Identify a contemporary issue or case that exemplifies an emerging or evolving issue or problem that will affect how law enforcement is applied in the future.

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Assignment: Predicting Precedent Based on History

Continuing with the cell phone example from the Discussion, certain issues related to society’s adoption of smartphones continue to evolve. In addition to global positioning, cell phone cameras have the ability to record interactions with law enforcement. That simple act actually presents a wide array of still unresolved issues, from public trust in law enforcement to law enforcement’s own ability or confidence to act in such a transparent environment. Is there any precedent for these types of issues? If so, how could they inform a path forward? In this Assignment, you examine the past to predict the future.

To prepare:

  • Identify a contemporary issue or case that exemplifies an emerging or evolving issue or problem that will affect how law enforcement is applied in the future.
    • The contemporary issue does not need to be a “current event” from the news now. An issue that is a few years old is acceptable, and in fact, may have more research available.
  • Find two more sources for your paper to add to the three used in your annotated bibliography.
  • Keep these tips in mind:
    • This choice does not need to be from a current event from recent months. You may choose an item that has evolved over recent years or even decades, understanding that certain issues take longer to evolve.
    • The choice of an issue for this Assignment differs from the Discussion in that the Discussion asks you to work with an event or decision for which you use present circumstances to “trace backward” a prediction. This Assignment is asking you to choose an issue that has been evolving over time and may not be resolved, in order to make your own evidence-based prediction.

Write a 750 word paper that identifies a contemporary issue or case that exemplifies an emerging issue or problem that will affect how law enforcement is applied in the future. Address the following in relation to that issue:

  • Explain how past events or circumstances inform or relate to the contemporary issue. If past events do not relate to the contemporary issue, explain why, and explain how the issue evolved independently. To answer these prompts, address the following:
    • Is there a historic precedent for the issue?
    • Is the issue one that has never been resolved?
  • Explain the role law enforcement historically has played in the contemporary issue.
  • Explain the role law enforcement currently has in relation to the issue.
  • Explain how these various factors point to a precedent, decision, and/or policy that will affect law enforcement in the future.

Be sure to support your responses with evidence from five sources, three of which can be the sources that you found in Week 1.

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: PREDICTING PRECEDENT BASED 1

ON HISTORY

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: PREDICTING PRECEDENT BASED ON HISTORY 4

Annotated Bibliography Assignment: Predicting Precedent Based on History

Linda Dotson

Walden University

June 8, 2019

Annotated Bibliography Assignment: Predicting Precedent Based on History

Society’s adoption of mobile phones keeps changing, as people prefer gadgets with updated technology. Features such as mobile cameras, and audio recorders allow users to record information to be shared with a larger audience. Advancement of these features means that cameras can take clear pictures and videos even in poorly lit or distanced events. Apps allow cell phone users better options to advance these features. This means that besides recording fun events, users can collect criminal evidence as well as policing activities, which can be easily shared with a wider public on internet platforms such as social media in a matter of minutes. This is a trend eliminates reliance on the media for information. This paper will look at how four sources discuss how the evolution of mobile phones is changing law enforcement.

Annotated Bibliography

Newnam, J. (May 10, 2013). Fighting Crime with Mobile Technology: Retrieved from https://www.southuniversity.edu/whoweare/newsroom/blog/fighting-crime-with-mobile-technology-137309

Newnam’s article discusses the benefit of mobile technologies in fighting crime. Cell phones are essential in tracking criminal evidence as well as tracking a carrier’s location. Additionally, people can record information and present it to the police thus improving community policing.

The source is analytical and offers details on how cell phones help with fighting crime. The author discusses how phone tracking can be done to easily locate phone users who could be involved in crime as suspects or victims. They also retain evidence, which can be easily retrieved.

Newman’s article is reasonably comprehensive in scope. The innovation of smart phones with mobile cameras is helping to change the future of law enforcement in crime and evidence. In the past, evidence relied on eyewitness accounts.

Police Executive Research Forum: 2014. Future Trends in Policing. Washington, D.C.: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

This article supports Week 2 Assignment paper’s topic regarding the changing trend in policing owing to the advancement of technology such as mobile phones and devices among others. As such, the authors argue the need for the police to shift trends in policing to match the evolving trend in advancing technology.

This source is comprehensive in scope as it examines the existing situation in the modern era in relation to how it affects policing. Smart phones for example are changing predictive policing and intelligence led-policing. Such initiatives will help in reducing and preventing community crime, which will increase public trust in the law enforcement system.

Considering that this source is a detailed report on the future trends of policing, it will offer me the opportunity to frame my point based upon the perspective presented in the article.

Radio Boston. (August 10, 2015). How Do Cell Phones Affect Community Policing? Retrieved from https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2015/08/10/cell-video-policing

This article discusses the impact of cell phones on community policing in the modern era. In the article, Radio Boston notes how cell phones have shifted power to the people through social media platforms. By this, anyone can record police interactions and share it on social media.

People have recorded police activities on their phones and shared it online, meaning that police no longer enjoy the privacy they had when the only reporting option was the media, a thing that was not there in the past. This element has changed the relationship between police and society. The article examines this newly found democracy as well as the need for legislation that protects the police while at duty as well.

This source presents a neutral perspective from both the police and the public’s argument. As such, it provides a fair ground for arguing how cell phones affect the quality of community policing.

Waldman, R. (December 20, 2018). Cell phones Law Enforcement, and the Right to Privacy. Retrieved from https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/cellphones-law-enforcement-privacy

Waldman talks about the way cellular technology has changed how the government tracks individuals’ locations and activities with ease. The author notes how service providers collect detailed information regarding the whereabouts of a person. Considering that almost every person now owns a cell phone unlike the situation in the past, it has become so easy to conduct this activity.

This article supports my Week 2 Assignment paper from a different perspective as it shows how cell phones can now be easily used to gather valuable personal data and this has certainly changed the public’s interaction with law enforcement.

Waldman’s article is helpful in supporting my argument about how irresolvable issues can be solved now as well as in the future, which can be very helpful in increasing public trust in the law enforcement system. On the other hand, this subject raises the question of the right to privacy. As such, this paper will help to delineate my argument on this issue.

References

Newnam, J. (May 10, 2013). Fighting Crime with Mobile Technology. Retrieved from https://www.southuniversity.edu/whoweare/newsroom/blog/fighting-crime-with-mobile-technology-137309

Police Executive Research Forum. 2014. Future Trends in Policing. Washington, D.C.: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

Radio Boston. (August 10, 2015). How Do Cell Phones Affect Community Policing? Retrieved from https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2015/08/10/cell-video-policing

Waldman, R. (December 20, 2018). Cell phones, Law Enforcement, and the Right to Privacy. Retrieved from https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/cellphones-law-enforcement-privacy