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.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
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.
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.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Internet Search Engines and Policing
Keeping with this week's topic of Internet search engines and their effect on society, I thought I'd take a look at how searching the internet has made the job of a police officer a lot easier during daily duties and investigations.
Countless times in my career, I have used a google search to get information about a suspect identified in a crime. One specific example without revealing too many details. came up about a year ago when we were looking for a suspect who kept breaking into cars in town and stealing items left inside. Once we learned the name of a possible suspect, I googled the suspect's name which led me to their Twitter page. Something that a lot of people don't know is that unless you set your profile so that people have to request to follow you, in order to see your 'tweets', all of your posts are able to be read by putting your username into a google search. As a result, sure enough we were able to find the suspect tweeting out that he had several GPS units for sale. Ultimately this led to a search warrant for his residence and we were able to recover several of the items stolen from the cars.
Other times, I've used google searches to get phone numbers for police departments out of state, if my investigation led me to need information from an out-of-state. Often times we call other police departments to see what kind of local contact history they have had while that person was living in their city or town. Similarly typing a suspects name into a search engine may provide you with an address or phone number for him/her that was otherwise unknown.
As you can see an internet search has made the ability to obtain information easier. The ease of getting the initial basic information has led to speeding up investigations. Not many police shows on tv are very accurate in their depiction of how an investigation is conducted, however the one thing they do have right is that when you're trying to solve a crime, time is critical. The longer you go without solving the case the greater likelihood of the case not getting solved. Therefore the quicker you can get the basic information on a suspect, the quicker you can concentrate on actual details of the crime.
Countless times in my career, I have used a google search to get information about a suspect identified in a crime. One specific example without revealing too many details. came up about a year ago when we were looking for a suspect who kept breaking into cars in town and stealing items left inside. Once we learned the name of a possible suspect, I googled the suspect's name which led me to their Twitter page. Something that a lot of people don't know is that unless you set your profile so that people have to request to follow you, in order to see your 'tweets', all of your posts are able to be read by putting your username into a google search. As a result, sure enough we were able to find the suspect tweeting out that he had several GPS units for sale. Ultimately this led to a search warrant for his residence and we were able to recover several of the items stolen from the cars.
Other times, I've used google searches to get phone numbers for police departments out of state, if my investigation led me to need information from an out-of-state. Often times we call other police departments to see what kind of local contact history they have had while that person was living in their city or town. Similarly typing a suspects name into a search engine may provide you with an address or phone number for him/her that was otherwise unknown.
As you can see an internet search has made the ability to obtain information easier. The ease of getting the initial basic information has led to speeding up investigations. Not many police shows on tv are very accurate in their depiction of how an investigation is conducted, however the one thing they do have right is that when you're trying to solve a crime, time is critical. The longer you go without solving the case the greater likelihood of the case not getting solved. Therefore the quicker you can get the basic information on a suspect, the quicker you can concentrate on actual details of the crime.
Internet Search Engines
This week our discussion in class was the effect of internet search engines on society. In the past you'd have to go to the library or look up a number in a local telephone directory book. Today however 'Google' has become a verb in our society.
One of my classmates made a great point about how far we've come just in the sense of looking up telephone numbers. The student mentioned how we used to have to wait for the updated version of the Yellow Pages phone book to show up to the house to get numbers for contractors, pizza shops, and bakeries. Today, you can either go to the Yellow Pages online or you can type into a google search the type of business you are looking for and it will automatically return businesses with their listed phone numbers within a certain radius of your computer's IP address. As a result, the student, like many of us, take that Yellow Pages phone book that we get and put it right into the recycling bin for the next week's collection.
The other common theme throughout the discussion was how internet searches have changed how we use the library. I remember being in school full-time and dreading spending my weekend doing research in a library. Now with just some filtering as to what websites are providing legitimate information, you can do most, if not all, of your research for a project by using search engines. Some university libraries even allow for students to access some of their content online.
Finally, I made the point of how we can now use the internet for product reviews, specifically when it comes to restaurants and makes/models of cars. By just typing in the name of the restaurant you want to eat at into an internet search engine, you will get an instant return of hundreds of reviews on that particular restaurant. Although for every one bad review you can usually find an equally written positive review, if you start to see the same issues constantly come up, you can make your own determination. I personally just had an example of this while searching for a new car to buy. I'm looking for a 2nd car so I don't want to buy new simply for back and forth to work so I figured I'd take a look at used options. I came across several 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee's that I was interested in. Reviews of the car however revealed that many people were having serious electrical problems that the dealership couldn't trace to a common problem. Sure enough if you type into a google search "Jeep Grand Cherokee" it will autofill with some of the most commonly searched for terms, one of which is "Jeep Grand Cherokee Electrical Problems". This research made me immediately eliminate the Grand Cherokee from my list of vehicles that I'd look to purchase.
I think search engines are really appreciated by those of us who are in our early 30s as we all remember in grade school having to go to the library, flip through that indexed card catalog, try to find the book on the shelf considering someone put it back in the right spot, and then finally putting pen to paper to complete a project, Today even this blog can be looked up just by typing the name of it into a search engine and is available for anyone to see,.
One of my classmates made a great point about how far we've come just in the sense of looking up telephone numbers. The student mentioned how we used to have to wait for the updated version of the Yellow Pages phone book to show up to the house to get numbers for contractors, pizza shops, and bakeries. Today, you can either go to the Yellow Pages online or you can type into a google search the type of business you are looking for and it will automatically return businesses with their listed phone numbers within a certain radius of your computer's IP address. As a result, the student, like many of us, take that Yellow Pages phone book that we get and put it right into the recycling bin for the next week's collection.
The other common theme throughout the discussion was how internet searches have changed how we use the library. I remember being in school full-time and dreading spending my weekend doing research in a library. Now with just some filtering as to what websites are providing legitimate information, you can do most, if not all, of your research for a project by using search engines. Some university libraries even allow for students to access some of their content online.
Finally, I made the point of how we can now use the internet for product reviews, specifically when it comes to restaurants and makes/models of cars. By just typing in the name of the restaurant you want to eat at into an internet search engine, you will get an instant return of hundreds of reviews on that particular restaurant. Although for every one bad review you can usually find an equally written positive review, if you start to see the same issues constantly come up, you can make your own determination. I personally just had an example of this while searching for a new car to buy. I'm looking for a 2nd car so I don't want to buy new simply for back and forth to work so I figured I'd take a look at used options. I came across several 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee's that I was interested in. Reviews of the car however revealed that many people were having serious electrical problems that the dealership couldn't trace to a common problem. Sure enough if you type into a google search "Jeep Grand Cherokee" it will autofill with some of the most commonly searched for terms, one of which is "Jeep Grand Cherokee Electrical Problems". This research made me immediately eliminate the Grand Cherokee from my list of vehicles that I'd look to purchase.
I think search engines are really appreciated by those of us who are in our early 30s as we all remember in grade school having to go to the library, flip through that indexed card catalog, try to find the book on the shelf considering someone put it back in the right spot, and then finally putting pen to paper to complete a project, Today even this blog can be looked up just by typing the name of it into a search engine and is available for anyone to see,.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Styling a website review
When I first took this course, I was a little worried about how I would do with the techincal aspect of it. By no means do I consider myself tehcnologically inept, but having taken a computer programming course in high school and not doing so well, I was worred this course would be similar and would be a constant struggle.
My bad thoughts were quickly turned around however as the professor for my particular course does a fantastic job walking you through step by step on how to do things, explaining each step with his youtube video clips, along the way. If you're still stuck, he offers several areas of help to get the job done.
During my time using the Internet, I have always viewed several websites and said to myself "wow I can't imagine all the work it takes to keep this up". In the end, it's not so much doing the work that's the hard part, it's more keeping up and building upon what you've learned. I found the easiest way to keep up with your website is to do what most of my classmates did and personalize it to your liking so that you enjoy keeping up with it, making it more like a hobby than a school assignment.
My bad thoughts were quickly turned around however as the professor for my particular course does a fantastic job walking you through step by step on how to do things, explaining each step with his youtube video clips, along the way. If you're still stuck, he offers several areas of help to get the job done.
During my time using the Internet, I have always viewed several websites and said to myself "wow I can't imagine all the work it takes to keep this up". In the end, it's not so much doing the work that's the hard part, it's more keeping up and building upon what you've learned. I found the easiest way to keep up with your website is to do what most of my classmates did and personalize it to your liking so that you enjoy keeping up with it, making it more like a hobby than a school assignment.
Social Media and Law Enforcement
As stated in an earlier post, I briefly mentioned social media websites and their impact on law enforcement. I wanted to take some time to talk about that in this week's post in a little more detail, specifically Facebook and Twitter.
When Facebook first started, I remember not being able to join because at the time you needed a ".edu" email addresss, meaning you had to either be attending or be an alum of a college in order to join. At the time I had left Northeastern and was working full time so I could not logon to experience what it was like.
Since that time, Facebook has opened its doors to everyone, allowing for us to keep track of our old friends, coworkers, family, and classmates. For most of us, checking our facebook accounts, has become as part of our morning routine as grabbing a cup of coffee. The facebook craze has gotten so popular that many businesses have blocked it from their servers, not allowing employees to log into their accounts during their work hours.
Similar to Facebook, but slightly different in its design and operation, is the social media website Twitter. By subscribing to "follow" other users, your timeline gets fed with fair ly close to real time updates as they happen.
So how can keeping up with your friends possibly help law enforcement you ask? For starters, just as is the case with YouTube channels, people who "friend" or "follow" individual police departments have access to information put out during an emergency as it happens. As an example, during the October snowstorm that caused days worth of power outages for many throughout the state, my local police department posted constant updates from National Grid via their Twitter page. Despite the wireless internet routers not working, many were able to use the internet via the high speed networks their cell phone companies provide, to access Twitter. In the example given, I was able to do just that as I followed the police department in the town where I live. My particular department continued to update their Twitter page every few hours as to the number of reported outages, as was reported to them via National Grid conference calls. Although the days without power were frustrating, to see the number of outages dwindle in real time, at least let me know that an end to the outages were near. Not only does this help the citizens but it also cuts down on the number of phone calls by citizens asking for updates to the police department's main number, leaving the lines open for emergency calls only.
Many departments utilize their facebook and Twitter pages for thist type of general information that would normally result in a high call volume into the police station, sometimes overwhelming the dispatcher so much that overtime would need to be called in to assist in answering the phones. So not only does it help take some of the pressure off of the dispatcher allowing for them to concentrate on the emergency calls for service, but it also allows police chief's to stay within their operating budgets by not having to call out for overtime to handle call volume.
When Facebook first started, I remember not being able to join because at the time you needed a ".edu" email addresss, meaning you had to either be attending or be an alum of a college in order to join. At the time I had left Northeastern and was working full time so I could not logon to experience what it was like.
Since that time, Facebook has opened its doors to everyone, allowing for us to keep track of our old friends, coworkers, family, and classmates. For most of us, checking our facebook accounts, has become as part of our morning routine as grabbing a cup of coffee. The facebook craze has gotten so popular that many businesses have blocked it from their servers, not allowing employees to log into their accounts during their work hours.
Similar to Facebook, but slightly different in its design and operation, is the social media website Twitter. By subscribing to "follow" other users, your timeline gets fed with fair ly close to real time updates as they happen.
So how can keeping up with your friends possibly help law enforcement you ask? For starters, just as is the case with YouTube channels, people who "friend" or "follow" individual police departments have access to information put out during an emergency as it happens. As an example, during the October snowstorm that caused days worth of power outages for many throughout the state, my local police department posted constant updates from National Grid via their Twitter page. Despite the wireless internet routers not working, many were able to use the internet via the high speed networks their cell phone companies provide, to access Twitter. In the example given, I was able to do just that as I followed the police department in the town where I live. My particular department continued to update their Twitter page every few hours as to the number of reported outages, as was reported to them via National Grid conference calls. Although the days without power were frustrating, to see the number of outages dwindle in real time, at least let me know that an end to the outages were near. Not only does this help the citizens but it also cuts down on the number of phone calls by citizens asking for updates to the police department's main number, leaving the lines open for emergency calls only.
Many departments utilize their facebook and Twitter pages for thist type of general information that would normally result in a high call volume into the police station, sometimes overwhelming the dispatcher so much that overtime would need to be called in to assist in answering the phones. So not only does it help take some of the pressure off of the dispatcher allowing for them to concentrate on the emergency calls for service, but it also allows police chief's to stay within their operating budgets by not having to call out for overtime to handle call volume.
YouTube and Policing
This week our assignment in the classroom was geared towards uploading videos and pictures to our newly created web pages. Staying within that frame of mind, I'd like to specifically concentrate this week's blog on how YouTube has assisted police departments around the country in apprehending criminals when a crime occurs.
When you start your own account on YouTube, you are then able to create your "channel" which allows users to subscribe to you where they can view all video uploads that you specifically have posted on the YouTube website. As is the case with individuals, many police departments have now started their own channels that people can subscribe to. The content on department channels are everything from recruitment videos, to preparing potential candidates for a physical fitness test requirement, to surveillance video taken from a recent robbery.
Although the technology is new, particularly in regards to surveillance camera footage of a crime trying to identify a suspect, it is a great way to reach a large number of people at any point during the day. People are able to view the department's content at any point during the day, instead of hoping they catch the footage on the nightly news broadcasts.
When you start your own account on YouTube, you are then able to create your "channel" which allows users to subscribe to you where they can view all video uploads that you specifically have posted on the YouTube website. As is the case with individuals, many police departments have now started their own channels that people can subscribe to. The content on department channels are everything from recruitment videos, to preparing potential candidates for a physical fitness test requirement, to surveillance video taken from a recent robbery.
Although the technology is new, particularly in regards to surveillance camera footage of a crime trying to identify a suspect, it is a great way to reach a large number of people at any point during the day. People are able to view the department's content at any point during the day, instead of hoping they catch the footage on the nightly news broadcasts.
Below I have provided a few videos as an example from my old department the Arlington County Police Department (VA).
This first video is an example of a recruitment video. All officer's involved are actual police officers with the department and the scenarios have at one point or another actually occurred. The suspects in the video are actually police officers playing a role.
This video is an example of a preview of the physical agility entrance test required for applicants to successfully pass in order to move on in the hiring process. In my experience in any entrance physical agility exam, a large number of applicants are generally eliminated as a result of not being able to pass this test. Many applicants attribute this to not being prepared for what's required of them. With the information available on YouTube, applicants can now create their own practice test in order to be better prepared for what lies ahead. Although the statistical information on how effective it is would be hard to figure out without taking surveys and finding out what applicants prepared based on the video, one would assume that those who prepare have a higher passing rate.
This final video is an example of surveillance footage of a robbery suspect from a local pharmacy. The video is released and put out to the public to attempt to identify the suspect involved. Police hope that this leads to anonymous tips from people who recognize the suspect but do not want to get involved in the case.
As you can see, YouTube has really assisted law enforcement in several different ways. Although officers must be more careful now, as private citizens are capable of taking videos of everything you do as an officer and uploading immediately through their phone, my take on it has always been if you're doing your job the way it's supposed to be done, cameras can only help make your case in court.
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