ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the technology can be used to help fulfill recommendations of the United States President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. It looks at how emerging technology could be used to enhance practice and foster legitimacy, particularly within communities having an extensive history of poor police–citizen interactions. Technological innovations for police have typically centered on officer safety and effectiveness or increased efficiency. Law enforcement agencies have a long history of implementing the latest technological advancements to improve performance. Closed circuit television (CCTV) systems as policing tools have a two-fold purpose: to provide a form of guardianship when officer resources are inevitably absent and to assist police in clearing cases that might prove difficult without video evidence. Police use of social media typically emphasizes information flow from the public to the police, but information can also be effectively disseminated by the police to the public as a social order function.
