NCJ Number
198459
Journal
Criminology & Public Policy Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: November 2002 Pages: 129-132
Date Published
November 2002
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This essay discusses the impact that technological innovations have made on the way police conduct their work.
Abstract
In this essay, the author questions whether technological innovations designed to free up police officer time for important functions such as problem-oriented policing and community-oriented policing activities are effective. Technological innovations that streamline officer time was seen as contributing more officer time to important policing activities. However, the author points out that a previous article in this journal found only marginal gains in blocks of police time that were freed up after the implementation of a nonemergency 3-1-1 call system. Even more telling, when interviewed about these gains in blocks of time, police officers reported that they did not notice that time had been freed up. As such, the police officers were not engaging in any more problem-oriented or community-policing activities than they would have ordinarily, before the 3-1-1 call system. The author thus contends that while technological innovations can indeed contribute to a more efficient police force, the technology in itself is useless in this regard without the commitment of the police. The organization and management of police departments needs to change in order to take advantage of technology and research to improve police functioning.