Discussion 8 - orginial post
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Southern New Hampshire University *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
305
Subject
Information Systems
Date
Nov 24, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
1
Uploaded by SargentFreedomHawk19
Hi there to all of you.
Happy week 8, We made it!!
I discovered that there is a larger rate of technology misuse by law enforcement than I was aware
of while conducting research for this discussion post that would serve as an example of how it is misused in criminal justice. Several of the articles related tales of male law enforcement officers misusing their authority to obtain private information about women they had stopped for traffic violations, their ex-girlfriends, money, etc. For instance, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune revealed in 2013 that more than half of the 11,000 state police had improperly exploited driver data during
a state audit (Maass, 2016).
The instance in San Francisco, California, where Sergeant John Haggett entered the department's
secure database to do a criminal background check through the department's local records, is the subject of the article I've chosen to illustrate a specific example of technological misuse in criminal justice (Stanton et al., 2019). Haggert checked on his girlfriend's tenants by using his department account to search the FBI's criminal records, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). Haggett retired and subsequently entered a guilty plea with a $150 fee while the case against him was still
underway for one misdemeanor count of abusing DMV information. Hagert's use of technology was motivated by self-interest because the people he searched for were his girlfriend's tenants.
One tactic to stop this kind of abuse would be to make cops sign a daily tracking log for every search they carry out. After each shift, officers are required to turn in this tracking record to their supervisors. The daily monitoring logs should include all relevant details about the search, including the purpose, date, start and end times, and a list of the databases that were searched. To
ensure that no one is abusing law enforcement databases, supervisors should review these logs every day.
Providing law enforcement officials with easily trackable profiles is another tactic that could be used to stop abuse. If cops were aware that their database activity was being tracked by personal profiles, such knowledge would discourage them. By using this tactic, a higher-ranking officer or
supervisor will be able to determine whether an officer is performing searches more frequently. There need to be explicit rules and procedures for the use of technology in the criminal justice system, along with penalties for breaking them, to address technology misuse in this area.
References:
Maass, D. (2016, December 13). Police Around the Country Regularly Abuse Law Enforcement Databases. Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/09/police-
around-country-regularly-abuse-law-enforcement-databases
Stanton, S., Smith, D., & Wailoo, E. (2019, November 13). Hundreds of California police misuse
law enforcement computer databases, investigation shows. Palm Springs Desert Sun. https://eu.desertsun.com/story/news/2019/11/13/california-police-misuse-law-
enforcement-databases-computers/2509747001/
Discover more documents: Sign up today!
Unlock a world of knowledge! Explore tailored content for a richer learning experience. Here's what you'll get:
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help