By Jheremie Naval
Our society often depends on the police in our times of crisis, but what holds the police back from helping to respond immediately with our community is the lack of technology needed to respond to citizens in times of crises.
Crime rates have lately been getting higher in areas, such as London, UK, because police technology is “out of date, ineffective and expensive to maintain,” as The Guardian states.
A reporter from The Guardian 2017 claims that the Mets, A.K.A Metropolitian Police Service, spend a lot of money on ICT (Information & Communication Technology), but most of that funding goes to maintaining old systems rather than buying new new devices to excel our advantages.
A San Jose Police officer by the name of Sergeant Enrique Garcia, says that technology is always becoming outdated because we're always discovering new tech. As he says, “Our technology nowadays just keeps getting more advanced everyday" and it's difficult to keep up with the pace and afford new technology.
City cameras and street cameras are one of the main devices that are really outdated. Another challenge with these cameras is that they can’t the faces of the criminals because of the low quality.
Sergeant Garcia also believes that police technology, such as GPS and Navigation, is outdated but, many parts of the world don't have the resources like others do, so it’s hard for the entire world to keep up with one another.
Prototype technology that the SJPD (San Jose Police Department) are currently working on is the walkie-talkie radios. They’re trying to establish an emergency button on the side of the radio, which signals off whether they are in middle of combat, when they’re in need of immediate assistance.
Sgt. Enrique explains how it takes a long process to help those are in urgent need of help, such as being able to locate where a call is when something terrible is going on.
“In order for us to locate where a call was taken, we have to get confirmation from a judge to be able to contact the phone company about the whereabouts a call has happened, and it depends how urgent the case is,” he says.
A student of Yerba Buena High School, Ivan Molina, says, “I find it ridiculous that businesses, such as Uber, Lyft or Grab, have better technology than most police departments do, but instead they spend their money on running old devices rather than investing in new devices.”
He also says, “How can we entrust our life with the police if they don’t even have the right devices to do their job?”
Chairman of the budget and Performance Committee, John Biggs, describes how “Tablets and smartphones [are] commonly available and relatively cheap nowadays,” from BBC News 2017.
Nowadays, most everyday people are able to get new devices, but SJPD seems stuck with old technology rather than investing in new technology. This makes it harder for them to do their job effectively.
If the police were to invest their money into newer technology that can last them for a while, rather than maintaining and relying on old technology, they'd perhaps be able to respond more quickly and effectively to community needs.
We, as a community, put our trust into the police to count on them to be there during a time of crises. But how can we truly trust them with our lives in times of crisis and fatal risks, if they can’t even keep up with today’s technology?
Crime rates have lately been getting higher in areas, such as London, UK, because police technology is “out of date, ineffective and expensive to maintain,” as The Guardian states.
A reporter from The Guardian 2017 claims that the Mets, A.K.A Metropolitian Police Service, spend a lot of money on ICT (Information & Communication Technology), but most of that funding goes to maintaining old systems rather than buying new new devices to excel our advantages.
A San Jose Police officer by the name of Sergeant Enrique Garcia, says that technology is always becoming outdated because we're always discovering new tech. As he says, “Our technology nowadays just keeps getting more advanced everyday" and it's difficult to keep up with the pace and afford new technology.
City cameras and street cameras are one of the main devices that are really outdated. Another challenge with these cameras is that they can’t the faces of the criminals because of the low quality.
Sergeant Garcia also believes that police technology, such as GPS and Navigation, is outdated but, many parts of the world don't have the resources like others do, so it’s hard for the entire world to keep up with one another.
Prototype technology that the SJPD (San Jose Police Department) are currently working on is the walkie-talkie radios. They’re trying to establish an emergency button on the side of the radio, which signals off whether they are in middle of combat, when they’re in need of immediate assistance.
Sgt. Enrique explains how it takes a long process to help those are in urgent need of help, such as being able to locate where a call is when something terrible is going on.
“In order for us to locate where a call was taken, we have to get confirmation from a judge to be able to contact the phone company about the whereabouts a call has happened, and it depends how urgent the case is,” he says.
A student of Yerba Buena High School, Ivan Molina, says, “I find it ridiculous that businesses, such as Uber, Lyft or Grab, have better technology than most police departments do, but instead they spend their money on running old devices rather than investing in new devices.”
He also says, “How can we entrust our life with the police if they don’t even have the right devices to do their job?”
Chairman of the budget and Performance Committee, John Biggs, describes how “Tablets and smartphones [are] commonly available and relatively cheap nowadays,” from BBC News 2017.
Nowadays, most everyday people are able to get new devices, but SJPD seems stuck with old technology rather than investing in new technology. This makes it harder for them to do their job effectively.
If the police were to invest their money into newer technology that can last them for a while, rather than maintaining and relying on old technology, they'd perhaps be able to respond more quickly and effectively to community needs.
We, as a community, put our trust into the police to count on them to be there during a time of crises. But how can we truly trust them with our lives in times of crisis and fatal risks, if they can’t even keep up with today’s technology?