44.493
Issues in Criminal Justice Technology & Security
How
a smaller police force with limited budget might evaluate technology
In the first half of the class,
we learned about the necessity of evaluating new technologies
for criminal justice applications using
a variety of objective criteria, in order to make certain
that it was sound, applicable to CJ needs, didn't result in "unintended
consequences," and that the cost/benefit ratio was favorable,
especially in light of the field's limited financial resources.
An objective evaluation process also allows you to rank potential
technology investments , particularly dissimilar ones (for example,
if money is scarce, do we invest in less-than-lethal weapons or
convergence communications) and to compare various vendors within
a category.
Secondly, we learned that it
was also necessary to build
a business case for investing in these technologies, to build
strong arguments, anticipate negative arguments, and be able to
identify both strengths and weaknesses.
In the second half of the course,
we've applied these techniques to a range of innovative technologies
that promise to transform the CJ field:
For the final exam, the first
portion of the exam will ask you to answer several questions dealing
with the overall benefits of new technologies to the CJ field
(see below) and about the evaluation and business case processes.
These will be worth 60 points collectively.
Then, you will be asked to
pick one technology within these categories that you find interesting,
and will be asked to answer a series of questions dealing with
application of the evaluation criteria and the business case process
to it. For example, if you chose surveillance, you might, for
example, be asked to identify 3 key strengths of GPS surveillance
systems and 3 weaknesses, and to make both the best argument for
its adoption and the critics' best arguments against it. These
will be worth 40 points collectively.
Ideally, I'd like you to answer
in complete sentences, but phrases, lists and any other form that
I will find easy to understand will be acceptable
What have we learned about
common factors in innovative technologies that have been applied
to the criminal justice field:
- Relatively few new technologies
have been developed specifically for CJ, because the level of
available funding has been low, and the market is very diffuse,
with thousands of independent agencies
- This funding will be cut even
more this year if the Bush budget is adopted. However, the same
budget will include billions of dollars in additional funding
for homeland security. Thus, technologies that can be used for
both homeland security and routine policing may still
get funded.
- The single most important factor
in new technologies for CJ -- as for other areas of business
and government -- is that more and more sources of information
and communications can now be merged and yield new insight because
they are all digital and, increasingly, based on Internet Protocol
and packet-based communication.
The sweet spot for CJ communications technology is where you
can seamlessly merge data and communication from a variety of
sources, combined with real-time, location-based information
so that you can plan your strategy on a real-time basis and constantly
adjust to changing circumstances.
At the same time, that makes them even more dangerous for constant,
seamless surveillance that could erode civil liberties and personal
privacy
- new technologies raise the possibility
of "unintended consequences: " once in effect, police
and others might begin to use technologies in additional ways
(such as identity cards).
- new technologies, (especially
DNA profiling, or "smart" drivers licenses) can significantly
increase the objectivity of identification. However, they are
not perfect, and still can be seriously affected by human
error and/or criminally altering the system. Paradoxically, these
technologies' very strength means that they could be a perfect
tool for criminals, because of the unwarranted assumption that
they are perfect: authorities might let down their guard when
confronted with an individual who appears to hold perfect identification.
- whenever a new CJ technology
is applied, criminal elements also manage to gain access. The
only way they can remain valuable is if CJ agencies are constantly
developing new counter-measures to the criminal counter-measures.
- organized crime is now becoming
involved in technology-based crime, increasing the chance of
significant harm and higher stakes.
- As government and industry becomes
more and more dependent on Internet-based and digital technology,
the risk of catastrophic results from criminal co-optation of
the system increases.