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June 9, 2010 By Blake Harris, Editor
This Digital Communities special report focuses on some of the challenges and opportunities for law enforcement agencies in the digital age, especially the new or enhanced possibilities for collaboration and information sharing.
Of course, the underlying lesson for law enforcement is the same one that most institutions have had to learn in our rapidly changing world - adapt and evolve, or perish. But what makes this particularly challenging for law enforcement is that this must occur on two major fronts.
On one hand, crime organizations have moved onto the Internet big time. Federal statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show a 33 percent increase in cyber-crime complaints in 2008 from the previous year, and these now routinely include all manner of criminal enterprises, such as money laundering, check fraud, identity theft and credit card fraud.
And as the National Institute of Justice points out on its website, the overwhelming majority of law enforcement occurs at the state and local level. So while federal agencies may have a major responsibility in combating e-crime, they simply cannot handle the sheer number of incidents. Therefore, preventing and combating cyber-crime "depends on building relationships and partnerships in local communities."
On the other front - the one we deal with in more detail here - there's a continuing need to harness information and communication technology-based tools to drive new levels of collaboration and coordination across jurisdictions and agencies.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Law-Enforcement-in-a-Digital-Age.html
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