Advances in technology continue to revolutionize policing in important ways. Three key advancements that are being used today are body-worn cameras, license plate readers, and gunshot detection syste

Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing A Multisite Study of the Social, Organizational, and Behavioral Aspects of Implementing Policing Technologies Christopher S. Koper, George Mason University (PI) Cynthia Lum, George Mason University (PI) James J. Willis, George Mason University (Co -PI) Daniel J. Woods, Police Executive Research Forum Julie Hibdon, Southern Illinois University December, 2015 This report updates an earlier version, dated “January 2015” Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 32 3. Key Technologies in Law Enforcement To better understand the impacts of technological changes in policing, we sought to examine the social, organizational, and behavioral implications of a range of relatively new and significant policing technologies that have diffused into law enforcement. Our intent was also to focus on technologies that are critical to primary police functions and central to evidence-based strategies and practices designed to reduce crime and/or enhance police legitimacy. To select these technologies, we reviewed academic and nonacademic research literature on police technology as well as other technology reports, guides, and needs assessments produced by government agencies and policing organizations (notably, NIJ, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and PERF). 4 We examined the technologies featured in these studies and considered experts’ assessments of the impacts and importance of these technologies to policing. We also examined how commonly police use various technologies as reported in the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) surveys and other surveys of police agencies (Burch, 2012; Hickman and Reaves, 2006a, 2006b; Koper et al., 2009; Lum et al., 2010; Reaves, 2010). In so doing, we sought to select technologies that are well developed and in relatively common use (with regard to the latter, we considered both current use and trends in the adoption of various technologies). Finally, we considered the existing evidence on evidence-based strategies to enhance police effectiveness and fairness (e.g., Braga, 2007; Eck and Weisburd, 2004; Lum et al., 2011; Skogan and Frydl, 2004) and identified technologies that have logical relevance to implementing or enhancing strategies and practices supported by policing research (e.g., Lum, 2010b). For instance, what technologies have the most potential to facilitate evidence-based practices such as hot spots policing and problem-oriented policing (Braga 2007; Lum et al.,2010; Skogan and Frydl 2004; Weisburd, Telep, Hinkle, and Eck, 2010)? Which have the most potential 4 Project staff examined the contents of 140 reports by government and policing organizations and reviewed several dozen academic and nonacademic works discussing theory or research on police and technology. Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 33 to improve police legitimacy by increasing transparency, accountability, and/or responsiveness to the community?

Based on these assessments, the research team identified the following categories of police technologies as particularly central to everyday police work and successful practices:

 Information technologies for the collection, management, and sharing of data;  Analytic technologies such as GIS and crime analysis;  Communications technologies including those related to dispatch (e.g., next generation 911 and computer-aided dispatch with GPS tracking of patrol cars) and those for disseminating information to personnel in the field (e.g., mobile computers and wireless access systems);  Surveillance and sensory technologies (e.g., CCTV networks, LPRs, and patrol car cameras); and  Identification technologies (e.g., DNA testing and other forensics equipment). From among these categories, we then selected the following specific technologies to aid us in understanding the impact of technology on law enforcement:

 Information technologies (IT), defined broadly as intra- and interagency sy stems for managing, sharing, and analyzing data, including mobile computers and wireless access systems for sharing information with officers in the field;  Crime analysis, defined to include analytic processes and products of crime analysis as well as the mechanisms for disseminating results throughout the agency;  License plate readers (LPRs);  Patrol car video cameras; and  DNA testing technology.

Note that while we cannot make any absolute claims that these technologies are the most important in law enforcement based on objective assessments, one can reasonably argue that these technologies are particularly worthy of study in view of prior research and theory, expert opinion, and usage patterns and trends. In the sections below, we discuss contemporary use of these technologies in policing and briefly review prior research on their impacts. Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 34 3.1 Information Technologies Information technologies (IT) within police agencies include a wide array of databases and data systems (and their supporting hardware and software) for storing, managing, retrieving, sharing, and analyzing information both within and across agencies. Common IT components in police agencies include records management systems (RMS) that capture criminal incident records, comput er-aided dispatch systems that record and assign calls for service, and various other databases that may contain information and/or intelligence on persons, groups, personnel, and other matters. Police agency websites used to exchange information with community members constitute another important part of police IT systems (Rosenbaum, Graziano, Stephens, and Schuck, 2011). Finally, our definition of IT also includes mobile computers and data terminals that give officers wireless access to information in the field and that allow them to file reports remotely. (Mobile computers may also be viewed as communication technologies.) Developments in IT have enhanced records management, data sharing, crime analysis, and performance management in police agencies in many ways over the last few decades. According to the 2007 LEMAS survey, half or more of local police departments and sheriffs’ offices use computers for records management, crime investigation, personnel records, information sharing, and dispatch (Burch, 2012: 15; Reaves, 2010: 22). Indeed, computers are now used for these functions in a majority of all but the smallest police agencies. Agencies also use computers to support functions like automated booking, fleet management, and resource allocation. As of 2003, the majority of police agencies maintained electronic data on incident reports, arrests, calls for service, stolen property, and traffic citations (Hickman and Reaves, 2006a: 31; 2006b: 31). Other data that agencies often maintain in electronic form include warrants, criminal histories, traffic accidents, and summonses. In addition, more than half of local agencies reported having in-field computers or terminals for their officers as of 2007 (Burch, 2012: 16; Reaves, 2010:

23). 5 More than 90% of local police departments serving populations of 25,000 or more now have such capability, as do more than 85% of s heriffs’ offices serving populations of at least 100,000. Agencies with in-field computers or terminals 5 Since 1990, there has been more than a 12-fold increase in the percentage of local police departments with in-field computers and terminals (Reaves, 2010: 24). Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 35 typically have 40– 50 such devices for every 100 officers. Most agencies use their in- field computers and terminals for writing reports, and a majority of agencies serving larger jurisdictions also use them for other communications. Information commonly accessible to officers through these computers and terminals, particularly in larger jurisdictions, include motor vehicle records, warrants, calls for service, criminal histories, protection orders, interagency information, the Internet, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, crime maps. The development of IT systems for sharing and analyzing data within and across agencies has also been emphasized in recent years. In many agencies, various types of records maintained by different units are now integrated and are easily accessible and searchable for officers, often remotely. Police have long had the ability to access national data systems like the Federal Bureau of =nvestigation’s (FB=) National Crime Information Center (NCIC). More recently, however, law enforcement practitioners have developed more extensive systems for sharing a wider variety of data across federal, state, and local agencies. Spurred in part by concerns over terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security has established fusion centers around the country (78 as of 2013) 6 to share information and intelligence among federal, state, and local agencies. Similarly, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service launched the LInX initiative in 2003 to promote more information sharing between law enforcement agencies at multiple levels. Currently, nine regional LInX systems involving over 760 partner agencies have been established across the United States. 7 T he FB=’s Law Enforcement National Data Exchange, or N-DEx, allows agencies to search and analyze data using powerful automated capabilities designed to identify links between people, places, and events . 8 In sum, current state- of-the-art systems provide many agencies with sophisticated capabilities for linking and querying databases within and across agencies. 9 For example, officers may query things like nicknames or see linkages of offenders, suspects, victims, and associates across multiple databases. As stated above, IT is arguably the technology with the most potential to impact policing, as it affects almost all aspects of police work and manageme nt. IT may enhance various dimensions of police efficiency and effectiveness, such as: the 6 See http://www.dhs.gov/fusion-center-locations-and-contact-information , accessed June 23, 2013.

7 See http://www.ncis.navy.mil/PI/LEIE/Pages/default.aspx , accessed June 22, 2013. 8 See http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/n-dex , accessed June 22, 2013.

9 A 2008 survey of agencies affiliated with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) suggests that most larger police agencies already have systems linking them to regional or national systems (Koper et al., 2009). Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 36 speed and accuracy of crime reporting; the amount of time officers spend in the field; the ability of officers to identify persons, vehicles, and places of interest (thus enhancing both reactive and proactive field work and improving officers’ ability to identify potential safety threats); the ability of detectives and officers to identify and locate suspects in criminal investigations; the capacity of managers to identify and respond to crime patterns and trends, monitor organizational performance, and assess the work and conduct of individual officers; the problem-solving capabilities of officers and managers; information exchange with the public; and the speed of ad ministrative processes (Groff and McEwen, 2008). These benefits might be offset to some degree, however, by technical difficulties and complexities in use of the IT systems, additional time and resources devoted to maintaining the systems and meeting reporting requirements, reduced interaction with citizens (i.e., officers may become more engrossed in working with technology and less engaged with people), and (as alluded to previously) the inability or disinterest of officers and managers to capitalize on the strategic uses of IT. Many police researchers have recognized the centrality of IT to police work and organizational change more generally (e.g., Boudreau and Robey, 2005; Chan, 2001, 2003; Ericson and Haggerty, 1997; Harris, 2007; Manning, 1992a; Mastrofski and Willis, 2010 ). Accordingly, it has been studied more extensively than other forms of police technology. Yet, this body of research has produced complex and often contradictory findings on =T’s impact.

Some of the broadest assessments of the impact of IT on policing have come from studies of the federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which provided hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to state and local agencies for the acquisition of technologies during the 1990s. COPS grantees used much of their funding to obtain various forms of IT, including mobile and desktop computers (79% o f grantees had acquired funding for the former by 1998, making it the leading type of COPS-funded technology), computer-aided dispatch systems, booking and arraignment technologies, and telephone reporting systems (Roth et al., 2000).

Although grantees reported substantial benefits from these grants, largely in the form of officer hours redeployed into the field (Koper et al., 2002; Koper and Roth, 20 00), studies of the COPS program have yielded mixed results as to whether the technology grants actually helped police reduce crime (e.g., U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2005; Zhao, Scheider, and Thurman, 2002, 2003 ). And even the most optimistic assessments suggest that the crime reduction benefits of the technology grants were less than those of grants for innovative programs and hiring Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 37 officers. 10 Hence, while technology may bring tangible benefits to police agencies, it doesn’t necessaril y provide a cost-effective alternative to additional officers or innovative strategies. Similarly, in a national study of large police agencies over the period of 1987- 2003, Garicano and Heaton (2010) found that increases in the application of IT were not associated with reductions in crime rates, increases in clearance rates, or other productivity measures (IT that facilitates better crime reporting actually generated the appearance of lower productivity). However, they also found evidence that IT was linked to improved productivity when complemented with organizational and managerial practices, like Compstat, that reflect more strategic uses of IT (see also Nunn, 2001 for related findings).

Other studies, which have consisted largely of case studies and which examined a number of attitudinal and objective outcome measures, have also yielded mixed findings with respect to the effects of IT on officer productivity, case clearances, proactive policing, community policing, problem solving, and other outcomes, though officers have generally shown positive attitudes towards IT improvements (Agrawal, Rao, and Sanders, 2003; Brown, 2001; Brown and Brudney, 2004; Chan et al., 2001; Colvin, 2001; Danziger and Kraemer, 1985; Ioimo and Aronson, 2003, 2004; Nunn, 1994; Nunn and Quinet, 2002; Palys, Boyanowsky, and Dutton, 1984; Rocheleau, 1993; Zaworski, 2004). We examine many of the issues raised by these studies throughout our investigation. Note that we devote particular attention to IT in our case studies, given its centrality to policing and the myriad ways in which it can affect police organizations. Despite the mixed findings of prior research, we noted earlier that important innovations like hot spots policing and Compstat have been linked to advances in IT.

Strategic use of =T capabilities by police are thus likely key to realizing =T’s full potential. One strategic use with demonstrated promise for improving the effectiveness of police is =T’s application to crime analysis, a form of analytical technology highlighted next. 10 An analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office suggests that each dollar spent on COPS grants for technology reduced index crimes by 17 per 100,000 persons (U.S. GAO, 2005). In contrast, each dollar spent on grants for hiring new officers or innovative community policing programs reduced index crimes by 29 and 88 per 100,000 persons, respectively. Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 38 3.2 Crime Analysis Crime analysis is the main analytic technology used by police today. As de scribed by Taylor and Boba (2011 : 6), “crime analysis involves the use of large amounts of data and modern technology —along with a set of systematic methods and techniques that identify patterns and relationships between crime data and other relevant information sources —to assist police in criminal apprehension, crime and disorder reduction, crime prevention, and evaluation.” While the collection of Uniform Crime Report (UCR) statistics and counts of crime might be considered an early stage of crime analysis, the activities and analyses that fall under the umbrella of “crime analysis” are wide ranging. Common duties for crime analysts involve assisting detectives, mapping crime, identifying crime patterns, conducting network analysis, and compiling data for UCR reporting and managerial meetings (Taylor and Boba, 2011). The development and adoption of crime analysis has been an important trend in policing over the last few decades. In a recent national survey, Taylor and Boba (2011) found that 57% of police agencies have staff whose primary responsibility is conducting crime analysis, and 89% of agencies have personnel w hose primary or secondary responsibility is conducting crime analysis. Similarly, the 2007 LEMAS survey showed that the use of computers for crime analysis is quite common, particularly among larger police agencies (Burch, 2012; Reaves, 2010). 11 This development of crime analysis has been facilitated by the improvement of police data systems and the development of computer software for specialized applications such as geographical and intelligence analyses. Indeed, Weisburd and Lum (2005) found that computerized crime mapping is an innovation that has spread widely in policing. The 2007 LEMAS found that more than 80% of local police departments serving populations of 50,000 or more use computers for crime analysis and crime mapping. The majority of these agencies also use computers for identification of hot spots (small areas of crime concentration). The majority of sheriffs ’ offices in jurisdictions of 100,000 or more people also use computers for 11 Am ong large police agencies (those with 100 or more officers), 78% had crime analysis personnel as of 2000, and 72% of those agencies had specialized crime analysis units (O’Shea and Nicholls, 2003).

There is also an international organization of crime analysts (see http://www.iaca.net/index.asp) which provides training, conferences, and support in advancing the use of crime analysis in law enforcement. Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 39 crime analysis and crime mapping. Roughly half of sheriffs serving very large jurisdictions (500,000 or more) do hot spot identification.

Crime analysis has great potential for improving the effectiveness of police.

While it has perhaps been linked most prominently to hot spots policing and Compstat, crime analysis is also used heavily for investigative work and can be a valuable component of problem-oriented policing (see Taylor, Koper, and Woods, 2011a ). However, with the exception of its role in supporting hot spots policing, we are not aware of any evidence demonstrating a clear link between the use of crime analysis and lower rates of crime (Lum, 2013). Although this may reflect a lack of study (for example, we have seen no before-and-after assessments evaluating the impact of establishing crime analysis units), it is also likely that, as with other technological and analytical innovations, the potential impact of crime analysis is limited by outside factors. One such factor is that the sophistication of crime analysis capabilities and work varies considerably across agencies. Though dated, a survey conducted with larger police agencies (those having 100 or more officers) in 2000 found that crime analysis personnel in many agencies did not have sophisticated software applications, made limited or no use of databases from outside their agencies (e.g., non-law enforcement data or data from other law enforcement agencies), and/or conducted only simple (i.e., counting) forms of analysis (O’Shea and Nicholls, 2003). Important predictors of the range and sophistication of crime analysis include the availability of hardware and software, data collection capabilities, training, and structural characteristics such as whether an agency has a specialized crime analysis unit (O’Shea and Nicholls, 2003). At the same time, obstacles to effective use of crime analysis can lessen its impact. These may include a police culture that doesn’t value analytical work, the reactive nature of policing, and a disregard for crime analysis that is done largely by civilians (Lum, 2013; Taylor and Boba, 2011). In practice, officers may not use products like maps and may find them of little value in their work (Cope, 2004; Cordner and Biebel, 2005; Paulson, 2004). Indeed, crime analysis is largely produced for police managers, and while they tend to be its heaviest users (O’Shea and Nicholls, 2003; Taylor and Boba, 2011), they often focus largely on criminal ap prehension and tactical short-term planning rather than long-term strategic p lanning (:arris, 2007; O’Shea and Nicholls, 2003). Realizing the full potential of crime analysis requires more emphasis on long-term strategic planning, more attention to developing analytical products of value to officers, and proper training, Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 40 coaching, support, and reinforcement at all levels in the agency. Stronger management support and appreciation by target audiences have been shown empirically to have a positive impact on crime analysis functions and sophistication (O’Shea and Nicholls, 2003).

3.3 License Plate Readers License plate readers (LPRs) are high-speed camera and information systems that read vehicle license plates in real-time using optical character recognition technology. Plates are checked instantaneously against databases that may contain license plate information on stolen vehicles, vehicles linked to fugitives and criminal suspects, and other vehicles of interest (e.g., vehicles linked to sex offenders, parking violators, and drivers with suspended licenses). LPRs can be assigned to mobile patrol units or deployed at fixed locations. When an LPR finds a match, it sounds an alarm or provides another type of notification. While LPRs serve an important surveillance function, they can also be viewed as information technologies, as the data they collect can be stored, analyzed, and searched for in vestigative purposes. LPR technology has been used since the 1980s in Europe to prevent crimes from vehicle theft to terrorism (Gordon, 2006). LPR use is particularly extensive in t he United Kingdom; all police forces in England and Wales now have LPR capability (PA Consulting Group, 2006). In the United States, LPR use is growing rapidly. About a quarter of U.S. police agencies were using LPRs as of 2009 (Roberts and Casanova, 2012) , and more than a third of agencies with 100 or more officers were using them (Lum et al., 2010; also see Koper et al., 2009). Upwards of 50% of agencies having 500 or more officers used them (Roberts and Casanova, 2012), and many additional agencies were interested in acquiring them (Koper et al., 2009; Lum et al., 2010).

Lum et al. (2010) have suggested that the diffusion of LPR has been quite rapid, even in comparison to other popular policing technologies such as computerized crime mapping (see Weisburd and Lum, 2005), in-field cameras, or forensic tools. At the same time, the vast majority of agencies using LPRs —86% according to one survey — had no more than 4 of the devices as of 2009 (Lum et al., 2010). This is likely due in p art to the cost, which generally runs from $20,000 to $25,000 per unit. LPR systems provide officers with the ability to scan and check hundreds of license plates in minutes, thereby automating a process that in the past was Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 41 conducted by officers manually, tag- by-tag, and with much discretion. As an information technology system, LPRs can collect and store large amounts of data (plates, dates, times, and locations of vehicles) for potential use in criminal investigations, homeland security operations, and other crime prevention efforts.

Visible deployment of LPRs may also have some deterrent value. 12 Given these characteristics, LPR has the unique potential to improve police effectiveness.

Although police have tended to use LPR primarily to reduce auto theft (Lum et al., 2010), they seem to be considering its use for a wider range of applications (Roberts and Casanova, 2012; Lum et al., 2010; PERF, 2012). Prior studies of LPR conducted in the United Kingdom and North America have focused largely on the accuracy and efficiency of the devices in scanning license plates and on their utility for increasing the number of arrests, recoveries of stolen vehicles, and seizure of other contraband (Cohen, Plecas and McCormack, 2007; Maryland State Highway Authority, 2005; Ohio State Highway Patrol, 2005; PA Consulting Group, 2003; Patch, 2005; Taylor, Koper, and Woods, 2011b, 2012).

H owever, the studies found limited evidence on whether LPR use actually reduces crime.

Studies of LPR use and its effects on crime have tested small-scale deployment of LPRs with patrol units. One study that spanned two suburban jurisdictions in Virginia found that 30-minute LPR patrols conducted once every few days (on average) in selected crime hot spots for a period of two to three months did not reduce auto-related or other forms of crime in the targeted locations (Lum et al., 2010, 2011). In contrast, a study conducted in Mesa, Arizona, found that short- term deployment of an LPR team (using four of the devices) to high-crime street segments produced reductions in drug offenses at those locations that lasted for several weeks beyond the intervention (Koper et al., 2013; also see Taylor, Koper, and Woods, 2012). Other findings from that study suggested that LPR deployment might also help to reduce auto theft and personal offenses at hot spots, depending on exactly how officers use the devices. Both studies were limited, however, by the short duration or low dosage of the intervention, the small numbers of LPRs available, and the limited data fed into the LPR devices (the data consisted largely or entirely of manually downloaded information on stolen vehicles and license plates).

Updated studies are needed to examine larger-scale LPR deployments and LPR operations conducted with access to more extensive data systems. 12 For discussions of the deterrent value of surveillance cameras more generally, see Welsh and Farrington (2008) and LaVigne et al. (2011). Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 42 Further assessment is also neede d of other ways that police might use LPRs.

For example, data collected by LPR units have been used to identify vehicles (and thus suspects) that were near a crime scene at a given time or to determine the whereabouts, and/or confirm the alibi, of potential suspects or witnesses. In major crises, LPR data can be used to recreate vehicular movement around high-risk locations. Some agencies have also used LPR to scan and record all vehicles in and around a crime scene shortly after a crime occurr ed. In terms of our study, we are particularly interested in how LPR affects not only efficiencies related to investigative activities and case clearances, but also how this technology changes the way in which officers patrol their beats or detectives investigate cases . Police adoption of LPR also has implications for community perceptions of police legitimacy insofar as it raises issues of surveillance and privacy. In their study of LPR use in Virginia, Lum et al. (2010) surveyed community residents in one of the study jurisdictions and found that while there was strong support for LPR use in general, this support varied depending on the types of LPR applications under consideration (e.g., using the devices to detect stolen automobiles received much more community support than using them to detect parking violators). Survey results also suggested that citizens prefer to have some external controls (e.g., court orders or consultation with attorneys or the community) on police storage and use of LPR data (see Merola and Lum, 2013; Merola, Lum, Cave, and Hibdon, forthcoming). Finally, it remains to be seen how officers and agencies will adapt to LPR as its use expands. For example, do officers like using LPR technology and how does it affect the way they conduct everyday patrol and other activities? Does it increase their job satisfaction or personal motivation? Does it prompt them to be more proactive and strategic in their actions? And how do supervisors assign and monitor LPR deployment and use for its fullest effect?

3.4 In-Car Video Cameras In -car video (ICV) systems are devices used to create video and audio records of selected events and encounters experienced by officers. The cameras are mounted within the patrol vehicle, and officers wear a wireless microphone that transmits audio signals to the system. The devices are typically activated Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 43 automatically when officers put on their flashing lights or exceed a certain speed.

Officers can also activate them manually.

ICV systems serve a number of purp oses (e.g., see Maghan, O’Reilly, and :o Shon, 2002; Schultz, 2008). Most notably, they can be used to monitor the legality and professionalism of officer conduct in various contexts. In this way, ICV systems can help guard against excessive use of force, illegal searches, racial profiling, and other forms of illegal, unprofessional, or abusive behavior by officers. Indeed, some agencies have adopted ICV systems in the wake of controversial use of force cases or in response to accusations of other problematic conduct by officers such as racial profiling (Maghan et al., 2002). At the same time, ICV systems also protect officers from false allegations of unlawful or unprofessional conduct, and there have been many accounts of ICV systems exonerating officers in court cases and misconduct investigations. Further, ICV systems can provide evidence for police and prosecutors in certain types of criminal cases (e.g., cases involving driving under the influence or assaults on officers). Recordings from ICV systems can also be valuable in training officers about professionalism, safety, lawful searches, and other issues. ICV systems have been in use since at least the 1990s (Maghan et al., 2002), and their use has grown considerably since that time. As of 2007, roughly two thirds of local police agencies reported using cameras in their patrol cars (Burch, 2012: 15; Reaves, 2010: 21). Use of these systems is common among agencies of all sizes, though the largest agencies are somewhat less likely to use them, due likely to the expense of equipping their large automobile fleets. 13 Overall, local police agencies reported having nearly 100,000 cars equipped with cameras in 2007, which amounted to about a quarter of all cars they operated (calculated from Burch, 2012 and Reaves, 2010). Further, in a 2008 survey of agencies affiliated with PERF, nearly all agencies using car cameras found them to be effective, and almost half reported no significant challenges to their use (Koper et al., 2009). The main challenges agencies did id entify, noted by 25% of users, were “economic and political.” With respect to political challenges, agencies may face the greatest obstacles from within their agencies. Anecdotal accounts suggest that officers often resist ICV technology out of concern th at managers will use it to “spy” on them and overly scrutinize their behavior (Maghan et al., 2002). Training on the potential benefits of ICV systems to officers may help overcome this resistance, as may policies about how (and for how long) the videos will be saved and the circumstances under which 13 Only 38% of agencies serving populations of 1 million or more reported using ICVs in 2007, as did slightly less than half of agencies serving populations of 250,000-499,999 (Reaves, 2010: 21). Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 44 they will be used by supervisors. The fact that the cameras are typically activated only in certain types of situations also means that officers need not feel that they are under continuous surveillance. ICV systems would seem to have much potential for affecting police- community interactions and community perceptions of police fairness and legitimacy. Both police and citizens can be expected to regulate their behavior more carefully when they know that they are being recorded by ICV systems, thus potentially preventing or diffusing volatile encounters. In places where police use this technology, community members can have greater assurance that police will be held accountable for misconduct, and they may be better informed about the veracity of complaints made against the police when cases get publicized. Yet beyond anecdotal accounts (e.g., Maghan et al., 2002), there has been little, if any , systematic research on how ICV systems affect outcomes such as complaints against the police, community views of the police, use of excessive force, and the like.

Nor has there been research on how, if at all, ICV systems affect the ability of police to reduce crime. One could speculate, for instance, that ICV systems might influence the inclination of police —one way or the other —to engage in more intensive traffic enforcement or order maintenance policing. On the one hand, officers might feel inhibited by ICV systems; on the other hand, they might feel more protected against complaints. Officers in the field may also devise ways to use ICV systems for different forms of surveillance, though this might sometimes raise legal issues, depending on local eavesdropping laws (Maghan et al., 2002), and/or raise public concerns about intrusive surveillance and privacy. As the technology improves, police will also likely have more options for transmitting recordings from ICV systems and for integrating these systems with LPRs and facial recognition systems (Maghan et al., 2002). 3.5 DNA Testing Law enforcement agencies use a variety of forensics technologies to assist them in the identification of criminal offenders. One of the most important enhancements to these capabilities in recent decades has been the development of identification tests using deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly known as DNA. DNA tests identify unique individual genetic codes from DNA samples that are extracted from biological evidence such as blood, semen, hair, and saliva. Developed in the 1980s, Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 45 DNA testing has become a common method of identification, particularly for sex crimes and other violent offenses, and it is widely viewed as the state of the art in offender identification (National Research Council, 2009). In the United States, DNA testing is mostly used in violent crime cases due to its expense, but its use for property crimes is also expanding (Roman et al., 2008). Police may collect and use DNA evidence in a number of ways. They may use D NA testing to determine whether a particular suspect can be linked to physical evidence from a particular crime scene. They may use recovered DNA evidence from a crime scene to identify suspects, though it seems that many agencies do not understand or take advantage of this potential DNA application (Strom et al., 2009).

Fin ally, police and other criminal justice agencies take DNA samples from convicted offenders and in some states from arrestees to test them for matches to evidence from unsolved crimes and for use in future investigations.

The DNA Identification Act of 1994 authorized the FBI to establish a national DNA database with indexes for persons convicted of crimes, missing persons (and relatives of missing persons), samples recovered from crime scenes, and samples recovered from unidentified human remains (Roman et al., 2008: 13-14). This national database is combined with state and local DNA databases in a system named CODIS (for the Combined DNA Index System). By the late 1990s, all 50 states had passed legislation requiring convicted offenders to provide DNA samples (Samuels, Davies, and Pope, 2013; Schwabe, 1999). As of 2009, 47 states collected DNA samples from all convicted felons and 37 collected samples from those convicted of certain misdemeanors (DNA Resource, 2009, as cited in Wilson, Weisburd, and McClure, 2011: 8). In addition, 28 states have laws authorizing the collection of DNA evidence from all or subsets of felony arrestees (and sometimes from misdemeanor arrestees) prior to conviction (Samuels et al., 2013). The collection of DNA from arrestees has expanded considerably since 2005 following federal legislation allowing for such information to be uploaded into CODIS. 14 Nearly 10.4 million DNA profiles were in CODIS as of 2011, up from 1.2 million in 2002 (Samuels et al., 2013: 4). Although the submission of DNA from arrestees has been interrupted in some states by recent court cases challenging the constitutionality of this procedure, the United States Supreme Court upheld the practice in the case of Maryland v. King, which was decided in June 2013. 14 State laws provide for expunging this evidence if the arrestees are not convicted, but many states leave the burden of initiating these procedures on the arrestees (Samuels et al., 2013). Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 46 According to a recent survey, only 8% of local agencies have a local lab to conduct DNA testing, 88% send evidence to state labs for testing, and the remaining agen cies use federal, private, or other types of labs (Strom et al., 2009: 3-12).

:owever, many of the nation’s largest agencies (which are responsible for large numbers of cases) have their own crime labs (counted above as local labs) and may thus have their own DNA testing capabilities. In principle, greater use of DNA evidence should help police solve a greater number of crimes and improve the likelihood of convictions in those cases. This, in turn, should reduce crime through incapacitation of offenders and potentially through deterrence of those who have had their DNA taken (but see Bhati, 2010 for mixed assessments on the latter point). Further, DNA testing may be particularly helpful in identifying the most active repeat offenders who commit disproportionate numbers of crimes. Evidence on how DNA testing impacts police performance and crime is rather limited (Wilson et al., 2011). However, a randomized experiment involving five jurisdictions in the United States found that the use of DNA evidence greatly enhanced outcomes in property crime cases, namely, residential and commercial burglaries and thefts from automobiles (Roman et al., 2008). Compared to traditional investigations, cases involving the use of DNA evidence resulted in twice as many suspects being identified, twice as many suspects being arrested, and more tha n twice as many cases being accepted for prosecution. Compared to the use of fingerprints, the use of DNA was also at least five times more likely to result in the identification of a suspect. Moreover, suspects identified through DNA evidence tended to be more serious offenders; overall, they had at least twice as many felony arrests and convictions as did suspects identified in other cases. 15 Similarly, a study examining criminal cases in New South Wales, Australia, f rom 1995 through 2007 found that the expansion of a DNA database for imprisoned offenders started in 2001 led to increases in case clearances and cases resulting in charges for sexual assault, robbery, and burglary (Dunsmuir, Tran, and Weatherburn, 2008). However, these outcomes did not improve for assaults and motor vehicle crimes, nor did the development of the DNA database improve conviction rates for any of the offenses studied. A few other studies have also reported improvements in 15 These findings are also consistent with evidence from the United Kingdom, where there has been a national program to expand the use of DNA evidence in property crimes. Research there indicates that the suspect identification rate in burglary cases with DNA evidence is 41% as compared to 16% in other cases (Home Office, 2005, cited in Roman et al., 2008: 7). Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 47 case outcomes stemming from the use of DNA evidence, but methodological weaknesses in these studies preclude definitive conclusions (see review in Wilson et al., 2011). Moreover, no studies have yet examined the impact of DNA testing on crime rates.

Expanding the use of DNA evidence also raises a number of organizational issues for police agencies and crime labs with respect to equipment and staffing needs and the establishment of DNA testing policies and procedures (e.g., Samuels et al., 2013). Expanded DNA use is adding to already substantial backlogs of cases wi th untested forensics evidence. In a 2007 survey, police agencies in the United States reported that they had handled 31,570 homicide and rape cases and over five million property cases with unanalyzed forensics evidence over the previous five years (Strom et al., 2009); roughly 40% of the homicide and rape cases in question had unanalyzed DNA evidence. Yet that report also showed that many cases went unanalyzed because police had not identified suspects in the cases. This suggests that many agencies are missing out on the potential of DNA testing to help identify leads in criminal cases. Hence, additional training and policy changes will be required for agencies to fully capitalize on the potential of DNA testing technology. Problems with resources and backlogs may also ease somewhat as DNA testing procedures improve, reducing the time and cost of DNA tests. For example, although they do not yet appear to be in common use, portable devices for the collection and testing of DNA evidence have been developed that may alleviate backlogs in DNA testing and greatly reduce the cost of such tests (Nunn, 2001). How DNA testing might affect other aspects of police work and organizations (e.g., the everyday activities and decisions of police officers and managers) has received little attention to date. As noted by Bayley and Nixon (2010), for instance, DNA evidence allows a greater number of cases to be solved without witnesses or confessions. This could substantially change the nature of detective work and potentially reduce the reliance of the police on community cooperation (which is likely to have pros and cons) in investigating crimes.

There is also the issue of how DNA testing might affect perceptions of police fairness and legitimacy, particularly in minority communities that are likely to be disproportionately impacted by expanded DNA collection. On the one hand, DNA offers the possibility of exonerating defendants who have been wrongly accused or convicted. On the other hand, might DNA arrest policies lead to greater use of pretextual arrests as an excuse to collect DNA from suspects, a charge that has been leveled in the United Kingdom (Stanglin, 2009)? At the same time, public Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing 48 perceptions might put greater pressure on police to collect DNA in a wider range of ca ses if people come to expect the availability of DNA evidence as the norm in proving criminal cases (what is often referred to as the “CS= effect” 16 ). It remains to be seen how and to what degree these considerations will affect police agencies. 3.6 Summa ry These five technologies —information technology systems, crime analysis, LPRs, in-car video, and DNA analysis —are major technologies in use by many police agencies today. They reflect common types of technology used in policing more generally (i.e., informational, analytic, communications, surveillance, and forensics technologies) and could potentially have a number of intended and unintended effects in policing. In our study, we used these technologies as a starting point to prompt personnel in four law enforcement agencies to think about the role, function, and impacts of technology on their organizations and their daily lives and activities. By asking about specific types of technologies and their impacts on various aspects of the police agency, we were able to gain a stronger understanding of technology’s impacts on law enforcement more generally. =n the next section, we describe our approach before providing the results of the various studies we conducted.

16 This phrase was derived based on a popular television series dramatizing the work of forensic- specialist crime scene investigators (CSIs ).