During the past 20 years, technological advancement has created a major challenge for law enforcement officials. A variety of crimes have emerged that find law enforcement officials are ill prepared for the investigation and the prevention. This paper will focus on the challenges that these technological changes have brought about and the recommendations on how to deal with the same in turn enhancing the investigation and prevention of crimes.
One of the major challenges that technological advancement has brought about is that criminals have access to a variety of advanced weapons that help them commit crimes. Over the years the weapons sector has really changed and the technological advancement has led to there being a variety of weapons which are deadly. In most countries, the criminals are better armed than the law enforcement officers leading to the officers not being able to prevent the crimes. Some of the highly trained and well-armed criminals have managed to hurt and in extreme cases killedmany law enforcement officials. This shows that due to technological advancement, there has been advancement in the weapon sector enabling criminals to be highly armed and also have access to the weapons more easily.
Over the years, information and communication technologies have brought the world closer. This has been a major challenge for law enforcement officials. Due to modern telecommunication and information systems, criminals all over the world have managed to establish a network. They have been able to communicate and organize crimes all over the world. One of the major reasons why terrorist activities have increased is the advancement of the information and communication technologies. This, therefore, shows that due to the advancement in technology, criminal networks have been established. They use the same network to block investigations from law enforcement officials.
The other challenge brought by the advancement in technology is that the number of crimes has increased and the ability of the law enforcement officials to investigate has been curtailed through these same technologies. Through the use of computers, criminals have been able to obtainand process and protect information. This has enabled them to sidestep the investigations that are done by law enforcement officials leading to poor investigation. It is easy for example for criminals to make huge financial transactions because of the advancement of technology and also create wrong trails leading to them not being caught. This shows that technological advancement has led to the increase in the number of crimes and also led to the criminals hijacking investigations done by the law enforcement officials.
One way of ensuring that there is prevention of crimes and that the investigations are effective is by setting up laws that would govern how some of the technology is used. The information and communication technology for example has to be monitored and it should be under the control of the government. In appreciation of the global world all countries should make laws to ensure that the communication technology is not abused by criminals.
As already noted, the criminals are up to date with the latest technologies hence making it difficult for law enforcement officials to prevent and investigate crimes. The law enforcement officials should, therefore, be trained to use the latest technologies that would enable them to prevent and investigate crimes effectively.Additionally, it is recommended that the government should arm the law enforcement officials appropriately and ensure they have the appropriate technology to keep up with the criminals and eventually prevent crimes.
In conclusion technological advancement has led to a number of challenges to the law enforcement officials and various steps should be taken to deal with those challenges.
Works Cited
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Police Department City of New York. Crime and Enforcement Activity in New York City. 13 November 2013. 7 December 2013. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/analysis_and_planning/crime_and_enforcement_activity.shtml>.
Pollock, Joycelyn. Criminal Law. New York: Newnes, 2012.
Scheb, John. Criminal Law and Procedure. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010.
