Capstone wk5 Michael Smith

Police Organizational Structure and Operations

Rashieda NasifDavis

Argosy University

Research proposal.

In this proposal, I have chosen the area of the police organizational structure and the operations even more specifically, the research will focus on technology and policing. In this area, the research will focus on the problem of whether police technology has made any positive impacts on the crime reduction (Archbold, 2013). It has been known that technology has grown in almost all sectors, but despite this, here has also been an increase in the crime rates not only in the United States alone but in the world in general. This is despite the fact that the policing services have been spending billions of dollars each year in the development of technology that will enable them combat this problem of insecurity that threatens to bring down most of the economies due to the fact that even the potential investors will not put money in places that they fear. For this reason, I decided to choose this topic because in my own opinion it has weigh in the current world of technology and crime with the rise of the computer age and the cyber-crimes (Langeluttig, Albert, 1997)

Objectives.

In this case the main objectives of the research include determining by how much technology has impacted on crime rates in the past 10 years, knowing the advantages of technology on the policing services and some of the challenges technology has brought in the policing services.

Effectiveness of Police technology on Crime Reduction in U.S.A.

Literature review.

In this research problem, I am going focus on the issue of the police technology, then the issue of crime in the United States of America and finally, how the technology has impacted the crime. The police department has put into use many different technologies in order to accomplish the overall mission (Batten, Donna, 2010). The only technology that has put concerns on the police is the social media. In particular the app called Waze that is able to show the location of police officer. This allows those with the criminal intent to avoid capture (Fischer, Claude, 2012). But even as this complicates the work of the police, the users always leave behind a trail that can be followed to their arrest. This is because, the most effective police do not lack the muscle for such crimes. The rapid development of technology that can lead to criminal intents has also led to the quick adaptation of the police departments in development of better, exiting and more innovative tools for the service (Steven D. 2004).

In a statement by David Roberts, a senior program manager for technology center at the International Association of Chiefs of Police, there are a lot of issues that face the law enforcers and in almost all the situations, there has been use of technology in handling them. The technology is even more important especially to the officers serving in the front lines (Kriston, 2015). They put into use software and also hardware and also the communication networks based on mobile systems in order to provide the officers with more information in regards to their fields. Body cameras are also other forms of technology, the in-vehicle computers and the license plate readers. There are also the facial recognition technologies and even the mobile consoles that are used for figure print reading (David, 2010). These are just some of the technological adoptions that the police services have taken in the country. San Jose Police department deputy chief, Jeff Marozick made a statement saying that the departments would maximize their operating efficiency through development of technology in their policing services. This is even particularly in the city of San Jose and other big police departments such as those of Oakland that have very few officers on the ground (Roeder, Oliver K. 2015). The whole point of the new technologies in the departments is to be able to provide real time data. It has got to the point of some officers in departments such as those in Lincoln, Nebraska, use map based apps in order to alert them on locations of some known criminal offenders. Hence, technology has been widely adopted in the departments and in the years to come, there is speculation of even more tools and techniques that will be taken up (Wagstaff, Keith, 2014)

When it comes to the issue of crime in the United States, the rates have ben varying over time. There was a sharp rise in 1963 to a peak at 1970s and the early 1990s. But since then, there has been a constant decline in the United States. These statistics are indexed in annual uniform crime reports by the Federal Bureau of Investigation .From this, it can be established that since the police started the use of technology in the late 1990s, the United States has in some degree been kept safe by the significant reduction since the peak in early 1990s. It has been stated in the National crime victimization survey that the current Crime rates in the United States of America is approximately the same as those in 1960s. A very different situation in comparison to other neighboring and overseas nations (Samuel, 1997)

References.

 Langeluttig, Albert (1927). The Department of Justice of the United States. Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 9–14.

Archbold, Carol A. (2013). Policing (PDF). Sage Publication. 

Batten, Donna (2010). Community-Oriented Policing. Gale Encyclopedia of American Law. (3 ed.). Detroit: Gale. pp. 49–51.

 Fischer, Claude, 2012. A crime puzzle: Violent crime declines in America. UC Regents. Retrieved 24 April 2012.

Levitt, Steven D. (2004). Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not (PDF). Journal of Economic Perspectives. 18 (1): 163–190. 

 Von Drehle, David (2010). What's Behind America's Falling Crime Rate. Time Magazine.

Roeder, Oliver K. (2015). "What Caused the Crime Decline?". Brennan Center for Justice

Wagstaff, Keith (2014). Digital Partner: Here’s How Police Body Cameras Work. NBC News.

Capps, Kriston (2015). Police Body Cameras: Coming Everywhere in 3 to 5 Years. City Lab.

Walker, Samuel (1997). A Critical History of Police Reform: The Emergence of Professionalism. Lexington, MT: Lexington Books. p. 143.