In an effort to find some new Web 2.0-related issues to blog about, I searched through a number of articles and found an interesting one about “Law Enforcement 2.0”. As you may have guessed, the topic of the article was about how various public and private agencies are using the Internet to share information pertaining to crimes and criminals. The web is providing a resource for these agencies to coordinate their efforts in solving crimes and catching the criminals who commit them. Before law enforcement turned to the Internet, different agencies ran the risk of pursuing the same suspect without being able to share information about the investigation.
At first, law enforcement agencies didn’t exactly have a sophisticated system to share information on the web. In fact, the article offered an example of a police department that posted surveillance images on Facebook. These images led to several tips and the suspects were eventually arrested. Using Facebook to catch criminals?! Is that even legal? Isn’t there some kind of privacy protection?
Well, to circumvent these issues raised by the Facebook arrest, web services has been developed for the specific purpose of law enforcement agencies sharing information. One such web service is called CrimeDex. Honestly, I think it’s about time that law enforcement has decided to utilize the Internet to aid their investigations. What better way to catalogue information and share tips relating to trends in crimes and individual criminal activity.
However, the development of a criminal database like CrimeDex also creates some sensitive issues for the potential suspects. For example, with the ability to share information across various agencies all over the country, if incorrect information is entered by one agency it can affect the action taken by every other agency. Hopefully, there is some sort of validation process before a suspect is officially entered into the database. If not, the CrimeDex application runs the risk of fostering police corruption or the arrest innocent suspects. The later could likely lead to a lawsuit relating to breach of civil liberties. Considering these pitfalls, the goal of online crime databases is to effectively reduce the occurrences of criminal activity. If applications like CrimeDex prove to be a valuable resource, and possible deterrent, I think this is one step in the right direction for virtual law enforcement.
At first, law enforcement agencies didn’t exactly have a sophisticated system to share information on the web. In fact, the article offered an example of a police department that posted surveillance images on Facebook. These images led to several tips and the suspects were eventually arrested. Using Facebook to catch criminals?! Is that even legal? Isn’t there some kind of privacy protection?
Well, to circumvent these issues raised by the Facebook arrest, web services has been developed for the specific purpose of law enforcement agencies sharing information. One such web service is called CrimeDex. Honestly, I think it’s about time that law enforcement has decided to utilize the Internet to aid their investigations. What better way to catalogue information and share tips relating to trends in crimes and individual criminal activity.
However, the development of a criminal database like CrimeDex also creates some sensitive issues for the potential suspects. For example, with the ability to share information across various agencies all over the country, if incorrect information is entered by one agency it can affect the action taken by every other agency. Hopefully, there is some sort of validation process before a suspect is officially entered into the database. If not, the CrimeDex application runs the risk of fostering police corruption or the arrest innocent suspects. The later could likely lead to a lawsuit relating to breach of civil liberties. Considering these pitfalls, the goal of online crime databases is to effectively reduce the occurrences of criminal activity. If applications like CrimeDex prove to be a valuable resource, and possible deterrent, I think this is one step in the right direction for virtual law enforcement.
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