Technology and Communication

Technology and Communication

Carolyn Waddell-Tillman

304

8/22/2013

Professor Kathleen Gaskill

Technology and Communication

How technology affects the communication capabilities of specialized databases in the criminal justice system.

Technology has come a long way, and has been used in various ways within the criminal justice system. Law enforcement and correction officers rely on technology to do their jobs. The office of Science and Technology serves as the national focal point for work on criminal justice technology by providing programs that provide equipment as well as training and technical assistance, also improving the safety and effectiveness of criminal justice technology with access to technology by local, state, and federal enforcement agencies. The mission of the office of science and technology include, but are not limited to maintaining the performance standards for criminal justice technology, it also establishes and conducts a compliance testing program that supports those standards, also carrying out research development testing and evaluation programs that will improve the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice technology (www.ncjrs.gov).

The Institute for Law and Justice has worked with many state and local criminal justice agencies concerning decision making, strategic planning and impact evaluation of technology acquisition and integration projects. The organizational structure of NIJ is designed so that it will integrate the social and physical sciences to maximize cross-discipline research, development and evaluation. New tools and technologies are not a solution without appropriate policies and practices. Policies and practices must effectively integrate technology (www.ncjrs.gov).

Comparison of two types of specialized databases such as Mobile data terminals and AFIS:

Mobile Data Terminals:

Few large agencies began installing specialized mobile data terminals in their patrol cars when computerization began in the 1980s. Mobile data was defined by small screen terminals and agency owned radio systems that were supplied by a handful of companies that specialized in mobile data. Most of these were turn-key, radio and terminal solutions that worked, but were expensive, time consuming to implement and generally they were unreliable, and these displays were also limited in the type of data they could transmit. Commercial applications began to appear in the 1900s, especially among package delivery and service companies that needed to efficiently manage their fleets. Consumer applications for mobile data began to appear in the form of alphanumeric pagers, PDAs and cell phones. As suddenly as mobile data appeared it disappeared, only to be replaced by companies offering both individual components of mobile data and end to end networks that could span the country (www.911dispatch.com/info/mobiledata). Mobile data terminals were built to withstand high levels of shock, humidity and vibrations (beijerinc.com).

AFIS.

The AFIS is an automated Fingerprint Identification system with a biometric card reporting to the identification methodology that employs technology to automate the processing of arrest and applicant fingerprint to the DSP. This system is capable of processing a fingerprint submission in a fraction of the time it takes using the manual process. The AFIS is significant in crime fighting which has the ability to search latent fingerprints found at crime scenes against the fingerprint database of persons previously arrested in the state. This