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It’s no secret – major tensions still exist between law enforcement and a few communities, with frequent calls to “defund the police” from activists who feel cops are too quick to make use of violence. But a latest survey shows those opinions don’t represent nearly all of America, and now a growing variety of police departments across the country are embracing mobile technology, hoping it’ll help bridge the gap – and streamline the job for cops in the sphere.
The survey – by the general public safety-focused software company Mark43 – shows most Americans are backing the blue. 72 percent of respondents say they reject the “defund the police” agenda, and truly want cops to have more resources. That’s where technology is available in. Mark43 and other corporations are increasingly specializing in latest tech tools that may make it easier for police to maintain the peace. Mark 43 co-founder Matt Polega says it’s a win-win, noting cops “can leverage all this mobile technology that they’ve, remain in the sphere, and get information more quickly.”
And that information flow is now being managed in lots of cities by mobile apps designed to provide police a leg up in the sphere. One program is a dispatch tool that provides police a greater sense of what they’re walking into when responding to a potentially-dangerous call; information on the situation is mechanically sent to an officer’s cellular phone, ensuring they’re not diving in blind. “They may know exactly where they need to get to, they may see the route they need to take,” in line with Polega,”after which they may possibly get somewhat little bit of a preview of what form of situation they’ll be coping with.”
But the corporate’s poll also exposed a major gap between what most individuals see on the streets and what law enforcement officers are literally doing. It’s not unusual to see police on their phones, and more often than not they’re engaged in work-related applications. But 32 percent of Americans say they didn’t understand that cops use their phones for work, doing every little thing from data entry to dispatch. “In point of fact, plenty of those cops are literally spending plenty of time doing things like communicating with other cops, getting necessary information from headquarters,” says Polega. And that disparity is creating a significant misconception, resulting in mistrust between police and the people they serve.
Ultimately, most police departments say they expect in-field technology just like the apps developed by Mark43 to expand in the approaching years. And in 2023, law enforcement agencies world wide are expected to spend a whopping 18 billion dollars on latest technology. The hope is all that latest tech will result in improved policing, and hopefully, more trust in law enforcement. And Polega says it’s already having a huge impact, claiming “we’ve seen arrest reporting times down 50 percent, we’ve seen offense reporting times get driven down by about 80 percent, and that makes sure police are back in the sphere, serving their communities, and doing the job they really signed up for, as a substitute of paperwork.”
