Technology Applications: Tools for Law Enforcement
Vicki S. Williams, Barry Williams · 2017
Many patrol cars carry laptop computers that are connected to databases that allow on-the-spot checks of vehicle registration and driver identification. Sensitive satellite videophone transmissions must be electronically encrypted, yet another function of technology and an area of research and development. Law enforcement officers literally have the world at their fingertips regarding communication. Most states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and California maintain a state law enforcement Web site with areas for public relations information topics and password-protected areas for official access. The Internet and the World Wide Web offer a vast source of information and an opportunity to share information. Encryption is the electronic scrambling and descrambling, coding and decoding of information, or making the readable unreadable and then readable again. Computers can be used to hack into a company’s computer system and alter information or transfer documents and falsify transactions.