Crime and Crime Prevention

Thanks to new technology, it has been easier to prevent crime from happening but has also made more crime.

Techonology can be used to combat crime in a number of ways. For example many CCTV cameras have been installed in a number of places. They record what goes on in an area so that a crime occurs, we can roughly see who the person is so it is easier to track them down. However sometimes the picture is black and white or the system lags which makes it harder to see who the person is. But then again the systems are improving and so this shouldn't be a problem in the near future.

Police cars use hidden digital CCTV cameras which can be installed on the windscreen to track car crimes. According to the police, "up to 80% of crimes involve the use of a vehicle" so this could be a valuable tool to combat against crime. The systems have technology built in them which makes them tamper proof, an essential element if the evidence is going to be acceptable in a court of law. The digital images that are captured by the cameras are 15 times better quality than the traditional VHS tape, which is also good for the evidence because it may allow the police to get a better insight as to who commited the crime.

The police can take note of someone who has committed a crime, this then gives them a criminal record. This means that all of the information is all in one place and it would be easy to see whether someone has committed a crime more than once. People have to say whether they have a criminal record whenever they apply for a job, so this can prevent these types of people being around the public.

There are a few problems with using technology to fight crime. For example the idea that there are loads of CCTV cameras around and so people feel like they are constantly being monitored and they may require more privacy. But then again, if this can prevent crime from happening, people would rather know that they are safe and be bothered that they are being watched as opposed to potentially be at threat from crime butdon't feel that they are being watched. Also, the criminal record system could lose all of it's data which means the police would not have any information about criminals. Also, if someone somehow hacked into the system or it got into the wrong hands, this could be dangerous because information could be changed or records could be removed.

Due to technology, lots of crimes have been made. Fraud is one them. If people are not careful when entering their PIN number and someone see's it, the person would only have to steal the debit/credit card and then they would have the ability to draw out loads of money from a cash machine. However people can see their statement and report that they have not made the cash withdrawels, the account can then be destroyed and they will get their money back. Technology in general has meant that people can commit piracy. They can easily download films, television programmes and music illegally from websites like http://www.limewire.com/, and then sell the content on to people for a profit.

ID cards have been introduced by the government as a way of people proving their identity. They have a passport photograph of the person, it has their name, their fingerprint and even their iris on it to make sure that it is exactly the right person. This means that there would be no confusion or mixing with other people. They are a good way of proving who you are, for example showing your age. They also prove that you are a citizen of the country which is good. The drawback of it is that people again may not like the privacy side of it. People don't want to give out information about themselves so that they can get an ID card.

Because technology improved, businesses and the government began using computers to store information about their customers, clients and staff such as names and addresses. With so many organisations doing this, there was a risk that the information could get into the wrong hands. The 1998 data protection act was made by parliament to control the way information is handled and also to give legal rights to those people who have information stored about them.