Private security integration with law enforcement in cybercrime prevention

Private Security Functions as it Relates to the Various Components of the Criminal Justice System

The objective of this work is to analyze major components of the criminal justice system which includes private security functions with a focus upon improvement of the interaction between law enforcement, private security the courts and institutional and community corrections over the next 15 years. This is a 15-year plan that should take into consideration the aspects of budgets, revenue, expenditures, communication, technology and cultural aspects of the organization that can be improved.

ASPECTS of CYBERCRIME RELATING to LAW ENFORCEMENT and PRIVATE SECURITY

"Working with Law Enforcement to Abate Cybercrime: Cyber Security Guidelines" states that increasing dependence of society upon technology "has brought about enhanced business functionality and productivity while simultaneously exposing our organizations to more frequent and severe threats. Securing organizations in this 'Internetworked' society demands better cooperation with law enforcement (LE), since it is uniquely positioned to provide critical and specialized information services beyond the capabilities of any single organization. Cyber attacks on businesses can crush the company's bottom line and weaken the stability of the Internet." (2006) Additionally stated is that since, for the private sector, the driving forces are productivity and profitability of the business. Businesses in today's global economy should focus upon culturing: "...the same trust with law enforcement to remediate cybercrime so that reporting a hack or insider compromise of our digital assets becomes as second nature as reporting a breaking-and-entering of our physical buildings." (Commission of the European Communities, 2006)

III. IMMEDIATE PURCHASE of TECH TOOLS NOT NECESSARY

Due to associated costs the purchase of completely new technology solutions is not stated to be a requirement and "attention should also be paid to how existing and previously purchased tools can be put to more efficient use or upgraded. More study is stated to be needed in the area of:

1) technology and the protection of mass events;

2) obstacles to cooperation and information-sharing among forensic laboratories and security research institutes;

3) legal provisions regulating the use of specific detection technology;

4) practical use of specific detection technology;

5) legal framework governing the use of personal detection (including surveillance) across the EU;

6) levels of acceptance of personal detection (including surveillance and use of biometrics) across the EU. (Commission of the European Communities, 2006)

IV. VARIOUS TECHNOLOGIES EXIST

This study states that there are several categories of detection technologies, which include:

1) hand-held detectors;

2) detection portals;

3) surveillance solutions;

4) biometrics detection;

5) data- and text-mining tools; and 6) other software-based detection tools. (Commission of the European Communities, 2006)

The work of Jay Kehoe entitled: "GIS Solutions for Medium and Small Law-Enforcement Agencies" states that over the past ten years "computer crime mapping has emerged as one of the most important innovations in American police work. Advances in computer technology and in the rapidly expanding field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have coincided with innovations in crime analysis, investigation, and crime prevention. GIS and mapping software, once available only to agencies possessing mainframe computers, can now be easily loaded on the laptops carried in patrol vehicles and therefore can be used by even small and budget-constrained police departments. The innovations demanded by community and problem-oriented policing require that departments incorporate a geographic, spatial, or local focus, and emphasize the importance of integrating crime-mapping techniques into departmental management, analysis, and enforcement practices." (2006) What is needed, according to the work of Kehoe is 'standardization' insofar as the technology used in law enforcement and private security so as to enable more integration and coordination between the two entities. The tools which Kehoe includes in the foregoing list are not an exhaustive list whatsoever.

The work of Ashley Paul Moore entitled: "First Responder Accreditation: The Pros and the Cons" states that there has been a debate among members of Congress as to whether there is an existing need for establishment of "a comprehensive set of national standards to regulate state and local terrorism preparedness programs." (2006) Those who support these federally supported standards believe that there could be significant improvement of the capacity of the first-responder community in the United States in countering a terrorist attack that involved "chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and/or improvised high-yield explosive (CBRNE) weapons. It is related in the work of Kehoe (2006) that cities all across the United States are presently working on "various stages of implementing GIS projects related to the engineering, planning and zoning particulars as well as the general infrastructure of their own communities." (2006) Today's law enforcement agencies can look to the resources in information available "to power such programs as Community Policing Beat Book, which is a free program that the National Institute for Justice has funded that provides practical mapping information. " (Ibid)

SUMMARY & CONCLUSION

Imagine, if you will, for a moment that a disaster occurred in a town very familiar, a community, whether urban or rural, where in past local occurrences each agency went about its' appointed duty without interrupting one another, and this has traditionally been the case in the United States. Then suddenly a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans occurs and the new agencies developed by Homeland Security come into the area and communication channels get crossed with tasks being duplicated and others being left undone, neglected perhaps. Strategies that can be shared, integrated and coordination through use of technological tools offer the possibility for unprecedented coordination among law-enforcement, private security and public service providers in the event of such a catastrophe or disaster. Because of the capacity for improved logistics and increased effectiveness, standardization is critical in this pursuit. This could well be through networking of cell-phones, with laptops, blackberry devices and onboard computers in mobile vehicles of any of those stated.

Standardization of law-enforcement and private security procedures and the communication protocol used must necessarily be integrated if these agencies are to rise to the challenges that present in the future of the tasks associated with law-enforcement and private security function and duties. This could well be a project assigned to local FEMA office, presently Civil Defense in each individual county within a U.S. state so that these initiatives could be built up county-by-county and state-by-state toward a rising to compliance with a fifteen year integration effort. The outcome has the potential to be a tightly networked unit of protection for all community, country, regional, state sectors within the United States. This avoids confusion, duplication of duties, misassignment of duties, misapplication of duties, and neglect of duties in the future of law-enforcement and private security workers.