CRS 334 Project #1 February 23, 2020

In a world where we have become dependent on technology, a new era of tech-based policing continues to develop and arise. Within this growing technological world, a new tool called high-tech policing is becoming valuable within the Police Force in regard to controlling and limiting crimes. (CQ press) These technologies are transforming how Police Forces pursue suspects, monitor suspicious activity and seek to deter crime. High-tech policing consists of software such as body cameras, facial recognition, automatic license plate readers and more. (CQ press) With the rise of technology within the police force, it has raised questions about its possible violations against individuals fourth amendment rights. High-tech policing is a new and still developing way of enforcing safety and permitting crimes. It still needs more in-depth laws and details in order for it to become completely effective. However, high-tech policing can provide helpful and crucial information on crime and law enforcement. It not only has its best interest in the public, but most importantly their safety. Police departments were put into place to ensure safety and protection to all citizens. While regular policing has been proven effective, there are still issues that appear on the daily that can be maintained with the use of these new technologies. One of the biggest threat’s society faces today within crime is terrorist attacks and mass shootings. On April 15th, 2013, two brothers detonated two homemade pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 people and injuring several hundred others. After numerous days trying to track down the person(s) who committed the crime, surveillance footage was the reason justice could finally be had. Surveillance footage provides crucial evidence, showing that this technology can be vital

when finding one person in a sea of thousands. Surveillance footage, also known as CCTV, is changing the way police are beginning to approach surveillance. Surveillance footage isn’t new technology to us, having been around since 1998 and used in places such as department stores, parking lots etc. It is now being introduced into the police force, with companies such as the doorbell-camera company Ring, which has partnered with more than 400 police forces across the United States. According to the Washington Post, Ring and law enforcements claim the camera network as an unstoppable shield for neighborhoods, claiming it will help protect families from thieves and criminal, and assist police investigators. CCTV footage also helped provide crucial information in identifying a suicide bomber walking into a church moments before killing Easter Sunday worshipers in Sri Lanka on April 29th, 2019. (Harwell) While CCTV catches criminals caught in the act on camera after it is committed, just like the Boston bombers, police are also using it to actively investigate criminals in the process of offending and recording the evidence on the spot. (Goldsworthy) Without CCTV, some crimes would go without justice. While CCTV doesn’t help prevent crime, it does help solve it. Two studies conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology dove into the importance and value of CCTV footage. One study showed that when police requested and used surveillance footage, there was an increase of these crimes being solved. The other study showed that CCTV footage is highly valued by law enforcement personnel, with 90% of investigators using the footage if it was made available to them. (Goldsworthy) While this study was organized in Australia, technologies such as CCTV are beginning to be used worldwide, showing the positive effects it has been having on crime. Another example of surveillance footage is body cameras. Body cameras are positioned on the chest area and are used to record incidents of suspicious activity. Body cameras, also known as BCW’s enable the police to actively seek out those who are committing offenses and

record the evidence against the offenders. Enforcing the use of body cameras makes policing much more transparent, because it provides physical evidence of a situation instead of going by word of mouth. This helps remove bias, as there have been incidents in the past where it has been thought that the police have manipulated the story. In order to remove this bias, police need to be recording before and during the exercise of force or police power. However, this can cause issues to arise because this means police officers need to physically turn on their cameras. When a shooting starts, turning on your body camera isn’t the first thing you think to do, your first instinct is to protect yourself and others. In order to resolve this problem, the Western Australian Police is having the body cameras automatically turn on as soon as an officer draws their firearm. (Goldsworthy) The United States police is stressing to start this as well and hopefully incorporate this into the police force soon. (CQ press) Another form of high-tech policing related to body cameras is facial recognition. This form of policing isn’t new to society. It is used daily within individuals’ smart phones. When this growing technology is used to make policing easier, it helps the police track wanted criminals, missing people and suspected terrorists. It uses algorithmics to match someone’s facial characteristics to thousands of different photos and videos in order to find the perfect match. Facial recognition helps on many different levels, on top of preventing crime. It can help people who are in danger or have been injured. For example, a shooting has taken place and many people were injured and caught in the crossfire. The police and ambulance arrive to the scene and they are working together trying to identify the wounded, but many don’t have any identification cards on them. Facial recognition can be used in these situations to identify the wounded. Facial recognition is already showing promising results. Several men were arrested at a Rugby match which allowed the police to use facial recognition to compare the photo of a suspect against

500,000 custody photographs to find a match. (Howells) This is just one of the many cases where facial recognition has been useful, and the numbers are only growing. Another example of when facial recognition has helped for the greater good was during a high-speed chase in Orlando, Florida. The sheriffs were able to bring the driver to a halt and arrest him. However, they could not determine who he was, because he had no identification card on him. Before the police could take him in, he stuffed his face with something that caused him to pass out. When they went to run a fingerprint on who he was, they appeared to have been chewed off. This is where facial recognition comes into play and helped mark this case as one of the 400 successful outcomes since 2014. (Valentino-DeVires.) Another important and helpful high-tech product is predictive policing, which has helped play an effect in bringing burglaries down by 22%. (CQ Press) This supports the police because they can disturb criminal activity by being able to identify early on criminal threats. Predictive policing looks at the types of crimes that were committed in a given area, the time and location. They then take that information and use it to predict when and where another crime is likely to occur. If police were able to have accurate data on where an attack may occur, they can better place ambulances, medics and clear roads in order to ensure quicker safety. However, while this is efficient and helps police become better at detecting crimes before they occur, it requires large police presence in certain areas which can make residents feel as if they are targeted and constantly watched, making them feel unsettled and uncomfortable in their own home. (Lapowsky) In regard to using predictive policing, it can be as small as looking through criminal’s Facebook profiles. Arguments have arisen about police being able to access information through someone’s social media accounts. There are constant debates within this way of predictive

policing because it raises issues about one’s expectations of privacy. According to Findlaw, someone’s expectations of privacy refers to times where the U.S Constitution requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant in order to search for evidence of a crime, which means going through someone’s personal belongings such as a person’s home or car. However, if these individuals make their Facebook profiles public, then anyone has access to their information and can look at their posts, photos etc. If the account is private and the police are trying to access that person’s information, they are virtually saying no by making it hidden. If the police desperately needed to access their information, they would need to get a warrant. In conclusion, the future for high-tech policing is bright. While regular policing has shown positive results, there are still situations where high-tech could aid efficiently. In order to ensure protection to all citizens and minimize crime, incorporating high techs such as body cameras, predictive policing and facial recognition will continue to show improvements in the police force. High-tech policing still has a long way to come, but they are headed in the right direction.

Works cited “High-Tech Policing, Are new surveillance technologies effective and legal?” CQ Researcher: Indepth reports on today’s issues. CQ press. April 21, 2017.

“How the Police Use Facial Recognition, and Where it Falls Short.” Jennifer Valentino-DeVires. The New York Times. Jan 12. 2020

Madden, Mary, et al. "Teens, Social Media, and Privacy." Pew Research Center, 21 May 2013, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/05/21/teens-social-media-and-privacy/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2020.

Howells, Jane. "How technology is helping in the fight against crime." Business Services Orange, 21 Mar. 2018, www.orange-business.com/en/blogs/ how-technology-helping-fightagainst-crime. Accessed 9 Feb. 2020.

Muggah, Robert. "How smart tech helps cities fight terrorism and crime." World Economic Forum, 15 June 2018, www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/ cities-crime-data-agile-securityrobert-muggah/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2020. Harwell, Drew. “Doorbell-camera firm Ring has partnered with 400 police forces, extending surveillance concerns.” The Washington Post, August 28, 2019.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/28/doorbell-camera-firm-ring-haspartnered-with-police-forces-extending-surveillance-reach/?arc404=true. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

Goldsworthy, Terry. “Big brother is watching: how new technologies are changing police surveillance.” The Conversation Http://theconversation.com/big-brother-is-watching-how-newtechnologies-are-changing-police-surveillance-115841. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

Lapwosky, Issie. “How the LAPD uses Data to Predict Crime.” Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/los-angeles-police-department-predictive-policing/. Accessed 23. Feb 2020

“What is the reasonable expectation of privacy?” Findlaw. https://injury.findlaw.com/torts-andpersonal-injuries/what-is-the--reasonable-expectation-of-privacy--.html. Accessed 23. Feb 2020....