Data collection is the pillar of any criminal investigation, yet many police departments nationwide are yet to incorporate newer technologies for this purpose. These departments still rely on the old Summary Reporting System (SRS), first established in the 1920s by the FBI—then the Bureau of Investigation— as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR). […]

There was a time when police departments handled all evidence management in basically the same way. It was a paper-based procedure that started at the crime scene, with an officer collecting a piece of evidence, tagging it, and placing the evidence in a bag. Then, they wrote information on the bag, such as a case […]

For law enforcement agencies to stay relevant, they must move with the times. As communities change over time, their police departments should too. As society is currently going through a period of unprecedented technological change, staying on top of new trends has become one of the key responsibilities of law enforcement. Increasingly, however, it isn’t […]

Effective surveillance can be a major challenge. The first hurdle lies in gathering enough data to be useful. Then, once you have enough data, the second question is how to sort what’s useful from what isn’t. And once you’ve figured that one out, you need a system that ensures the right people can access the […]

Cybercrime is a serious and prevalent threat in today’s society. Virtually every sector has been impacted by digital security breaches, from businesses to governmental entities. While the focus of law enforcement has traditionally been on stopping physical threats, increasingly agencies must now also deal with cyber threats, including attempted breaches of police department communication systems […]

We live in a time of unprecedented technological change. From video games and streaming services to video conferencing, social media and news services, so many aspects of our lives change every year as new platforms are introduced and old ones are updated.  When it comes to law enforcement technology, things are no different. And just […]

While every year comes with its ups and downs, it seems fair to say that, globally speaking, the past two years have proven to be particularly difficult. However, alongside these challenges we’ve also seen some exciting developments.  From social issues to technological progress, our lives seem to be changing faster than ever. Many of us […]

Facial recognition is currently one of the main tech trends in policing. In this article, we look at how law enforcement agencies from across the world have been incorporating it into practice.

The relationship between big tech and policing relationship can be a double-edged sword: while the information gathered and stored by big tech companies is invaluable to law enforcement, it also opens up new questions and concerns about privacy and security.

Law enforcement officers work hard each day to keep communities safe in a variety of ways, including traffic policing. While some methods, such as highway patrols are more known and visible, other more covert strategies like traffic data collection often go unnoticed. As much as the average member of the public can be trusted to […]