Future of Policing Proposal
Team Alpha
CJA/214
June 03, 2014
Robert Gasior

Policing in this day and age is not about just keeping the peace in the community. Officers have numerous responsibilities and have an abundance of new technology at their finger- tips. The technology that we have now helps the officers perform at a higher level, when it comes to crime solving, communication, making communities, and decreasing crime levels. GPS tracking and Biometrics are two very useful technologies that allow the officers of the law to catch more criminals and solve crimes a lot quicker and more efficiently. These two specific technologies allow law enforcement to catch more criminals and solve cases a lot quicker.
GPS tracking systems are some of the most advanced technology that has come into play for law enforcement in this day and age. In the past, officers would have the tedious job of following criminals on foot for days or even months at a time ("GPS Tracking for Law Enforcement", 2013). Officers now have GPS tracking technology, and that allows them to monitor potential suspects actions and movements by remote in almost real time from practically anywhere by a computer that his hooked up to the internet. Officers are able to also monitor them by using an IPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and even IPad. This incredible technology will permit law enforcement to dedicate more of their valuable time, resources, and money by resolving crimes that individuals commit a lot faster. This will give the officers the advantage that they need to crack all types of crimes, ranging from the minor crimes to the very difficult criminal cases. Usually when an officer is tracking a suspect he or she has to sit out all hours of the night on a stakeout or patrolling the areas that the person was last scene. A GPS tracking system is an absolute nightmare to the enemy that is on the move in the streets. It is capable of providing and storing information on travel, and driving history in almost exact real time. The devices that are built today are more compact, durable and covert that ever before. The main goal of the GPS tracking unit is to monitor a criminal that is on run and follow him or her at every possible turn, this will allow law enforcement to gather intelligence and evidence that will lead to a solid arrest. There are some problems or objections that people have with a GPS tracker. The cost of the tracker or to track a criminal is 10 to 12 dollars a day per criminal ("Pros and Cons of Tracking Criminals with a Gaps Tracker", 2009). Taking that into effect how many criminals are out there with these trackers on their body? There possible could be millions and that will add up to very large sum of money that is coming out of the tax payers pocket each year. There is another concern with the tracker and that is it runs on a charged battery. In criminal chooses not to charge the battery then the people that are monitoring him or her are in the dark. If the criminal did not want to be monitored, they also have a choice of just cutting the bracelet off and go on the run and possibly be never seen again. GPS tracking system are an amazing development in today’s law enforcement agencies around the United States, there is another form of technology that has improved agencies across the nation and that is Biometric systems.
Biometrics is the study of different characteristics in the human body and their measurements. It comes from the Greek words bio (life) and metry (to measure). As a system for identifying individuals, it is a relatively new word and a new concept. Right now there are more than six billion people on this earth we live in today ("The Police Chief", 2003-2014). Basically every human is the same technically but each individual person is characteristically distinctive. There is something scientists call chaotic morphogenesis, it is a way the human body is formed and each person can become individualized. Biometrics can be classified in two areas identification and verification ("The Police Chief", 2003-2014). Law enforcement closely relates the identification area, and fingerprints are not the only example that can be recorded to a database. For a possible ID a biometric can be obtained either from a crime scene or directly from a person. This will be put into a database with a million possible matches and it will narrow down to the exact individual person the police are looking for. Fingerprinting has been a standard for law enforcement for a very long time and it is the best way to track a person. There has been research that puts fingerprint identification back 6,000 years ago Babylon. Computers have made possible the establishment of the automated fingerprint identification system ("The Police Chief", 2003-2014). This is a detailed process to allow law enforcement agencies all across the United States to access prisoner files and they are able to look at fingerprints to compare them to the suspect that they have arrested. The palm print is also a very effective way of identifying a person. At crimes scenes in general about 30 percent of the time a palm print is left by the criminal. The most important part of the palm is called the writers palm, it is the outside of everyone hand. When people commit these particular crimes bank robbery, extortions, and kidnappings; the writers palm is usually the single thing that breaks the case and puts the criminal in jail. Facial recognition is making a surge in the biometrics world. The major advantage to this biometric is that it can constantly be obtained secretly. This is being used in surveillance cameras to identify individuals that could be on the street or subway station. This identifies certain people with certain features eye color, ear shape, nose, hair color, and even facial deformities. There is one more form of biometrics and that is the iris recognition, the iris the colored right that surrounds your eye. When you are in the womb the irises are formed and no two people have the same iris. The iris is used by both identification and verification. Many people would think to use this in surveillance method but no method actually exist at this time. This would be possible if the subject would give their cooperation and consent that means the subject would have to get very close to the camera to distinguish any possible matches. There are many ways to identify a person and these biometric techniques help solve a numerous amount of criminal cases each year.
Through this paper we have covered GPS tracking and Biometrics, each area is a great technology for the law enforcement agencies around the world. People and technology are constantly evolving and thinking of new products each an everyday. Law enforcement has come a long way through out time and with this technology they have become more effective and efficient with role in society. Technology is expanding each day and with the years to come who knows what could be next.

References:
The Police Chief. (2003-2014). Retrieved from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id=2358&issue_id=42011
GPS Tracking for Law Enforcement. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.actsoft.com/gps-tracking-for-law-enforcement/
Pros and Cons of Tracking Criminals with a GPS Tracker. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.actsoft.com/gps-tracking-for-law-enforcement/