Moving Toward the Future of Policing

Abstract : Imagine a future investigation of a home invasion robbery. En route to responding to the call, the police officer-she might now be called a customer service representative-searches databases and, while she drives, hears descriptions of any recent relevant incidents in the neighborhood, calls from the house, and previous law enforcement visits. The victims are not hurt, and they provide some description of the perpetrators and their methods. One of the victims also managed to get a slightly dark cell phone picture of one of the thieves in profile. The officer arrives and images the scene for fingerprints. She enters all this information and the cell phone photo in her smartphone, and, by the time she gets back to her car, her report has been filed. Descriptions, methods, prints, and picture are all being matched against information in existing databases. By the time she is moving, a match has been found, the suspect's last address has been identified, and a search has begun based on his cell phone number and location.