Police Policy Analysis

Introduction to the issue The United States may have one of the strongest governments in the world, but every day someone special loses their life. It displays a weakness in our own government and if we want a promising future this has to change. A good step in that direction would be recognizing my policy memo. My policy memo is: Using Technology and Data to advance community policing. The focus of this policy is through funding; the government has recently funded making new technology for a better police force. This policy research memo will focus on the issue background, then the political environment, along with a policy analysis. Lastly, I will discuss my own options and recommendations on how I would implement the policy.

Before

This agency is also known as “PERF” and their focus is mainly anything dealing with police officers, plus technology is important to them because it can change plenty of lives. This law enforcement agency deals with using government funding and donations to help increase policing in communities, while taking in consideration the officer’s life. Their position is to support the police, along with promoting the importance of safety. Some of their ideas are a nationwide public safety broadband network, next generation 911, Real-Time crime centers, and cybercrime. For example, Government Tech goes into detail with Real-Time Centers, which states, “Facilities that can gather vast amounts of crime-related data, such as arrest records, mug shots and warrant information, and then push it out to officers and investigators in the field, are expected to have an impact on crime investigations in the future, according to PERF ”(Kidd). The agency has some great ideas in the works. The next political actor would be the court, but they are involved in a different way. The courts aren’t upheld or anything in this policy, however the decisions in certain court cases made the police relevant to many people and others began to take notice. The courts didn’t play a major role, but their actions played an important role. Lastly, the final political actor is a stakeholder, named The Office of Community

A few issues are the police officers themselves, the court system, and simply knowing what to do in certain situations. I have three recommendations that help these issues such as body cameras, a special court system, and retraining police officers. First, the body camera idea has been floating around the news lately. As previously stated, President Obama has funded these cameras and they will be implemented soon, however, I would like to recommend on how to use them. The camera could be on the waist of the officer along with their utility belt. The cameras must be turned on during their shift and turned off at the end. At the end of the day, someone will review the camera footage and write reports on the officers. The pros of this recommendation is the feedback and seeing the actions of the police officers to be used in the courts, while the cons could be people inferring with the footage or the officers blocking the camera somehow. The cost of these cameras is the consequence, because there are an abundance of police stations and for every cop to have a body camera would cost millions of dollars. My second recommendation would be establishing a special court system that handles murders committed by police officers. The judge could review the body camera tape, hear both sides, and then make his or her decision. It could reduce rioting and uproar within communities. A pro of this court system is simply