Upon reading Avalos’ article, “Police Use New Technologies to Fight Crime,” I was intrigued by the fact that police officers’ day-to-day tasks are becoming increasingly intermingled with advancements in technology and by how quickly the technological progressions are happening. Years ago, tools like, “body cameras, in-vehicle computers, license plate readers, facial recognition technologies, and even mobile consoles for fingerprint reading,” would have been incredulous or unfathomable (Avalos, 2016). With these technological advancements, citizens would be under more scrutiny, are more likely to behave properly and remain law-abiding citizens. In essence, this increase in supervision would possibly result in less people engaging in illegal activities since law enforcement officers would now “stay well ahead of criminals and wrongdoers” (Avalos, 2016). Consequently, these improvements in technology can pave the way for increasing the control of crime. …show more content…
However, Avalos (2016) also correctly mentions updated technological tools come with drawbacks. When body, street, and drone camera footage, along with license plate readers and facial recognition software are used, massive databases could be created. Arguably, the information contained in those databases was “improperly gathered” in such a way that it would violate citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights. This is said as, “cameras create privacy concerns . . .and legal complications” for both the public and the officer (Siegel & Worrall, 2016, p.