Police Technology Chapter Eight Agency Systems Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster Learning Objectives The reasons good record keeping is critical to law enforcement Operator security (right to know and need to know). Purpose of Record Management Systems (RMS), Jail Management Systems (JMS) and Evidence Management Systems (EMS) Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster Learning Objectives Impact of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on police records Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster Police Records Information retained By police agencies runs the spectrum from crime reports to Personnel records. Information needs to be: Readily available Kept for a long time Held confidentially Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Record Keeping Systems Police agencies create a lot of paper – automated record keeping systems are a combination of hardware, software, policy and procedure Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Record Keeping Systems First tier manufacturers are large companies. They are set up to product quality custom-designed software and hardware configurations. Second tier manufacturers may be large companies, but the products are off-the-shelf, not custom-designed. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Record Keeping Systems The result is: Many of these systems are incompatible Smaller agencies do not gain the expertise that the larger agencies have Fragmentation and its resulting effects continues to grow Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Criminal Justice vs. Police Records Includes every piece of info gathered in and used by the criminal justice system. A fully integrated police records management system is going to have access to all of the other records maintained by different criminal justice organizations. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

A few of the sources of information Commercial Records NCIC Other Agencies Probation Records Vehicle Records Police Officer Prison Records Court Records Local Agency Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster Both Input and Output Commercial Records NCIC Other Agencies Probation Records Vehicle Records Police Officer Prison Records Court Records Local Agency Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Information Security and Accuracy In law law enforcement, when information is compromised, authorized users primarily do it intentionally. In other words, most security breaches are as a result of intentional acts, not hackers, etc. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Information Security and Accuracy law enforcement personnel also have general access to a wide variety of information about the average person that is confidential and protected by law. Generally, information available to law enforcement users is considered privileged information (for official use only) Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Right to know vs. Need to know Derived from the officer’s occupation. Police officers have a right to know certain privileged information. Derived from the situation. Does the officer need to know this information in order to further his/her criminal investigation? Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

First layer of protection . . . Training people to realize their ethical responsibilities with confidential information. Having clear rules and regulations concerning the field use of equipment Using passwords Data logs Different levels of access Authentication Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster Privacy Issues For example, the names of victims sexual assault. Failure to protect the victims’ privacy can result in civil litigation. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

For Law Enforcement Agencies: Information about someone can be considered their personal property Victims trust the agency will not reveal the information If the information is reveals, it could cause the person to suffer (e.g., defamation) Using a person’s likeness (photo) raises issues of ownership Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

To Balance Public Confidence The times in which law enforcement agencies are prevented from intercepting communications by private citizens Fulfill a citizen’s demand to know what information the government has obtained [Freedom of Information Act FOIA)] Government take affirmative acts to inform people of information. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Turning Data into Information Indexing Master file with cross-referenced numbers Now done with databases. Evolved into. . . Relational databases Foundation of Records Management Systems (RMS) Can be link to external sources of information Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Record Management System Several smaller systems (like CAD and GIS) That exchange information with a master server You may only ask questions of a specific database within an agency Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Jail Management System Information containing: Inmates status Photographs Fingerprints Visitations Special needs Medical information Security information – like gang affiliation Screen capture provided by Crimestar, Inc. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Evidence Management Systems Documents chain of custody Assists in orderly transfer of evidence to labs and courts Assists in the proper storage of evidence Screen capture provided by Crimestar, Inc. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Case Management Systems Assists detectives and detective supervisors in the assignment of cases and coordinating investigations Screen capture provided by Crimestar, Inc. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Many different uses of police data Screen captures provided by Crimestar, Inc. Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Many different uses of police data Strategic Purposes: Deployment Crime Analysis Two types of inquiries: Conditional Ad Hoc query Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

New mobile office systems The mobile Office consists of: Vehicle Mobile Radio System Mobile Data Computer (laptop in vehicle) Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

New mobile office systems Allow officers to access: Mugshots Fingerprints GIS maps Aerial Photographs Challenges: Bandwidth Photograph provided by Woodcrest Vehicles Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

New mobile office systems Like a desk top PC, the Mobile Office has a computer CPU, usually mounted in the truck Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster Image Processing Documents Photographs Fingerprints Crime Scene photographs Can be: Scanned Digitized Stored in a database Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster

Explore Police Books at www.police-writers.com Police Technology Explore Police Books at www.police-writers.com Copyright 2005 - 2009: Hi Tech Criminal Justice, Raymond E. Foster