POLICE FUTURISM & TECHNOLOGY
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" (Alfred
North Whitehead)
Futurism is more than just peering into or predicting the future 5, 10 (short term) or 20 (long term) years from now. It's a philosophical perspective that believes behind every social problem, there's a golden opportunity, that we create our own future, and that anything can be done. It's not just about technology or techno-optimism. Technology itself is amoral, and can be used for good or bad. Police futurism is about "smart" or "intelligent" use of technology to maintain that balance of tradeoffs (freedoms given up; freedoms to do as one pleases) we call a constitutional democracy. Most of all, it's about the value choices we make as a society and demand of our leaders. At some point, any freedom achieved may not be worth the freedom given up. This approach is sometimes called value-loaded futurology.
To be sure, there are certain "trends" that are fairly easy to spot. Some of these are discussed in textbooks (e.g., Gaines, Kappeler & Vaughn 1999), and include the following with personal commentary added.
BUDGETARY/MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS in Law Enforcement -- One of the traditional attractions to police work has always been job security and civil service protection, but decades of labor-hostile management fads have changed all that. Policing is less insulated than before from the booms & busts of economic fluctuations. It has to compete for scarce economic resources like any other agency. It's only a short step to closing down police departments for low crime rate months, much as cities layoff their lifeguards in non-summer months.
COMMUNITY POLICING in Law Enforcement -- This represents a shift from legalistic policing to service policing with the ever-present risk of falling back into watchman-style policing. The problem is one of what becomes the standard, as we are presently still in an experimental mode. It's far too easy for crime prevention to collapse into crime oppression, and many police departments are much too enamored with crime analysis, crime mapping, and the less-than-human elements of problem-solving.
COMPUTERIZATION in Law Enforcement -- Computers are a classic example of technology being a double-edged sword because they can be used both to commit crime and to control crime. Law enforcement agencies will likely be overwhelmed (and always playing catchup) by sophisticated, computer-assisted, crimes in the future. Law enforcement computerized systems also have the potential of trammeling all over our freedoms. Educational and training uses for computers will probably become commonplace.
DEMOGRAPHICS affecting Law Enforcement -- Unless there's another unexpected "baby boom", the fact of the matter is that American society will soon become a Senior Citizen society. Police services may become absorbed by this aged population. Also, whites will very shortly be a minority ethnic group, at least in size, and the death of white male privilege, when it comes, in our society, probably won't be pretty.
MILITARIZATION in Law Enforcement -- Most of the trends in this area are the product of a long, contracted drug "war", although some police departments have always maintained counter-terrorism units or SWAT teams. The separation of threats to domestic order and national security have not always been clear, and it's no coincidence that military-police connections exist in training, raids, surplus property, and troops-to-cops programs.
POPULARISM about Law Enforcement -- Policing attracts more than its share of public interest and popular imagination. The motives are endless. Politicians make their careers on it; the Media makes money on it; Schools charge tuition for it; Professors study the heck out of it; Vendors produce "better" weapons for it; Reform Groups love to complain about it; Citizens hope to be able to sue it; and every wannabe "fringe" group has some more-or-less "respectable" attraction to it. There might be such as thing as too much attention to policing.
PRIVATIZATION of Law Enforcement -- Already outnumbering "public" policing by a ratio of 3:1, private policing just keeps silently growing and steadily moving along. Not too many people are monitoring this situation, and one day, it's going to be so big it could probably lay claim to being the nation's one and only police force. This should give us reason to pause and think.
SPECIALIZATION in Law Enforcement -- Already many departments are moving away from a generalist model to breaking the organization down by specialists. Here's a list of the most common "special units" in order of the most frequent: Gang units (84% of big city departments); Domestic Abuse units (81%); Child Abuse units (77%); Crime Prevention units (76%), Drug Education units (73%), Juvenile units (68%), Missing Children units (66%), Victim Assistance units (47%), Drunk Driving units (40%), Repeat Offender units (34%), Prosecutor Relations units (31%), and Bias-Related Crimes units (26%).
There's also those Amendments and what's constitutional, semi-constitutional, quasi-constitutional, not constitutional, and downright unconstitutional. The whole (upstream) process of getting the Courts to consider the cases (and issues) they ought to be considering is flawed, resting upon way too much judicial discretion and often resulting only in vague and conflicting interpretations anyway. The whole (downstream) process of getting those interpretations into a useable form and into the hands of people who need them is flawed. It just amazes me how many professors, institutes, and training academies try to profit in the downstream process by selling their books, pamphlets, newsletters, seminars, and legal updates to the police market. I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to earn a living, but it just seems to me (call me anti-Sophist, if you will) that there are certain things, like the dissemination of vitally important information to key players, that just ought to remain free.
Let's take a look at what the future might portend for our Amendments:
1st Amendment -- 3 or more people gathered together for any unlawful purpose is an unlawful assembly, and although vagrancy and loitering statutes have been declared void for vagueness, they are being resurrected as "gang activity" statutes. The Courts have never ruled in favor of an absolute right to travel (in the context of denying homelessness the protection of status). The freedom of speech is closely tied into vague notions of vulgarity, civility, "fighting words", and the peculiar concept of "forum". Religious freedoms are also limited, and the press appears to operate under a memorandum of understanding. These are all tenuous, fine lines. It's impossible to predict which ones would collapse in the event of some future catastrophe or invention.
2nd Amendment -- The Court has never ruled in favor of an absolute right to bear arms, and the trend in recent years has been in the direction of trying to make America a disarmed society. But what if the definition of "gun" were to change, as with "smart" bullets, laser weapons, and the like?
4th Amendment -- Snooping and other eavesdropping technology promises to redefine the whole field of search & seizure. Communication devices like Dick Tracy watches also promise to change the way law enforcement operates.
5th Amendment -- Advances in forensic science and criminalistics like DNA fingerprinting mean that there will be ironclad methods of identification (self-incrimination) in the future. Inventions are also likely in the areas of lie detection (interrogation) and profiling (stop & frisk).
6th Amendment -- Here, we are likely to start seeing criminal trials by Internet, not the post-hoc trials at CourtTV, but the real thing, live via browser technology and videoconferencing.
8th Amendment -- While anything stepping backwards from lethal injection is probably unconstitutional, what about stepping forward with new and improved punishment technologies? If we invented a time machine, would sending convicted criminals back in time to the dinosaur age be worse than, say, the 14th Century European Black Plague era? Also, it's entirely possible that our future could see rehabilitation of criminals make a comeback, what with new drugs, brain surgeries, and biochemical breakthroughs.
NEW POLICE TECHNOLOGIES BY CATEGORY
(Select product list with websites to visit)
BIOMETRICS:
CONTAIN
-- This is a voice verification and identification system that works over the
Internet to authenticate and verify suspects or visitors, and can generate
reports which include voice stress analysis.
FaceID
-- This is a facial recognition and retrieval system designed to enhance the
identification of suspects, and works with either mugshots, composite sketches,
scanned photographs, or surveillance video.
I-Control
-- This is a retinal scanning device ($10,000) for booking and correctional
purposes which can also be used for visitor control.
Integrated
AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) -- This is an AFIS system
that integrates with computerized criminal history (CCH) files, and is also
compatible with most livescan systems.
WEBSITES:
Anser Corporation
Biometrics in
Corrections (pdf file)
Institute for Security Technology
COMMUNICATIONS INTEROPERABILITY:
CyberFORCE
-- These are pager-sized devices that allow patrol officers to run pieces of
identifying information about people or places through databases, without going
through dispatchers.
PointTalk
Translators -- These are portable, software-driven universal translators
that police use at the scene to translate speech back and forth to English.
Seneca
Secure Mobile Communication Platform -- These are sophisticated hand-held walkie-talkies
that are also capable of imagery transmission, live scan fingerprint
identification, cryptographic algorithms, position tracking, and a variety of
plug-in capabilities.
TacLink
-- These are small, concealable on clothing, video cameras that allow live video
feeds from the officer's point of view back to headquarters; also called Percorders
(Personal Camcorders).
TAK-PAK
308 Mobile Command System -- This is a suitcase sized, battery powered
system containing a 300Mhz laptop computer, 3 RF data lines, printer, fax,
copier, digital camera, scanner, cellular telephones, satellite telephones, GPS
system, GIS system, and portable fingerprint capture.
WEBSITES:
Agile Program
Capital Wireless Integrated Network
FCC National Coordination Committee
National Public Safety Telecommunications Council
Public Safety Wireless Network
COMPUTERIZED SYSTEMS:
ALERTS (Area-wide Law
Enforcement Radio Terminal System) -- These are mobile digital terminals (MDT)
installed in police cars which provide updates on ongoing criminal activity,
perform crime analysis and profiling of suspects, and can conduct scenario (best
case, worst case) analysis.
Book'Em2
-- This is an arrestee digital mugshot system with such powerful resolution that
it can read removed tattoos. While it takes pictures, it runs the person's photo
thru record systems, linking them to modus operandi files, while simultaneously
taking care of printing out all the charges and other paperwork needed by
judicial officials.
Crackdown
-- This is a sophisticated intelligence analysis software package designed for
the investigation of gang activity or organized crime.
CrimeStat
-- This is a UCR reporting program that compiles 10 different UCR reports, ready
for signature and sending to FBI.
D-Cops
-- This is a community policing software package that performs street-level
crime trend and pattern recognition (hot spot analysis).
e-Justice
-- This is an arrest, booking, jail management, and prosecution software package
that accomplishes an integrated workflow, NIBRS- and AFIS-compliant document and
person management system.
JustWare
-- This is a computerized case management system used by both police and court
officials to more efficiently handle cases that are being prosecuted or
defended. It generates custom reports and all legal forms.
SUISS
(Special Investigative Unit Support System) -- This is an intelligence analysis
package which uses fuzzy logic to gain, retrieve, and analyze intelligence from
ongoing conspiracy and major crime cases.
WEBSITES:
Technocorrections (pdf
file)
EVIDENCE/CRIMINALISTICS:
RPO-1 (Robot Police
Officer) -- These are small robots, about 3' tall, which are used for
bomb disposal, hostage negotiations, and crime scene searches.
Quick
SequencIR -- This is a portable DNA identification device.
TRACE
(Tracking Reporting & Analysis of Criminal Evidence) -- This is a software
application designed to accomodate the reporting and tracking needs of a crime
lab or LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System).
WEBSITES:
Guide to Technologies
of Contraband Imaging & Detection
TRAFFIC/SAFETY:
Automated Traffic
Enforcement (ATE) -- These are mounted videocameras at intersections,
exits and entrances, etc. that take the picture of violators license plates and
mail the ticket to that person's address.
Accident
Reconstruction -- These are software applications that analyze vehicle
collisions to determine impact, produce other figures, and illustrate the
sequence of the event and scenarios involving different braking and steering
factors.
Computer Assisted Dispatch
(CAD) -- These are computer consoles that control 911 calls, monitor traffic
congestion, track police cars via GPS (Global Positioning Systems), and handle a
number of other duties involving public contact.
LoJack Auto Recovery System
(LARS) -- These are homing devices that auto manufacturers can secretly put
inside vehicles which transceive a code that the police can send/receive. A kill
switch allows police to shut down the vehicle.
Violation
Reporting Systems -- These are handheld traffic citation devices which
printout a ticket, with the data later downloaded into a main computer; also
called Automated Citation Devices (ACD).
WEBSITES:
Center for Transportation Research
Workzone Safety Information
Clearinghouse
TRAINING/PUBLIC RELATIONS:
Computer Based Instruction
(CBI) -- These are software applications, usually of a multimedia or interactive
nature, for educational or training purposes.
Firearms
Training System (FATS) -- These are computer generated images projected on a
big-screen TV with various shoot-don't shoot scenarios.
Law
Enforcement Television Network (LETN) -- These are satellite TV training
programs.
Visual
TQM-P -- This is a management software application for recording and
tracking the competence level of employees.
WEBSITES:
En-Mark Simulation Technologies
INTERNET RESOURCES
A Guide to Law
Enforcement, Corrections, and Forensic Technologies (pdf file)
Bill Tafoya's Hall of Justice website
Biometrics Catalog
Online
Corrections
Connection TechNet
IACP Technology Clearinghouse
Mitretek, Inc.
National Crime Mapping Research Center
National Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology Center
(NLECTC)
NIJ Technology
Programs
ONDCP's Counterdrug Assessment Center (CTAC)
Police Futurists International
PublicGood.org
World Future Society
PRINTED RESOURCES
Bennett, G. (1987). Crime Warps: The Future of Crime in America. Garden
City: Anchor.
Etzioni, A. (1999). The Limits of Privacy. NY: Basic Books.
Gaines, L., V. Kappeler & J. Vaughn (1999). Policing in America.
Cincinnati: Anderson.
Kraska, P. & V. Kappeler (1999). Militarizing American Police: The Rise and
Normalization of Paramilitary Units. In L. Gaines & G. Cordner (eds.) Policing
Perspectives: An Anthology. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
Rosenbaum, D., A. Lurigio & R. Davis (1996). The Prevention of Crime.
Belmont: Wadsworth.
Stephens, G. (1989). 21st Century Crime Needs Proactive Policies. American
City & County Magazine (September).
Last updated: 01/06/04
Syllabus for JUS 205
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