Law-Enforcement Tech: Online Resources

Below is a list of links to reports, congressional studies and sites dedicated to understanding and improving the state of the nation’s law enforcement technology as it relates to crime fighting, the New York Police Department, the FBI and the Office of Homeland Security.

CRIME FIGHTING

Rand Institute report: “Challenges and Choice for Crime-Fighting Technology”
Washington DC-based think tank the RAND Institute studies the technology in use or needed by the nation’s law enforcement agencies and explores the obstacles that exist in adopting new technology.


NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT

McKinsey & Co. Report: “Improving NYPD Emergency Preparedness and Response”
In this internal review of the NYPD’s response to the terrorist attacks, McKinsey & Co., a management-consulting firm, finds that the department’s ineffective information devices undermined its disaster preparedness.

George L. Kelling and William H. Sousa Jr., Manhattan Institute, “Do Police Matter?”
This report, which analyzes the theories behind the declining crime rate in New York City in the 1990s, finds that the use of CompStat technology played a major role in the drop.

Heather MacDonald, City Journal, “Keeping New York Safe From Terrorists”
This article notes that the incompatible information gathering techniques of the NYPD and the FBI may have stunted the investigation of the terrorist attacks.

Bernard E. Harcourt, “Policing Disorder”
This article delves into the theory that tolerating minor crimes encourages more serious crime—a notion made popular during New York City’s crime-reduction wave of the 1990s.

Timeline of NYPD computer and communications advances
An 85-year timeline of the NYPD’s computer and communications technology improvements, presented by the city government’s Management Information Systems Division.


FBI

Congressional Statement on information technology and the FBI by Assistant FBI Director Bob Dies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports
List of crimes committed in U.S. broken down by type.

A chronology of significant terrorist incidents between 1961-2001


HOMELAND SECURITY

The President’s Homeland Security Department proposal

Testimony by International Association of Chiefs of Police President William Berger, former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen., Patrick Hughes, former National Security Agency Director Lt. Gen., William Odom, and others before the Senate Government Affairs Committee’s review of the relationship between Homeland Security and the intelligence community.