Effective communication is essential for successful police professionals and law enforcement organizations. Discuss the historical development of communication technologies and explain any pros and/or cons of these technological advances.

This week we will continue with what you plan to do after your graduate from Strayer. In Week 1, you were asked about where you wanted to work. This week, please describe the Agency or Organization that you want to work for or a promotion that you are currently seeking. Discuss its mission, culture, and how you will fit in once you have your degree.

RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:

According to the book, they discussed the history and pros/cons. Since the 1920s where they had placed radios in police cars was considered a significant advancement. As we fast forward, another evolved to lock call boxes attached streetlight poles housed telephones that beat cops could use to call “head quarters” to exchange current or important information. Now we see development of laptop computers , smartphones, videotaping devices, as well as “spy satellites” and highly sophisticated wiretapping devices. These sources allow patrol officers to communicate almost instantly with other offices or a command post with e-mail. Police officers can check an individual’s fingerprints from his or her computer, a process that used to require taking an individual into custody, taking his or her prints with ink imprints placed on a form, and sending the request into the FBI for print identification. The pros to that are that it is fast, and they do not have to wait for weeks for the result.

However, the cons can be sharing the information with other counties or agencies. The barriers to valid and reliable communication are human failings that can’t be cured or eliminated by technology. Intelligence agencies, inability or unwillingness to share information may have prevented the development of a body of information that, in turn, might have helped prevent the terrorists’ attack on the World Trade Center on September eleventh, 2001, the 9/11 attack perpetrated by Al Qaida. Federal law enforcement and intelligence gathering agencies rarely communicate with each other and, therefore, did not share intelligence. Rather, the agencies often horded intelligence for their own gain and had little trust in sister agencies. The struggle to coordinate intelligence gathering and to coordinate communication efforts led to the creation of the super agency—the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).