Written by Nima, 2021 Cohort
Imagine…
Martin County deputies make their way through the swamps of Northern Palm Beach County, looking for Victor Peel. The Palm Beach County sheriff’s office activates its new drone and eventually has them in its sights. With infrared cameras police helicopters also can fly much higher, so the criminals do not know they are being watched.
“For us, the resource that made all the difference was that drone because my helicopter had to come back for gas and the drone was still up in the air”
– Sheriff Schneider, 05 Apr 2017
If you have ever watched a detective or crime show, every case seems to solve much easier than they look. They just need to collect some tiny evidence, put them together, run the computer program, and boom! You have found the criminal.
The reality, on the other hand, is that investigation is not quite that simple. Matching pieces of evidence to an individual may take up to weeks or even months or even years. Although, we can say today’s technology in the real world is quite catching up to that Hollywood technology and even more. New developments are taking shape every day, making it easier to prevent and fight crime.
Here are three technological advances in law enforcement already falling into place:
- Advanced Electronic Monitoring Systems
When minor criminals are prosecuted, and their crime has no or little risk for society, electronic monitoring systems can be very beneficial which allow them to serve their punishment at home. It has been shown in studies that prison has no preventative effect on violence in the long term among people who might have been sentenced to probation. Instead, monitoring them from home can keep them out of jail, and it may benefit society more for low-level offenders to not be in prison, and ultimately saving communities’ money and even be more effective. Today law enforcement can subject them to constant, intense surveillance via GPS monitoring, audio and visual recording, and other technology-based solutions.
- Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
We are still many years away from establishing connections between all police and investigation systems with robots to serve and protect, although there are already some implemented artificial intelligence-based tools to help police forces to prevent and manage crime. By using AI, and taking advantage of big databases many law enforcement agencies have, they can more easily make connections between disparate systems and help them to make better decisions regarding detention, prosecution, and punishment.
For instance, law enforcement agencies can use AI to set a “Risk Score” to a suspect based on their criminal history to make better decisions about whether they should be held pre-trial and remove human bias from these decisions.
- Voice Technology
Today an officer’s car is like a mobile command center, there are numerous tools, monitors, and gadgets that an officer can use while on the road. One of the latest innovations being incorporated in police cars is a new voice command technology that empowers officers to control many functions in their vehicles while driving and performing other patrol duties. The capabilities of these voice systems vary from vehicle to vehicle, but most can handle commands to run a license plate or turn on a siren. Police cars now make filing reports much easier, this is more advanced and the most promising capability of voice command technology. Officers can dictate their notes which are then logged directly into their agency’s RMS system.
References:
1. https://youtu.be/4kRcSeYWznI
3. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251140.pdf
4. https://intime.com/blog/technology/technology-change-law-enforcement/
5. https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/10-innovative-police-technologies/
6. https://www.columbiasouthern.edu/blog/february-2020/technological-advances-in-law-enforcement