Cynthia Lum
Associate Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University
Key Findings
- The most common use of crime analytic technology in both sites was in responding to a call for service.
- Data from mobile computers were most valuable to increase officer safety when attending a call.
- Technology was most used to determine domestic violence history or criminal history before responding to a call or while in the field.
- The information that officers gathered from technology helped shape their decisions and responses.
- Greenvale officers reported using IT and crime analysis technologies to determine how to respond to a crime problem, how to proactively patrol, and provide general information more often than Avalon officers.
Description
In the article, “Understanding the Limits of Technology’s Impact on Police Effectiveness,” Lum and her co-authors examine the relationship between police and technology to determine if tech is advancing or impeding officers. To conduct their study, the authors used a mixed methods study utilizing surveys, interviews, and IT systems analysis at two sites with different historical use of crime analytic technologies. One site, named “Avalon,” was a primarily White with a multi ethnic minority, affluent, low-crime, urban/suburban county while the other site, “Greenvale,” was also primarily White but had a large minority Black population, with relatively higher crime rates in an urban county. Avalon had recently switched over to a new IT reporting system to improve efficiency and accuracy in their data. Greenvale had an older IT system in place, but it was well-developed and advanced. The results showed the most common use of crime analytic technology in both sites was in responding to a call for service. Data from mobile computers were most valuable to increase officer safety when attending a call. Interview data indicated that that technology was most used to determine domestic violence history or criminal history before responding to a call or while in the field. The information that officers gathered from technology helped shape their decisions and responses. Greenvale officers reported using IT and crime analysis technologies to determine how to respond to a crime problem, how to proactively patrol, and provide general information more often than Avalon officers. The researchers concluded that there are differences in departmental use of technology and the data shows that officers use it effectively in many aspects of their job.