This paper examines how criminal intelligence and information technology have transformed policing strategies. Through a review of three peer-reviewed sources, it explores the role of IT systems in improving police administrative functions and resource allocation, the expanding use of DNA forensic technology in criminal investigations and exonerations, and Baltimore's CitiStat/CompStat initiative as a model for low-cost, data-driven crime reduction. Together, these studies demonstrate that proactive, intelligence-led approaches—ranging from digitized record integration to genomic databases—are reshaping how law enforcement agencies prevent and respond to crime at local, national, and global levels.
Law enforcement utilizes criminal intelligence to track and predict crime in communities. Advancements in computer technology have allowed criminal intelligence to benefit law enforcement on a global scale. Criminal intelligence allows information to be used in a proactive manner to assist law enforcement agencies in forming strategic and tactical responses to crime. This paper focuses on how the use of criminal intelligence and computer advancements has changed the way police organizations fight crime. It demonstrates how intelligence is an effective and proactive approach to fighting crime through a review of three relevant peer-reviewed journal articles.
Although somewhat dated, Nunn (2001) provides a useful description of what is required by law enforcement agencies to make optimal use of their information technology (IT) resources. The costs associated with implementing and administering the IT systems used to fight crime are significant, so it is important for these agencies to consider what is needed to make their systems as efficient and effective as possible. To this end, Nunn observes that IT can be used to improve administrative functions, thereby allowing for more police officers on the street, as well as providing valuable trend information concerning areas with high crime rates. In order to maximize these IT tools, however, the agency's paper-based records must be integrated into the system as well. As Nunn emphasizes, "Having some type of computer provides little value unless information that was formerly kept on paper is digitized for electronic storage. But the storage of information electronically adds little value to the agency until its members use those computerized files to perform functions that were previously performed manually" (p. 221). To the extent that digitized records are integrated with current information will likely determine the extent to which police departments are able to use their IT equipment to its best advantage in fighting crime.
The author also emphasizes the need to account for all stakeholders involved in providing data, and what steps must be taken to ensure that the transition from a paper-based methodology to an IT-supported one is achieved seamlessly. Finally, Nunn presents the results of his analysis of how IT is being used by police agencies across the country and recommends the use of the database maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice's Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS), which allows departments to identify how IT is being used in similarly situated agencies and to formulate best practices for their own purposes. In this regard, Nunn concludes that "in the context of assessing the effects of IT, the LEMAS database offers a valuable opportunity for quantifying and assessing the relationships between computer hardware combinations, computerized files, and computerized functions, and between selected measures of police budgets and personnel allocations" (p. 223). Unfortunately, the author did not include any specific best practices that could be readily applied beyond his recommendations concerning the integration of digitized paper-based records.
The use of DNA materials — such as skin, hair, blood, and other bodily fluids — began in 1985, and by 1987 law enforcement authorities in the UK had successfully used the technology to convict a suspect of rape. Since that time, the use of DNA for crime-fighting purposes has been greatly expanded, and DNA has proven to be among the most reliable tools available. Adding to its utility is the fact that almost all states (47 at the time of Hammond's writing) have passed laws allowing for the collection of DNA samples from convicted felons, which are added to a growing database of such samples. According to Hammond (2010), "Studies show there is a 40% chance that burglaries and other nonviolent crimes are being committed by someone who already has committed a violent crime, perhaps even murder" (p. 12).
Other useful applications identified for DNA analysis include resolving missing persons and unidentified remains cases, and the U.S. Department of Justice continues to collaborate with state and local law enforcement agencies for these purposes. Beyond these uses, DNA analysis can also help prove the innocence of suspects as well as wrongfully convicted individuals who are incarcerated — a trend that has helped exonerate a growing number of people in recent years. Taken together, DNA testing can identify criminals and human remains with a high degree of certainty, while also ensuring that people who have inadvertently become entangled in the criminal justice system are not wrongfully convicted. The author, however, does not include a description of the various types of DNA testing methods currently in use, which would have been a valuable addition to her review.
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