Glen Forrest - Police Technology

POLICE
TECHNOLOGY

21ST-CENTURY CRIME-FIGHTING TOOLS

Published in 2017 by Britannica Educational Publishing (a trademark of Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.) in association with The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

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First Edition

Britannica Educational Publishing

J.E. Luebering: Executive Director, Core Editorial

Anthony L. Green: Editor, Comptons by Britannica

Rosen Publishing

Kathy Kuhtz Campbell: Senior Editor

Nelson S: Art Director

Brian Garvey: Designer

Cindy Reiman: Photography Manager

Bruce Donnola: Photo Researcher

Introduction and conclusion by Daniel E. Harmon

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Forrest, Glen C., 1953 editor.

Title: Police technology : 21st-century crime-fighting tools / edited by Glen C. Forrest.

Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Britannica Educational Publishing in association with The Rosen Publishing Group, 2017. | Series: Law Enforcement and Intelligence Gathering | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016020471 | ISBN 9781508103646 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: PoliceEquipment and suppliesJuvenile literature. | Crime preventionTechnological innovationsJuvenile literature. | PoliceJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC HV7936.E7 P656 2017 | DDC 363.2/30284dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016020471

Photo credits: George Frey/Getty Images; back cover, interior pages (background) stefano carniccio/Shutterstock.com

P olice technology encompasses the wide range of scientific and technological methods, techniques, and equipment used in policing. As science has advanced, so too have the technologies that police rely on to prevent crime and apprehend criminals. Police technology was recognized as a distinct academic and scientific discipline in the 1960s, and since then a growing body of professional literature, educational programs, workshops, and international conferences has been devoted to the technological aspects of police work.

Many examples of an incipient police technology date from ancient and medieval times. For example, the ancient Egyptians used detailed word descriptions of individuals, a concept known in modern times as portrait parl (French: spoken portrait), and the Babylonians pressed fingerprints into clay to identify the author of cuneiform writings and to protect against forgery. Nevertheless, early technology was quite crude, such as the medieval methods of trial by ordeal and trial by combat, in which the innocence of suspects was established by their survival. A more humane medieval method, and a step toward modern concepts, was compurgation, in which the friends and families of a disputant took oaths not on the facts but on the disputants character. Formalized police departments were established in the late seventeenth century in continental Europe, and since that time technologies have developed rapidlytransforming police work into a more scientific endeavor.

A Scarborough, Maine, police officer views an image from a thermal imaging camera after making a traffic stop. Officers need to stay informed about technological developments to enhance their law-enforcement work.

Yet police technology differs greatly in type and sophistication from country to country. It is generally more sophisticated in countries that are wealthy and that produce or import a high level of technology. (However, undemocratic countries tend to invest a great share of their gross national product in police technology, even when they are poor.) Police technology also depends on the physical setting and the political environment where police work is done. Urban policing relies more on technology than small-town and rural policing, and the degree to which a police force is militarized has a strong impact on its weaponry. Finally, some newer crimes, such as cybercrime, can be fought only by using an extensive array of technology that exceeds the scope of police technology proper.

This volume reviews advances in police mobility, from the earliest foot patrols to aerial pursuit and surveillance, and in communication, from the first police telephone and radio systems to computer-assisted dispatch technology. It describes modern weaponry, including nonlethal chemical and electronic devices, and protective gear.

Computers and other electronics have become vital for police work in the twenty-first century. Applications explored in the book include the capability of searching extensive, internationally synchronized criminal information databases; plotting crime incidents and patterns to anticipate and prevent recurrences; interrogating criminal suspects and persons of interest; and identifying suspects by using such innovations as biometrics. New electronics technology has equipped police forces to conduct more effective audio and visual surveillance.

The volume also explains modern tools and techniques for collecting and analyzing crime scene evidence. Police organizations today employ forensic scientists and specialists such as toxicologists, serologists, botanists, and handwriting and document examiners to help resolve investigations.

Criminals in the internet age are using technology to carry out crimes with alarming new levels of sophistication. Police are responding with impressive technological weapons and tactics of their own.

I nventions and innovations have changed society dramatically over the centuries. They have proved especially beneficial to police. Technology has introduced new vehicles to improve the mobility of officers. It has advanced the techniques by which police forces communicate for daily operations. Steady progress in computer technology has also given agencies new systems for accumulating and managing criminal information.

To be effective, police forces must be in close proximity to the citizens they serve. The first and most basic means of maintaining that close contact was the foot patrol. Officers were deployed by time of day (watches) and area (beats). Beats were kept geographically small to allow officers to respond to incidents in a timely manner. In larger rural jurisdictions, officers were deployed on horseback. Both foot and mounted patrols continue to be used throughout the world. Foot patrol is used in congested urban areas, in high-density housing complexes, and at special events; mounted patrol is also used for special events and for crowd control.