Implementation of Technology

Implementation of Technology: Local Police Department

William Fogg

OGL 365 – Module 2 Research Topic

September 20th, 2021

 Technology is and will continue to be an extremely important resource for most

organizations, regardless of what field you are in. The implementation of technology is

especially important as you are attempting to define what technological requirements are needed

to ensure you organization is running in the most efficient way possible. There are many things

that coincide with implementing technology and it is a necessity to understand how important it

is.

Technology has an abundance of reasons as to why it should be one of the priorities of your

organization. The advances of technology are typically working to increase productivity while

also making jobs easier and less stressful. Technology has the capability to increase knowledge

and ultimately reduce problems within an organization. The ability to define what technology to

use within your organization is extremely important as well.

Local police departments are constantly trying to upgrade their technology used to increase

efficiency and public satisfaction. There are several specific types of technology used by most

departments that they heavily rely on to assure the job is being done the right way.

Axon body-cameras is a commonly used piece of equipment by most police departments.

They are used and activated by officers when they are contacting the public whether it be a civil

traffic stop or a domestic violence situation to record the entire encounter. This type of

innovation ultimately makes any situation safer for the public and officers. The footage produced

by the body cameras are commonly used as evidence in prosecution and are often viewed to

assure that the police report written by the officer is accurate. With the current climate

surrounding law enforcement, this type of innovation helps hold all parties accountable for their

actions.
 The single handedly most important piece of technology we use would have to be our

radio. There are not any law enforcement organizations that I know of that do not use radios.

Police departments are extremely reliant on proper uses of communication, and it would be

difficult to do so without radios. A couple key uses departments and officers use their radios for,

would be to communicate information on a call, to communicate their location, and

communicate their needs. This gives officers the ability to travel throughout the city conducting

police work while staying safe.

Police departments all over the world use different types of computer software to document

incidents and arrests. A local department in Arizona uses a software called iLeads. This software

keeps track of names that are contacted in a civil or criminal manner. This also keeps track of

addresses, vehicles, and criminal history associated with names, so officers have a better

understanding of who they are contacting. This department has used iLeads for over a decade

and have recently decided to innovate and choose a better software as iLeads is slightly outdated.

Since there is so much documentation that is associated with iLeads, it is a relatively lengthy

process to implement this new technology.

There are several factors that help decide what types of technology police departments are

going to use. One of the factors would be if the technology is practical. Meaning, if there are

more viable options that do the same job. Another factor that a department may use when

implementing technology would be reliability. With the type of work environment that law

enforcement is, we need to assure that the technology we are using is extremely reliable.

Most local police departments can be considered a mix between early and late majority

when regarding to what stage they are in adopting innovation. Police departments do not have

the ability to take risks on certain types of technology so they can not be early adopters. There
really are no benefits to being the first department using a specific type of technology making it

unnecessary to do so.

Whenever a new piece of technology is presented to police departments, there is typically a

group of officers who schedule meetings and discuss the implementation. I spoke with one of the

officers that is part of the board to do so. He informed me that they constantly receive

information on new technology from the manufacturers. The manufacturers will often send a

piece of their equipment to the department so that it could be tested in the field. After a series of

testing, they will weigh out the pros and cons for that piece of equipment and discuss whether it

deems fit for their organization or not. I think this is a very productive way to implement new

technology as this series of board members are typically the same people who would use it daily.

I find that this makes more sense than to have higher ups make the decision when they would not

be the ones using it.

When there are new technologies implemented in an organization, it is extremely important

to educate your organization on how to use it. Our local police department uses frequent

trainings on old and new pieces of technology. There is no benefit to innovation when those

using it, do not know how to work it properly. For example, our department had recently been

issued new tasers. Though these tasers are very similar to the ones we had, the way they shoot is

completely different. It was very important for our officers to go to these mandatory trainings to

have a better understanding of how to use them. Typically, if you a using a taser, it is going to be

a high stress situation. It is known that when a human endures stress, there IQ drops. These

constant trainings allow you to revert to them in high stress situations.

 There is an abundance of reasons as to why it is important for police departments to stay up

to date on technological advances. Every department needs to have an implementation plan that

assures the technology being adopted is suitable and a proper fit for their organization.

The development of technology is typically done so to increase the value of life for human

beings. With that said, technology makes the job of being a police officer, much safer than

without. There are so many pieces of technology that are used daily that could potentially save a

life. Not only is this new technology important for the safety of police, but the safety to the

public as well. Just like any position in any job, there are individuals who have no business being

in the profession. I will be the first to tell you that body cameras are extremely helpful to both

officers and the public. Another reason why local police departments should implement new

technology, would be the quality of work that can be done. With all the advances in tech, we can

solve crimes at a much higher success rate, which ultimately increases public satisfaction.

Not many people understand the amount of technology used by their local police

department and how that technology is implemented. We discussed a few of the important pieces

of technology that are commonly used nationwide as well as how they are typically implemented

in the organization. From my understanding, most departments have some sort of board meeting,

regarding the testing and implementation of new technology. We also discussed the importance

of implementing new technology and how it could be beneficial for an organization beyond

profitability. Our lives revolve around technology, and it is only going to get more and more

advanced.
 References

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Master of Science in Law Enforcement and Public Safety Leadership program. He was the

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