Running Head: WHITE PAPER 1

White Paper: Towards Large Urban Police Department Automation

Full Name

Name of University

November 9, 2017
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Executive Summary

One of the most significant challenges faced by large contemporary law

enforcement departments pertains to the processing of large quantities of data relating to

the threat matrix faced by the jurisdiction. In this respect, automated technologies such as

license plate recognition, facial recognition, crime-tracking platforms and drone-based

aerial surveillance platforms are now all available, and conducive to centralized

administration. With this acting as an important force-maximizer in relation to the

missions faced by large urban police departments, one of the most significant puzzles that

exists in this realm of law enforcement is the fact that large departments use the

technologies at a lower rate than smaller departments. Indeed, departments serving

populations of 250,000 or more citizens are less likely to use such technologies for all

other sizes of departments save for those serving fewer than 10,000 citizens (Reaves,

2015).

While these technologies were previously atomized in nature, new information

systems allow for their seamless integration within vertical structures of tracking,

surveillance, and interdiction. While the costs of implementing these programs in large

departments are high at the initial movement of implementation, the fact remains that it is

specifically in these departments that they are most likely to be effective in nature.

Ultimately then, it is large urban police departments that face the greatest and most

significant imperatives for implementing such multi-faceted systems throughout their

department so as to increase police capacity, enhance officer safety, and ultimately

deliver better services to citizens all the while mitigating the privacy concerns that they

show in relation to these technologies.

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Introduction

With automation increasingly changing the way that technology is used in our

daily lives, law enforcement is also evolving. Through the use of automatic license plate

recognition, facial recognition, crime tracking, and drone-based heat signature

recognition, large departments are increasingly able to use technology so as to

simultaneously enhance the effectiveness of their operations, and officer safety. While

these technologies pose certain privacy-related ethical challenges in relation to large-

scale data collection, appropriate respect for due process and other principles will ensure

that these technologies enhance law enforcement effectiveness, officer safety, and public

order. In this context, one of the fundamental paradoxes of law enforcement automation

is that it is least used by the large urban departments that would objectively stand to

benefit from it the most.

Indeed, and with issues of cost and scale making it prohibitive for these

departments to use these evolving technologies, it is recommended that longitudinal

implementation of these programs and platforms take place. Indeed, and considering that

these programs are no longer static in nature but instead integrated and automated via

cloud computing, it is now possible to roll out these types of automated police platforms

on a gradual basis. With this, and given the fact that the enhancements which these

platforms provide are especially beneficial for the largest departments, their adoption is

an absolute necessity. While public concerns regarding privacy certain imply that the

introduction of these must be framed appropriately, their high degree of effectiveness

provides for a situation in which the end results associated with these programs will make

them popular in the public eye.

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Previous Approaches

While previous approaches to automation were largely atomized from each other,

the contemporary law enforcement environment is one in which data from multiple

systems can be fed into each reciprocally. Indeed, and in examining some of these

previous approaches, the work of Merola & Lum (2014) proposes that static point or

cruiser-based License Plate Recognition allows law enforcement to automatically flag

suspicious vehicles in the environment around them. Arguing that such data draws on

vehicles flagged by the department and entered into its system, Merola & Lum (2014)

make it clear that this type of automation, depicted in Graphic 1 below, is highly germane

to increasing police efficiency in terms of identifying suspects and potential threats in the

operational environment.

Graphic 1: The Traditional Approach to License Plate Recognition

Source: (SlidePlayer, 2017)

This said, and in reflecting upon the type of License Plate Recognition technology

discussed by Merola & Lum (2014), it is absolutely crucial to recognize that it was

relatively static in nature. Indeed, the work of Nunn (2001) makes it clear that one of the
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greatest historical challenges with automated systems in the field has been keeping their

inputs up to date. Indeed, and with Nunn (2001) noting that this has historically required

a significant amount of data input, Nunn (2001) suggests that one of the most

fundamental flaws associated with these systems has been the difficulty associated with

keeping them up to date.

In reflecting upon this, Nunn (2001) proposes that this has been especially

challenging for large departments because of the high volume of targets that they must

confront in their everyday policing activities. Thus, Nunn (2001) makes it clear that,

while these automated tools have been seen as having immense potential for success,

implementation has been inconsistent because so many large departments simply do not

have the resources necessary to keep the databases associated with these systems up-to-

date in any meaningful sense. Thus, Nunn (2001) argues that these systems have not

actually been used to their full potential because of the simple fact that the data input

requirements associated with them have been hitherto too significant for most

departments to effectively make use of.

New Findings

Moving forward, Bruce et al. (2014) propose that emergent technologies,

including the use of automated input systems, surveillance drone as well as CCTV-based

facial recognition systems, have all served to enhance the automation potential of law

enforcement systems. Because these new dimensions actually decrease from the data

input requirements discussed by Nunn (2001), they allow for the seamless integration of

multiple automated monitoring systems all the while decreasing the degree to which
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manual data input is necessary. Indeed, Bruce et al. (2014) proposes that the key

development associated with the systems has been a dramatic increase in their level of

inter-operability.

In this respect, Hertzog et al. (2015) propose that low levels of automation across

many departments have resulted from the fact that most systems have historically been

standalone in nature. With this necessarily implying that they have had their own

software packages, Hertzog et al. (2015) argue that one of the obstacles to use has laid in

the fact that multiple systems could not overlap and feed into each other. In explaining

why today’s law enforcement environment presents new realities in this regard, Hertzog

et al. (2015) make it clear that the development of cloud computing technology has

allowed both for the longitudinal development of this inter-operability as well as the

creation of automated input structures detract from the need for manual input that has

historically been so prohibitive in nature.

This said however, and as depicted in Graphic 2 below, Reaves (2015) makes it

clear that large urban police departments are the ones actually least likely to make use of

these automated technologies. With Reaves (2015) noting that departments serving more

than 250,000 citizens are actually less likely to use such technologies than all other

departments save for those serving less than 10,000 individuals, it becomes clear that the

departments that could actually benefit the most from these technologies are not using

them. Indeed, and with Reaves (2015) largely attributing this to the fact that the costs of

acquiring and deploying these technologies are higher for large departments than for

smaller ones, it is logical but problematic that this pattern exists.

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Graphic 2: Percentage of Police Departments Using Automation Technology Based

on Size of Population Served

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Source: Original graphic based on data from (Reaves, 2015).

Tangibly then, Reaves (2015) proposes that large urban police departments would

significantly benefit from the gradual implementation of these types of systems because,

proportionately speaking, they face an operational matrix in which a more significant

number of targets is present. Given this greater number of targets in the operational

environment as well as the large geographical scope of the environment, Reaves (2015)

suggests that this brings about a context in which centralized automation can be of

enormous assistance in relation to pinpointing targets without overloading line officers

with information that they must process manually. In other words then, Reaves (2015)

demonstrates that, because of the increased efficiency associated with these tools, it is

illogical that they are not more significantly and regularly used in large urban

departments.
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With this in mind, the work of Royakkers & Est (2015) makes it clear that, unlike

earlier systems, new systems can be integrated to feed into each other, and thus allow for

almost omniscient law enforcement ability to monitor a given jurisdiction. Indeed,

Royakkers & Est (2015) illustrate a context in which cloud computing can be used so that

all of the different capture systems used by a department, including centralized manually-

imputed data, can be accessed and used from any platform deployed by the department.

With this, Royakkers & Est (2015) suggest that a seamless pattern of integration has been

formed, and now allows for these systems to feed into each other in a manner that makes

the sum of their work product greater than its whole. With this, Royakkers & Est (2015)

thus clearly demonstrate that the new generation of automated solutions in law

enforcement is of a variety that can display a high degree of effectiveness in increasing

law enforcement capability, and maximizing officer safety in the contemporary law

enforcement environment.

This said however, Tosun (2016) makes it clear that political officials have often

expressed significant concerns with police automation on the basis of citizen concerns

with privacy rights. Indeed, and as demonstrated in Graphic 3 below, citizens believe that

omniscient and automated police surveillance will lead to due process abuses, and the

abrogation of their rights. With Tosun (2016) arguing that this fear has grown in the wake

of the scandal associated with the National Security Agency’s illicit surveillance of many

Americans, this points to a situation in which the effective and consensual deployment of

these systems thus requires a rather significant degree of cooperation between law

enforcement, political officials, and the civilian population of the jurisdiction that is in

question.
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Graphic 3: Self-Reported Public Fears Associated with Law Enforcement

Surveillance

60
50
40
30
20 Series1
10
0

Source: Original graphic based on data from (Schwabe et al., 2014)

Indeed, Schwabe et al. (2014) propose that the more these systems grow, the more

the ethical implications of them grow significant in relation to privacy rights. This said,

privacy rights can be preserved in professional departments that commit to prioritizing

public order and public trust in equal measure. Tangibly speaking, achieving such

balance requires little more than simply ensuring that all automated surveillance

technologies are used within the letter of the law, and with respect for due process. In so

doing, Schwabe et al. (2014) argue that departments can not only ensure that they

maintain harmonious relations with their citizens but can also ensure that any

prosecutions resulting from evidence obtained from an automated system is not deemed

to be a fruit of a poisonous tree, and thus deemed to be inadmissible in any relevant legal

proceedings.
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Writ-large then, Lyoko et al. (2016) make it clear that large police departments

can benefit immensely from the use of automated systems, and maintain harmony with

their citizens if this is done within the letter of the law. Moreover, and with Lyoko et al.

(2016) making it clear that improvements in biometric technology are likely to even

further enhance the automated technologies available to law enforcement in the following

decades, the systems that are currently available can only be further built upon in relation

to improving the automation of law enforcement in a manner conducive to both officer

safety, and police effectiveness. With this, Lyoko et al. (2016) make it clear that large

urban police departments must address these citizen privacy concerns but can do so in a

context wherein it does not detract from their ability to build and use the inter-operable

systems necessary for effectively using the new generation of automated systems

elaborated upon here.

Conclusion

In the end, the use of multi-faceted automation in large urban police departments

enhances efficiency and officer safety. Because multiple types of systems can feed into

each other all the while new systems are being created on a regular basis, automated

systems can continue to be built on longitudinally. While the privacy and ethical

implications of automation are somewhat challenging, adequate protection of collected

data, respect for due process as well as open communication with the citizenry can serve

to create an environment in which these tools are reciprocally viewed by both law

enforcement and by the population as representing necessary elements of the law

enforcement toolkit. In other words, building these systems is in both the interest of law

enforcement and the public.

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With the literature reviewed above making it clear that large urban police

departments have not succeeded in implementing such programs at rates comparable to

the operational environments they face, it is especially critical that these large

departments begin implementing such programs. Indeed, and because these now no

longer involve the data entry-related obligations that were so prohibitive in relation to

earlier instantiations of these programs, their costs are no longer as prohibitive as they

once were. Moreover, and with these systems now growing to become inter-operable in

nature, this points to a context in which large urban departments could use these to build

important economies of scale in relation to both day-to-day policing operations as well as

special operations.
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References

Bruce, J., Scholtz, J., Hodges, D., Emanuel, L., Fraser, D.S., Creese, S., & Love, O.J. .

(2014). Pathways to identity: using visualization to aid law enforcement in

identification tasks. Security Informatics, 3(1), 12.

Hartzog, W., Conti, G., Nelson, J., & Shay, L.A. . (2015). Inefficiently Automated Law

Enforcement. Mich. St. L. Rev., 1763.

Lyoko, G, Phiri, J, & Phiri, A. (2016). Integrating biometrics into police information

management system. International Journal of Future Computer and

Communication, 5(1), 1.

Merola, L.M., & Lum, C. (2014). Predicting public support for the use of license plate

recognition technology by police. Police Practice & Research, 15(5), 373-388.

Nunn, S. . (2001). Police information technology: Assessing the effects of

computerization on urban police functions. Public Administration Review, 61(2),

221-234.

Reaves, B.A. (July 2015). Local police departments, 2013: Equipment and technology.

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Juctice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Royakkers, L., & van Est, R. (2015). A literature review on new robotics: automation

from love to war. International journal of social robotics, 7(5), 549-570.

Schwabe, W., Davis, L.M., & Jackson, B.A. (2014). Challenges and Choices for Crime-

Fighting Technology Federal Support of State and Local Law Enforcement.

Thousand Oaks, CA Rand Corporation.

SlidePlayer. (2017). Autonomous chasing robot. Retrieved November 9, 2017, from

http://slideplayer.com/slide/9481054/
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Tosun, H. . (2016). IT Management in Policing: Main Advantages and Disadvantages of

IT for Police Managers. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 12(9).