Research Paper on Evolution of Law Enforcement Technology in the US

Introduction

Technology is fundamental to the enhancement of the police officers in executing their daily duties and solving crimes. In 1903, Chief Francis O'Neill of the Chicago Police Department reflected on the old police system in resolving crimes, and through his words he stated:

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Those were desperate times for policemen in a hostile country with unpaved streets and uneven sidewalks, sometimes miles from the police station, with little prospects of assistance in case of need... It took nerve to be a policeman in those days" (O'Neill, Skerrett, Lesch, & Carolan, 2008, p.143).

To have the job done, the police need to look for the technology that will enhance effectiveness. Bernard, Paoline, and Pare (2005) state that the increase of the criminal activities especially in the metropolitan areas, together with the use of sophisticated tactics and weapons by the criminals to execute their crime, called for technology advancement in the police system. The change in technology was significant with the fingerprinting use, the crime laboratory and inception of the two-way radio as well as the extensive growth of the automobile. This report seeks to discuss the evolution of technology in the police force from the 1900s to the present and how it has helped in Law Enforcement/Police in the United States.

Problem Statement

It is identified that there is a momentous transformation in the US law enforcement agencies that is sparked with the amplified crime rates and change in tactics in committing a crime by criminals without leaving traces. There is the need to acknowledge the milestones achieved by the US law enforcement agencies up to the present times and identifying the vulnerabilities and recommendations needed to be implemented.

Literature Review

The study by Potter (2013) titled The history of policing in the United States, he sought to explain the beginning of the police system in The United States. According to the report, the US police system was borrowed from England's Anglo-Saxon common law together with its system of the sheriffs, social obligation, watchmen and stipendiary justice. This was due to the transformation for the two societies from being less rural and agrarian into more industrialized and urban, hence it was typified with the riots, crime and other constant destruction of peace in the metropolitan areas. The Americans were wary of creating standing police forces.

The study by Weisburd et.al (2015), concluded by showing that development of the police force was triggered by the escalation and devastation of the social crimes which were witnessed with an increase of murder case, robbery, rape, drug trafficking and abuse, illegal immigrants, and among other social injustices. Therefore, the police system required some reforms and digitization to ensure that the culprits are caught, substantial evidence is gathered and justice is served.

Mason (2015) and Greenberg (1982) both made statements on the police reforms that led to the modernization and advancement of the police forces. The main points noted in their articles is that the efforts to computerize and digitalize the police system in the United States are dated back in 1964 during the presidential campaigns when the Barry Goldwater (the Republican president) for the first time he made crime a national political issue. During the election Goldwater lost his seat to Lyndon B. Johnson, Johnson took steps to counter the increasing street disorder and crime rates which became rampant between the 1940s and 1965. On July 23, 1965, Johnson established the Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice to probe the issues concerning the increase of the crime rates. Later in 1967, the commission published a 308-page report that has 200 recommendations on how to counter the intensifying crime rates in the country, and 11 of the recommendation related to the police technology system. The implementation of the recommendation by the Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice gradually led to the changes seen in the modern time's police force in the United States in the execution of justice. The technology advancement in the US' police changed how justice is delivered as well as the credibility of the evidence collected from the crime scene and identification of the suspects. However, as noted in the literature review by McCarty, Ren, and Zhao (2012), the modernization of the police system was accompanied by a huge budget. The research also noted that, besides the effort made by the federal government to introduce the sophisticated systems and amour to counter crime, the internet has also rationalized the system and eased the efficiency of the police system.

Methodology

The research will collect the data by decisively analyzing existing articles, internet sources, news journals and researches that have relevant information on how the evolution of computers and technology have helped Law Enforcement/Police in the United States. The data will be collected and presented in two levels, (1) the evolution of police technology in the 1900s and (2) present-day technology advancement in the US law enforcement agencies. The data collected will be from credible sources and respective citation will accompany facts collected. Information on Social Media, blogs and Wikipedia will be disregarded.

Results

Information from different sources effectively gave the timeline of events from the 20th century up to the present time 21st century.

The Evolution of Police Technology in the 1900s

The recommendation made by the Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in the 1900s marked the radical technology change in law enforcement and technology reliance. However, before the inception of the commission, there were some insignificant technology developments in the police force in the early 1900s (Agnew, 2014). The following is the timeline in the technological advancement of the US police force in the early and late 1900s according to the research article by Mason (2015):

• 1902: James Mackenzie invented the first lie detector or the polygraph machine
• 1921: John Larson invented advanced lie detector to be used in the police force
• 1923: The Police Department formed the first police crime laboratory.
• 1923: The use of the teletype is inaugurated by Pennsylvania State Police.
• 1928: The first use of one-way radio.
• The 1930s: The police started the extensive use of the automobile.
• 1932: The police started using the two-way radios and automobiles, and it increased the productivity and incident response time.
• 1932: The FBI established its crime laboratory.
• 1948: Rader was applied to traffic law enforcement.
• 1955: The first electronic data processing machine was used in the New Orleans Police Department (Louisiana, USA). Though the machine was not a computer, a vacuum-tube operated a calculator with a collator and punch-card sorter. It was used to summarize warrants and arrests.
• 1960: The St. Lois Police department (Missouri, USA) was the first computer-assisted dispatching system.
• The 1960s: the first installation of the computer-assisted transmitting system was done in the St. Louis police department.
• 1966: The National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System was installed, a message switching facility connecting the state police computers excluding Hawaii.
• 1967: The FBI launched the first ever national law enforcement computing center, the National Crime Information Centre (NCIC), which is a computerized national filing system that featured stolen vehicles, most wanted persons, weapons and other valuable and sensitive matters to the national security.
• 1968: It marked the establishment of the first special number 911 system for the field emergency calls to the police, fire and other emergency services.
• Late 1960: The use of TASER began. It was a gun which shoots two wire-controlled that released 50,000 volts to the victim's body and immobilizes the victim for some minutes.
• 1970s: The establishment of the large-scale computerization of the U.S department. The improved computer-based application used are such as the management information systems, computer-assisted dispatch (CAD), common call contact that uses three-digit phone numbers (911), and centralized integrated dispatching of fire, police, and medical services around busy metropolitan zones.
• 1972. Through the National Institute of Justice, the technology to develop a flexible, lightweight, and comfortable protective body armor was introduced purposely for the police department. The police armored vehicles were made from Kevlar, which was intended to substitute with the steel belting for radial tires. 1975: The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI introduced an advanced Automated Fingerprinting Identification Systems (AFIS); it was a breakthrough whereby the computers were introduced to law enforcement. Unlike the traditional fingerprint that used the ink and tent print cards then filled with classification to determine one's fingerprints.
• 1980: The police department introduced a system that could track the location address where the 911 emergency calls was made as well as the telephone number through their computer screen.
• 1993: Computers were widely used in the police departments for sophisticated applications as budgeting, criminal investigation, dispatch, and manpower application.
• The 1990s: Police department in Chicago and New York created sophisticated programs that would map and analyze crime sequence.
• 1996: DNA was considered to be trustworthy evidence.

Present Day Technology Advancement in the US Police Force

As technology progresses to develop and change, and in the same way, it changes and develops professional law enforcement. The criminals are becoming more advanced, so do the police. Different articles have presented various advancements made towards keeping law and order in the contemporary metropolitan region and the rest of the United States.

Use of the automatic license plate for data security and identification (Lawrence, 2019): The use of the vehicle's number plates that bare the number and letters to identify the specific vehicle, and the registered user is widely used in the U.S. The system is integrated with the camera-database technology enabling the camera to capture the car's license plate, processes the letters and numbers against the database, to identify where the vehicle is suspicious. The system identifies the stolen vehicle or vehicle on a pursuit.

Application of the GPS to pursuit vehicles (Barber, 2018): Rather than the use of police car pursuing a wild driver and helicopters following from above making it dangerous, the new application of GPS technology is now applied. With the new technology, the law enforcement agencies shoot the special GPS-equipped dart, which sticks to the fleeing vehicle then tracked by the authorities to show the movement of the vehicle. The GPS technology is also used by the crime analysts to identify the emerging trends in the crime locations hence easing the shift staffing and patrol assignments. Although there is some more development made in the GPS technology, hopefully, it will be soon used by law enforcers in all states.

Application of the gunshot detection system (GDS) (Roufa, 2018): Currently implemented in some of the U.S cities, ShotSpotter aids the police to identify where the gunshot has been fired. Although the technology is still in its initial stages, it is installed around the neighborhood to sense gunshots and assist the police in the precise location. With this technology, the suspects are easily tracked down.

Social media is applied to engage with the public in resolving crime (Barber, 2018): I the modern world, Twitter, Facebook...