Police tap technology to compensate for fewer officers

Washington — police agencies increasingly rely on technology and controversial social media invent a loss of thousands of officers and other law enforcement, deep budget analysts review books. By Mel Evans, AP

A few police agencies to take a step out of the sharing of investigative information in real time with private business groups on interactive websites to help prevent crime.

By Mel Evans, AP

A few police agencies to take a step out of the sharing of investigative information in real time with private business groups on interactive websites to help prevent crime.

Some of them, including the city of Albuquerque, take a step out of the sharing of investigative information in real time with private business groups on interactive websites to help prevent theft rings, find suspects in violent crimes and track fugitives. Albuquerque, which is a model for replication by agencies in Georgia, Minnesota, Washington and California, represents a significant break with law enforcement's long tradition of walling off the public information about the development of the investigations, said Police Chief Raymond Schultz Albuquerque. He said the loss to the grids help make up some 60 locations 2. This is the only part of the movement of law enforcement's attempts to hold the ground with less cops, detectives, analysts on the job. Technology never completely replace an officer, said Camden, N.J., police chief Scott Thomson250 class, which had been cut almost in half, an officer since 2006. We re just trying to leverage the technology … Appear larger than we are. Seat uses a combination of global positioning systems, detectors are located in areas with elevated throughout the city and cameras in order to identify problem areas and these officers to more effectively instead of waiting for calls from the public, which sometimes never comes. After installing technology shot-chcopa last autumnThe Department was informed that, the residents, many of which were made conditional shots, shooting incidents were not reported less 30% of the time in mind, ... a program exploring the computer ensures that the police vehicles pass through to the designated number of times a day or even by the hour. If your trip is missed, e-mail alert It s gonna commander. all about establishing a presence in the area, said Thomson on Austin police chief art Acevedo, is with another type of problem: officers not waiting for the public to purchase their own lagging funding video cameras concealed in pens miniature. about 50 police officers use devicesAnd it costs a little $ 50 each, to guard against false claims or abuse behavior. Acevedo support technology, but this month, his crew scrambled to develop guidelines for potential privacy concerns option, other issues. "financing (public) doesn t stream catch up with the technology available only, said Acevedo. this month, a survey of 70 large police agencies by the police Executive Research Forum-think tank Washington law enforcementFound 90% are designed to increase the use of various technologies, mainly aimed at deterring state-sponsored crime by adopting more efficient governance, strategies for Departments patrol vtgobt. technology strength multiplier, said Chuck Wexler, Executive Director of forum s. They are using this technology to better manage fewer resources, because only says, We don t have enough isn t officers cut it with the public. "forum s survey found 86% of the used some form of social media including Facebook, MySpace, TwitterNixle, YouTube and to monitor or follow up on the references and potential threats, despite reports that some police officers who abuse the sites at least 57% of. agencies report to deal with problem employees misuse possible social media sites, according to a survey forum s. violations include posting inappropriate photographs. "These are technologies, Said Nancy Kolb, who manages the Association of Chiefs of police, International Center for social media. It's a struggle for the enforcement of the law to know how they can be used In a beneficial way., Schulz said Albuquerque information-sharing partnerships with the department s market, banking, construction, hotel and accommodation industries produced a number of successful interactive Web sites., allowing security officers immediately post industry security camera photos of suspects involved in theft and otherHas factored in 18% decline in property crimes in 2010. Police information to identify the suspects more quickly, to warn other businesses connect can be future targets of criminals who have said that members of Schultz. victims can track the progress of police investigations on the Internet. They also receive regular updates about prosecutions. We re leverage technology (network of security cameras), private industry, have already said, adding that Schulz to 200 businesses to participate. It really took off. For more information about reprints, visit & for our frequently asked questions. To report corrections to vabarot, contact standards editor Jones Brent. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send your comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, telephone number, city and country for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections. usatoday.com. We have updated the guidelines of the conversation. Changes include a brief overview of the process of reduction and explains how to use the button "report". Read more.