Impact of Technology on Community Policing

Posted: March 27th, 2020

Impact of Technology on Community Policing

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Impact of Technology on Community Policing

Technology has allowed law enforcement agencies to enhance their policing power by enhancing various aspects of their service delivery. The same assertion can also be argued for the aspect of community policing. To reduce the level of crime and serve the citizenship better, law enforcement agencies have consistently requested for assistance in the resolution and aversion of crime from members of the community. However, for the aim of enhancing this dimension of policing, law enforcement agencies have resorted to the implementation of social networking technologies. Since community policing is founded on communication between police officers and civilians, social networking technologies have proven to be a better and efficient measure of enhancing the efficacy of the respective process (Dees, 2009). With social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp, police officers have been capable of interacting and communicating significantly with people.

The enhancement of communication between law enforcement and civilians has been facilitated by the establishment or implementation of corresponding software in the parties’ mobile devices. Even though most civilians possess these software programs in their mobile gadgets, they have not been applied by police officers due to the formal nature of their occupation (Dees, 2009). However, since the key aim lies in improving community policing, social networking software has undergone application in the mobile devices of law enforcement personnel hence fostering communication between them and members of the community. As an outcome, social networks have been utilized as platforms that offer information regarding threats to the public. They have also been used to relay information to police officers by eyewitnesses that have observed a crime or responded to a situation that requires intervention. By offering a way of efficient communication between civilians and the police, social networking technologies have improved community policing.

References

Dees, T. (2009). Social networking for better policing: Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and Google Voice. Law and Order, 57(11), 32-36.