Preview

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology/Interpersonal Communication in Criminal Justice

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
800 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology/Interpersonal Communication in Criminal Justice
Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology
Tammy J. Little
Axia Western International University Online
ADJ/360: Interpersonal Communication in Criminal Justice
Hiram Porter
July 2, 2006 Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology With the increase of violent crimes come the advantages and disadvantages of modern technology in law enforcement. Law enforcement employs the use of stun guns and is equip with car video surveillance. We will examine some of the issues that contain some validity to arguments for the continue use of these tools within law enforcement.
Stun Guns Stun guns were implemented in law enforcement in the 1980 's for the purpose of minimizing the use of firearms. There are valid arguments for both sides of the issue as to whether or not they should continue to be utilized. For the sake of this argument will concentrate on the pro side. Since the introduction of the implementation of stun guns in law enforcement the use of deadly force had dropped to fifty-nine percent in the number of shootings by the city 's police force over the past two years. (The Phoenix Police Department, Feb. 2004) Since the introduction of stun guns in 1999, many law enforcement agencies reported drops of excessive use of force by law enforcement. While there have some opposition to the use of stun guns, the statistics in many states report that as much as seventy-eight to eighty percent of excessive deadly force was minimize as well as the number of injuries of officers. (Issues & Controversies, 2004) Another tool that has played an important role in law enforcement is the use of video mounted cameras in patrol cars. With the use of video patrol cars, it has a dual purpose: one for the suspect and two to monitor a law enforcement officer 's conduct. A potential suspect without the use of video surveillance may claim that his rights were violated and the law enforcement officer may have acted inappropriately. For many of the detainees after viewing



References: Issues & Controversies: Police Use of Electro-Shock Guns, (2004). Retrieved July 2, 2006 from website: http://www.2facts.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ICOF/temp/67126tempi0900690.asp#I0900690_1 Media Awareness Project: US TX: Patrol Car Video Prevents Erroneous Arrest. Retrieved July 2, 2006 from website: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n295/a03.html Police Car Video Systems: Technology Overview. Retrieved July 2, 2006 from website: http://www.policecarvideo.com/technology.htm#Legal Pompano, Angelo. Privacy in the Age of Video Surveillance This Is Not Your Father 's Candid Camera. Retrieved July 2, 2006 from website: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2000/3/00.03.05.x.html#d

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Frank Schmalleger’s article “As Shocks Replace Bullets, Questions Arise”, he makes the following central point the influence of the Taser, the critics that society makes of Taser, the record of police shootings, and the positive and negative use of the Taser. However, Miami is one of the country that has a long record of police shootings, but the year that they didn’t have any police shooting record Phoenix, increased their rate of police shootings.…

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The world is full of camera phones, different social media outlets, and the work of law enforcement is not hidden anymore, the general public can see the police officers performing their jobs. However, those officers quick to use gun or Taser lack the skills in de-escalation when dealing with a minor hostile situation. Nevertheless, the case of Bryan v. McPherson was related to a situation of officer Brian McPherson and motorist Carl Bryan, which Mr. Bryan was pulled over and issued a citation early that same day and headed to southern California from Camarillo to Coronado.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The North Aurora Police Department currently allows officers to carry their choice of 9mm or .45 caliber pistols; no long guns are available. The Firearms Training Unit has proposed that the department adopt the .223 caliber rifle for patrol officer use. The reasons for this proposal are: (1) pistols are inherently less accurate and have a shorter effective range than long guns such as rifles and shotguns, (2) pistol caliber bullets penetrate more heavily through interior walls than .223 rifle caliber bullets, which causes an increased risk of unintended persons being hit, and (3) pistol caliber bullets will not penetrate body armor and many other obstacles commonly encountered, while most .223 caliber bullets will. The objective of this research is to determine if the NAPD should adopt a long gun for patrol officer use or keep the current pistol-only program as it is. The types of weapons under consideration are pistol caliber rifles (9mm and .45 caliber), shotguns (slugs and buckshot), and the .223 caliber rifle. These weapons will be compared and contrasted with respect to accuracy & range, ease of use, wounding ability, and barrier penetration. Immediate Incapacitation Officers shoot to immediately achieve physiological incapacitation of a suspect who is threatening life. This means that the suspect is rendered physically incapable of continuing his or her life threatening behavior. This is done by (1) damaging or destroying the suspect’s central nervous system by shooting the brain or upper spinal cord, or (2) interrupting blood flow to the brain, to cause unconsciousness, through shooting the center mass of the suspect. Stopping blood flow to the brain is done by creating…

    • 10371 Words
    • 42 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many different ways law enforcement agencies fight crime and solve them. The continuous usage of technology is one of those major ways. Law enforcement agencies uses different technologies that are needed depending on the situation and the outcome of it. Some examples of technology that police use Today are GPS systems(global…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tom Stamatakis of the BC Police Association states, “Accountability is both necessary and appropriate. But when it comes to the CEW, I think we have gone beyond the tolerance both for police services and for police officers who prefer to avoid what seems to be inevitable criticism, regardless of the circumstances that led to any deployment.” (SC, 2013, p. 20). He continues that because of the increased scrutiny regarding CEWs, officers are choosing not to use the weapon and are even letting their certification expire. Other reasons officers are reluctant to carry Tasers include varying levels of understanding CEW policies, deployment threshold considerations and a lack of trust (SC, 2013). Since 2007, Taser use has dropped a whopping 87%. BC police officers used their Taser 640 times that year compared to 85 deployments in 2011, due to stricter regulations and higher behavior thresholds. For the RCMP, the frequency of CEW discharges decreased by 83 percent from 2007 (390) to 2011 (65). Independent municipal agencies’ discharges decreased by 92 percent over the same time period (from 250 to 20). In fact, CEW use has decreased across all major law enforcement agencies including the RCMP “E” Division, Police Services Division, BC Sheriff Service Division and the Adult Custody Division (SC, 2013). It is important to note that the huge reduction in CEW use does not mean police are turning to their guns- a tool of last…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The topic of police body cameras is very controversial. When the looking at the big picture, the cameras are beneficial because of the general positive influence it has on both sides of the police- civilian interaction. There might be slight concerns about the privacy of the public but there is substantial proof that the police body cameras have an overall positive affect on…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Police body cameras are quickly becoming a hot topic both in Congress and in articles. There are several opinions on them, but one thing for certain is that they have their benefits and limitations. Three authors use various rhetorical strategies to convince their audience that body cameras should or should not be used. "Cameras in the Station House" is a peer reviewed article written by no ordinary authors. The contributors and reviewers of this article consist of a state chair man, a criminologist, and two university professors.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Taser Overuse

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The use of taser should be permitted to extend that such use is necessary to police officers should have some understanding of the effects that using weapon is likely to have upon a suspect before using the weapon.…

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Taser Guns Are Bad

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Stun guns like Tasers are often preferred by officers simply for their easy use, better user control as well as lesser danger to both the officer and the target. If they are used after a proper warning, that if the target does not calm down, a Taser gun is most likely to be used against him, they could stand a better chance of achieving a safe end…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I learned that trends like the development of technology help and deter the productivity of police work. The use of cameras specially cell phone cameras can severely impact work of the police. Camera recordings do not fully grasp the full content but feature only half the picture. The release of these videos can hinder investigations and pose a negative light on police as a whole. Nonetheless, technology possess many positive attributes such as being able to collect evidence that can be used for further analysis or presented in court. The cameras can also protect the officers and presents the evidence as a liability.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In light of recent events, tensions amongst American communities and police officers have heightened due to the shootings of unarmed civilians and the alleged use of excessive force. These events have brought the integrity of police officers into question raising the question onto whether or not police officers should wear body cameras. This would serve to improve public relations with the local communities and provide a new source of indisputable hard evidence. Unfortunately, everything also comes with its disadvantages and while the benefits of body cameras do outweigh the negatives on paper, they may still not be enough to result in wide scale implementation. Such disadvantages include cost, as the cost of a single body camera ranges from $400 to $700 (Taser International Inc.) The reliability of these cameras may also be called into question as technological bugs are inevitable. According to research conducted by PERF and the COPS office, officers should be required to activate their cameras when responding to calls meaning that they are turned off while on duty. This may allow a police officer to tamper with evidence or to manipulate the cameras as they are in total control. Body cameras may be a potential solution for a growing problem, and while there seem to be an abundance of benefits, many drawbacks do also question the viability of such a project.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In today’s world, officers have patrol cars, have more strict rules to follow, and the community has the advantage of being able to call for help at any time. This has changed communities drastically because it has helped to deter crime. This evolution has changed how law enforcement is viewed in society. In today’s world, there is a stronger rapport between officers and the community. There is a stronger layer of trust as so it is a stronger belief that officers do indeed strive to protect the citizens within the community and not hurt them. In turn, this increases the chances that citizens in the community will pitch in to work hand in hand with law enforcement in their fight to deter crime. Simply put, the stronger the level of trust, the easier it is for citizens to talk and help law enforcement with any information they need to solve a crime. The criminal justice system is still seeking methods as a means of trying to prevent crime. There are many advantages of technology today, that has helped law enforcement to deter crime. Advantages such as Fingerprinting, Eye scan, surveillance cameras, and Gps has all helped law enforcement to catch criminals and lock them away. Such advantages helps law enforcement to be more successful in finding reliable information needed to consider a criminal guilty of an accused crime. Survelliance cameras can now be found in stores, schools, and within the community. However, these…

    • 1476 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    These devices allow a firsthand look into an incident and give immediate evidence to a case. Heather Ann Myers wrote about a yearlong investigational study of body cameras for law enforcement and said, “The findings suggest more than a 50 percent reduction in the total number of incidents involving use of force.” In this investigation conducted by Chief Tony Farrar, it is clear that body cameras not only traduced the number of occasions where force was used, but also made these situations more clear, in giving video and audio for every situation. In the article “Police Body Cameras: What are the Pros and Cons?” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum said, “There are certainly benefits . . . in documenting encounters with the public. It provides the context of what happened.” Wexler noticed the benefit of having these cameras and their video at their disposal as well. These cameras help add to the police officers accountability by reinforcing their stories, or in some cases, denying them completely and help eliminate forceful officers from the…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The United States law enforcement development has been a slow and grueling process but has become one of the most recognized in the world. We often at times find the evolution of law enforcement practices to be reactive, while remaining constant. Some practices however, though they have changed over time, has had very little progress when it comes regulations and a clear definition. That practice would be the use of deadly force among law enforcement agencies. Deadly force can be defined as the amount of force used that is most likely to cause death or bodily harm among another individual. Before 1985, the use of deadly force was used to apprehend a suspect, no matter the crime committed at that time. However, as years gone by, the perception…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Police Body Cameras Essay

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Body cameras are having an effect in police-public interaction and are decreasing anomalous behavior by police officers. According to a study made in the Mesa, Arizona, police department “Officers who wore the cameras experienced a 40 % decline…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics