NCJ Number
142278
Date Published
Unknown
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Since the creation of the Counter-drug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC), attitudes toward crime and drug control technologies have undergone some significant changes in the law enforcement community.
Abstract
After the military's success in using technology in the Persian Gulf War, policymakers and citizens alike began to look for ways that technology could be used to fight the crime and drug problems. But for law enforcement to make effective use of available technologies, individual police officers have to change their attitudes toward using innovative equipment. On the flip side, industry and the scientific community will have to produce items that are going to be of practical use on the streets. Law enforcement agencies are going to be limited financially in the types of technologies they can acquire; R&D has never been a high priority in most agencies and today, many departments are facing lower budgets. On the Federal level, if agencies present their R&D needs collectively to the Congress, they are more likely to receive the budgets necessary to fund these R&D efforts.