NCJ Number
85508
Date Published
1976
Length
125 pages
Annotation
Should the efforts of advocates of total privacy for the individual succeed, then the efforts of law enforcement agencies would be hampered to such an extent that criminal elements could prey upon society without fear of detection or obstruction.
Abstract
There should always be a tension between efforts to implement the concept of privacy protection and ensure the protection of citizens from criminal victimization. Should the tension be lost in favor of either of these concepts, society would be the worse for it. Should the protection of society from law violations become paramount at the expense of citizen privacy rights, then a police state would exist; however, should the right of privacy be carried to its most extreme implementation, then proactive policing, crime prevention, and the collection of evidence required to obtain convictions would be hampered to such an extent that society would be defenseless. The manner in which the privacy proposals have been presented by advocates of the 'total privacy' concept defy all laws designed to facilitate police investigation and crime prevention, while draconian penalties would be assessed against any law enforcement personnel who transgress privacy laws. Such a posture ignores both the dynamics of crime and the requirements of effective law enforcement. If a society is to be both safe and free, then a balance must be achieved between the requirements of effective law enforcement and the basic privacy rights of the individual citizen.