Assignment:
Write a 300-word response with 2 references
Trend/issue: law enforcement is increasing technology and tools that can burden limited police resources.
The goal of technology is to make policing much more effortless and increase its efficiency. In addition, technology can free up vital resources for officers allow a higher level of transparency between the police and the community. Police departments are implementing teams to collect information and disseminate it to the force to allow for better community policing. Additionally, many agencies across the nation have or will start implementing Body-worn Camera BWC in their agencies.
The BWC aids the community by having a visual record of all the interactions between the police and the public and serves as a record to prove police innocence during an altercation. For example, the famous Rialto police department study showed a decrease of 59% in excessive use of force incidents and an 87% reduction in citizen complaints on officers (Ramirez, N.d.). However, the use of the added technology is not all positive. There has been a considerable debate over the cost of implementing the systems, public disclosure, and the privacy issue from the data collected.
The data collected is meant to be seen only by the police other agencies within the justice department. However, leaks or hacking have allowed many videos to be seen by the general public, which can cause a use violation of privacy. In addition, it is not uncommon to unauthorize released videos on the internet for anyone to find (Schneider, 2018). There is also facial recognition to be considered when talking about privacy. The term has been under fire lately, for many believe it gives officers the free reign to racial profile individuals. Police departments must find the middle ground for technology and not overexert the limited resources available.