Less Than Lethal Weapons

 For this week's topic that follows my blog of technological advancements in law enforcement, I'd like to take a look at some of the sophisticated weaponry available to police departments today, that are known as "less than lethal weapons".

 First off, notice the term "less than lethal", this term was coined for these weapons as an alternative to deadly force used to subdue a subject. The term used to be known as "non lethal" however, it was replaced as many automatically assumed that non lethal weapons should not cause any harm to the subject. The fact of the matter is although these weapons shouldn't kill you, they could cause serious injury.

 One of the most common piece of less than lethal weaponry is in the form of a bean bag shotgun or rubber bullet shotgun. This is used in instances of crowd control when crowds get rowdy. Bean begs and or rubber bullet/pellets are fired from the shotgun striking an individual. If used correctly the side effects should simply be a large welt on the non-compliant individual. Below is a picture of a beanbag shotgun and its rounds. The beanbag shotgun has been criticized for causing severe injury in people when the round goes array and hits a critical feature of their body. All too often people blame the weapon and not the user. The weapon is designed to do the job it's supposed to do, however its path of trajectory is totally dependent upon the operator.

 In the past decade one of the most popular less than lethal weapons is the electronic taser. The taser has been widely criticized and researchers go back and forth on whether or not the taser was the cause of death in instances where people have died from being struck with the weapon. The taser was developed as a modern day electronic "stun gun". There are two ways to deploy the taser, you can drive the weapon into the subjects upper thigh area, known as a "drive stun" or you can deploy two metal probes (think fish hooks), into the non compliant subjects body area, which creates two current points for the electric current to travel. Either way, the taser is designed to deploy a short burst of high voltage electric current that will leave the subject momentarily incapacitated. This allows for officers to take control of the subject and handcuff him/her in the proper manner. I personally have seen the taser work in a situation where I responded to a house burglary. The subject came from the house as I approached, I confronted the suspect who refused to show me his hands. Given the magnitude of the crime, and his refusal to obey my commands further putting me in fear that he had a weapon, my partner deployed the taser, temporarily incapacitated the suspect and handcuffed him. Found on his person was a loaded subcompact pistol.

 These two weapons are only two of the most common used less than lethal weapons available to law enforcement today. Do a search for less than lethal weapons on the Internet and there are all sorts of products out there today. Although some of them are criticized, until you use them in a real life situation where it actually saves your life as well as the suspects life, criticism should be limited.

JQuery Experiences and Ideaas

 For this week's assignment we were introduced into the world of JQuery to help add features to our blogs. With a few lines of code we were able to change the background of our blogs so that the color green fades in during a 10 second duration after the page has loaded.

 Other features available using JQuery are the ability to drop and drag certain areas of the page. By doing this you can re-arrange the look of the page and order certain blog posts appear. I particularly like JQuery's ability to be able to return the blog to its original settings just by hitting the refresh button on the page.

 Some of the ideas discussed amongst other students in this weeks discussion forum related to using JQuery to make a game or puzzle and add it to the blog page. This is particularly useful if you want to add something different to your blog. Maybe one of the features of your blog could be that every picture within the text could start out as a puzzle and as you go through and read the text, it breaks up the reading a little bit so you get to form the picture that is intended for viewing within the page.

 These are just a few of the ideas that could be applied to our own blogs using JQuery.

Web Site Idea

 Throughout the course we have been working on creating our own simple web pages that perform basic functions. This week we have been asked to think of an interactive web page of our own. Provided  that we knew how to create more involved pages, what would we come up with? I've read several of the posts on the discussion board from class and have really liked some of the ideas that have been presented.

 First off, my own page that I'd create would involve sporting events and the specific visiting teams that come to play the home team and link it to a ticket site. A lot of times as adults, work, family, and other responsibilities get in the way of leisure. This includes one of my favorite things to do when relaxing, watching sports. As a result, I can't keep track of when other teams that I'd enjoy going to see play come to Boston. This page would allow for alerts through email to be sent when a visiting team that you enjoy is playing in your area. It would then link directly to a ticket website to purchase the tickets. The alerts would be sent out through email or text message on a frequency schedule that allows you as the user can adjust to your liking. For instance perhaps you want to know 3 weeks in advance when a team is coming into Boston. You get the initial alert and then you select how often you want this alert to come to you. Maybe you set it so that starting on a certain date it reminds you every other day or every 3rd day, until the actual event itself. This would avoid turning on the TV the day of and realizing one of your favorite players is coming into town to play and you realize that it's too late to try and get tickets and set up babysitting if need be.

 As far as ideas from other students, someone brought up the idea of creating a page where AAA could be alerted as to roadside assistance issues. Often times AAA is criticized for their response times. Time of response varies from 25 minutes to an hour and a half based on call volume and location of the person in distress. This leaves the caller wondering how much time they actually have to sit on the side of the road for a response. With the suggested page, AAA would alert them of their expected arrival times and keep them updated as to where they stand in the process. This would be great to get a few updates along the way, giving you an email or text message at certain points during the response, for instance "dispatched", "enroute", and "arrived". With the estimated time to actually reach you constantly being updated. I think a lot of people would be much happier with AAA if they got into doing something like this. We are a society on the go constantly now, and I think where people get frustrated is we are no longer told an accurate range of time for the expected service to arrive, everything nowadays is given too wide of a range for anyone to know how accurate the given times really are.

Interactive Web pages

This week we have been instructed on our two blog posts for our blog, so I will continue with the subject matter of technology in police work next week.

 For this week, we have been asked to share our experiences on creating interactive web pages thus far. As I've stated before, I knew this course would be challenging, however if you follow the weekly instructions step by step and don't fall behind it's very easy to keep up with.

 The one downside of making these web pages is the sensitivity that comes with writing computer code. One extra comma or forgetting to close a line of html code throws the entire thing off and leaves you spinning your head as to why the program isn't working. I've sat for lengthy periods of time wondering what I'd done wrong only to find out that I forgot to close a line of code, or when referencing the document I typed it in using a capital letter as opposed to lower case.

 All in all I don't think I could ever enjoy creating websites from scratch for a living, it is however a nice feeling when you see the results of the work you've put in. It has also without a doubt given me a new found appreciation for those who are involved in this line of work. These web pages that we are creating are very basic, I can only imagine the time and effort it takes for code writers of intricate pages!

Online Forms Through Police Department Websites

 This week we have learned how to embed feedback forms within the simple websites that we have created. Providing feedback to the site creator is a great way for people to make suggestions on how to improve upon what they have already accomplished. But feedback forms are only one example of forms that web designers use in order to reach their audience.

 Most local police departments nowadays have adjusted to life with the Internet. Even the smallest of departments have some form of a website where contact information is listed. Some bigger departments however, have embedded feedback forms for the public to provide feedback on the services that the police department is providing. This feedback can be a simple suggestion page to suggestions on where and when to do traffic enforcement. As small as some towns are, it is difficult for officers to be in the same place all of the time. With help from the public, especially residents of a certain area, the department is able to send a cruiser to enforce traffic during the times that residents notice the violations occurring.

 For an example of a department's feedback form, please follow the link to the Pittsburgh Police Department. At the bottom of the page there is a link for visitors to submit comments as well as topics of concern. The form allows for users to leave their name and phone number however this is entirely optional, which is great for those who want to remain anonymous and would otherwise be hesitant to leave feedback in fear of retaliation from officers. The page does require for the visitor to provide an email address, however this is used so the department can request more information about a particular incident if they feel an investigation into the visitor's comments warrants more attention.

Larger cities, like Houston (TX), use forms embedded into their website for people to file "simple" police reports online. In a big city with a lot of call volume, past incidents, such as a theft from a vehicle overnight, would be classified as a low priority call for service, though the victim may feel otherwise. A low priority incident is usually one that has happened hours before it is actually discovered and there is no threat of harm to the victim. In addition, it is more than likely that the suspect(s) is no longer in the area. Due to the large call volume that the police department receives into its dispatch center, depending on time of day, victims of these low priority calls, can wait upwards of 30 minutes or longer for an officer to respond. This is particularly frustrating for some citizens, especially if they walk out of their house in the morning to go to work and find that their car stereo was stolen from their car during the overnight hours. The victim is already upset that the stereo was stolen and is now late for work because of the time it is going to take to speak with an officer. To help reduce some of the frustration, the Houston Police Department has provided this form, so that victims can continue on their way to work, and file the report of the stolen stereo from their work computer, provided they have Internet access.

 Simple forms such as these are yet another way that technology has changed the way law enforcement operates.

Review Of Feedback Forms - Week 7 Topic

 Taking time out of our lives to work on our websites can be a frustrating task at times. It can however be relaxing and enjoyable as well. Putting a lot of time and effort into our blogs and websites, it's only fitting that we are able to open ourselves up to constructive criticism.

 With the ability to embed feedback forms into our websites, users are able to suggest improvements and provide comments on aspects of your site that they like. This is extremely helpful for people like me who have never created a website or blog before. I know there are plenty of students who have done so before and I value their feedback on how I can make my simple webpage better and more attractive to visitors.

 Where the feedback form is so simple to use, it takes no time at all for visitors to your site to post a quick comment in order to suggest improvements. Making the form simple and easy to use eliminates the possibility of the visitor getting frustrated with the length of time it will take them to provide feedback, thus avoiding feedback altogether.

 With constructive criticism we can all make our websites a better and more attractive stop along the endless options on the Internet. While I have yet to have any feedback on my website at the time of this blog, I do intend on taking suggestions, especially if there is a common theme amongst the feedback I receive, and improve upon my first experience with making a webpage.

Web Applications Review - Week 6 Topic

This week in class we were tasked with finding applications on the web that interest us and our experience in using them. My only real experience has been with this application (www.blogger.com), so I reviewed how I have used it so far.

 As I stated in my discussion post, the blogger web application allows for simple posting of blog material. It is easy to use, and key features are displayed in an easy to find format. Much of the computer code work is taken out of your hands by simply clicking on the "add video" or "add picture" buttons on the top of the page. Those who have read my post in the discussion forum know that I referred to the application as so easy to use that instead of my weekly blog posts seeming like a homework assignment, I actually enjoy doing it and see it as more of a hobby than a chore.

 The best thing about our class discussion forum is that it allows for everyone to share there own experiences with a particular topic and this week has proven no different. In reading through posts I have since tried out the Pandora application for Internet Radio, as well as the "MapMyRun" web application, to map out future routes and keep track of my weekly mileage. This is extremely useful as I continue to prepare for the National Law Enforcement Memorial 5k to be held in Washington DC in May.

 As of the time of this blog post I have yet to have anyone respond to my post about blogger.com but if people are like me they too appreciate the simplicity of the application.

WebApps: Police Tool or Police Spy?

 In my previous blog post I discussed the application MobilePD, and how it helps link police and citizens 24 hours a day for emergency notifications and significant information. There's no doubt this can be helpful but how have web apps changed the way we operate as police officers?

 Two applications, especially for smartphones, have really changed the way officers do their daily duties. The application OpenWatch (www.openwatch.net) acts as a forum where users can upload media files from its' counterpart application CopRecorder (https://market.android.com/details?id=org.ale.coprecord&hl=en) for everyone to listen to. Essentially a user hits the button for their application on their smartphone while interacting with an officer, which secretly records the audio of the interaction. This can be done prior to the officer approaching them, which keeps the recording itself discrete. Users then immediately upload the recording anonymously to the OpenWatch application, which can then be accessed by anyone from the Internet to listen to the recordings online.

 I've always been a believer in the fact that if you do your job the right way you have nothing to worry about.  In some states however, police officers that use cruiser dashboard cameras have to advise the person they pull over that they're being audio and video recorded. Some states have ruled that the citizens can opt not to be, but others say you lose your right to privacy when being held on a traffic stop. Yet if the citizen records the officer, even if the recording is deemed illegal, the officer will still get in trouble with his/her department instead of ruling that the recording was unconstitutional.

 I understand that there are officers who need to work on their attitudes, but take the number of police officers in this country and group them together. Of course out of hundreds of thousands you're going to find employees who need attitude adjustments. Working in an office of 15 people you'll find one or two who need adjustments.

Web Apps: Your Local Police In Your Pocket

 The invention of smartphones have given us access to up to the minute events almost as soon as they occur. In addition to social media websites, certain applications can be downloaded to your smartphone or to your PC that allow you to follow day to day events while you're at work. Have you ever wondered what's going on in your town while you're sitting in your office? Wouldn't you like to know if there's a significant event (house fire, house break, armed robbery) going on in your neighborhood as you sit in your office miles from home? Sure you're going to get major news through your news feed that you subscribe to, but what about stuff that may be important to you, but might not be headline newsworthy?

 One mobile/web application called "mobilePD" (www.gomobilepd.com) allows for users to subscribe to their local police department, if the department adopts this program. The program gives the user up to date information to crimes in a given area by pinpointing on a town map, what calls are going on at a specific location. There is a section for news that allows for users to read up to the minute press releases authorized by the Chief of Police, videos with direct links to the department's YouTube channel, access to photos posted by the department, to include photos from community events and wanted posters, tips where users can submit anonymous tips to the department without having to get overly involved, and a section where the user can sign up for alerts from the local PD when an event is happening. The alerts can be extremely helpful if your power has gone out, or if there is a sudden need to boil your water due to contaminate levels and traffic delays for your evening commute home.

 Advancements like this is helpful to both the citizen and the police department. From the citizen standpoint it allows for 24 hour access to significant events from wherever they may be at any given time. From the police department's standpoint, things like when the power goes out and when it comes back on cut down on phone calls to the dispatcher, allowing for lines to be free for true police emergencies.