FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - Jan04leb

1 A Look Forward

7 Police PracticeThe Future of Public/Private Partnerships

Preparing for theChallenges Ahead

By Sandy Boyd, Alberto Melis,and Richard Myers

Improving the Viewof the World

By Thomas Cowper

Educating and Trainingthe Future Police Officer

By Michael Buerger

2

As an emerging technology, augmentedreality holds promise for future lawenforcement application.

Futures research can provide the lawenforcement profession with alternativeoutcomes to future situations.

12

Departments

ISSN 0014-5688 USPS 383-310

Features

26The future challenges facing the lawenforcement profession can sparkthe integration of academic study andon-the-job training and experience thatwill culminate in improved service tothe public.

19 PerspectiveThe Future of Simulation Technology

24 Book ReviewPrivate Investigation and Process Serving

United StatesDepartment of Justice

Federal Bureau of InvestigationWashington, DC 20535-0001

Robert S. Mueller IIIDirector

Contributors’ opinions and statementsshould not be considered an

endorsement by the FBI for any policy,program, or service.

The attorney general has determinedthat the publication of this periodical is

necessary in the transaction of thepublic business required by law. Useof funds for printing this periodical hasbeen approved by the director of theOffice of Management and Budget.

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin(ISSN-0014-5688) is published

monthly by the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation, 935 PennsylvaniaAvenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

20535-0001. Periodicals postage paidat Washington, D.C., and additionalmailing offices. Postmaster: Sendaddress changes to Editor, FBI LawEnforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy,

Madison Building, Room 209,Quantico, VA 22135.

EditorJohn E. Ott

Associate EditorsCynthia L. Lewis

David W. MacWhaBunny S. Morris

Art DirectorDenise Bennett Smith

Assistant Art DirectorStephanie L. Lowe

Staff AssistantLinda W. Szumilo

This publication is produced bymembers of the Law Enforcement

Communication Unit, Trainingand Development Division.

Internet [email protected]

Cover Photo© John Foxx Images

Send article submissions to Editor,FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBIAcademy, Madison Building, Room

209, Quantico, VA 22135.

January 2004Volume 73Number 1

o build a stronger, more seamless,and more supportive partnership

and genetic engineering; changing demo-graphic and cultural conditions; and thethreat of international crime and terror-ism will challenge the men and womenof law enforcement in ways that no onein the profession could have hardly imag-

ined a few short years ago. Fortunately, the FWG

stands ready to meet thechallenge. Already, mem-bers of the group, whorepresent some of thebest and the brightest inpolicing, have completedor are developing projects

dealing with augmentedreality applications for law

enforcement, the future ofcommunity policing, a national

intelligence model for the 21st century,and training programs in applied futur-istics for law enforcement. For moreinformation on their activities, visit theFWG home page at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/td/fwg/workhome.htm.

A Look Forward

Tbetween all facets of law enforcementand the FBI, the Futures Working Group(FWG) formed on April 2, 2002. TheFWG represents a partnership betweenthe FBI and the Society of PoliceFuturists International (PFI),with its noble and ambi-tious goals that includethe development offorecasts and strategiesto ethically maximizethe effectiveness oflocal, state, federal, andinternational law en-forcement bodies as theystrive to maintain peace andsecurity in the 21st century.

This constitutes a formidable chal-lenge as futurists see unprecedentedlevels of development and change in thefirst several years of the 21st century.Breakthrough technologies, such asnanotechnology, artificial intelligence,

January 2004 / 1

Focus on the Future

any people do nothingabout the future. Afterall, the future will oc-

I never think of the future. Itcomes soon enough.

—Albert Einstein1Mcur momentarily, whether theyplan for it, benefit from it, or aresurprised by it. People’s expecta-tions about the future, however,often run to extremes. For ex-ample, the archetypal 1950s’concept of the year 2000 consist-ed of flying machines in everygarage and robots as servants.Yet, today’s advances in themedical and computer fields

have transcended anything imag-ined a few decades ago.

Because of the reactive na-ture inherent in the daily work-ings of their profession, law en-forcement officials also tend notto overly concern themselvesabout the future. After all, mostlaw enforcement efforts, as wellas training, focus on respondingto existing threats to the public’ssafety. Even those law enforce-ment professionals concernedabout the future and futures

2 / FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin

© Digital Juice

Preparingfor theChallengesAheadPractical Applicationsof Futures ResearchBy SANDY BOYD, Ed.D., ALBERTO MELIS, andRICHARD MYERS

January 2004 / 3

Chief Melis heads the Waco,Texas, Police Department.

Dr. Boyd is a professor at the Collegeof Marin and an adjunct faculty memberat the University of San Francisco andSt. Mary’s College in California.

Chief Myers leads the Appleton,Wisconsin, Police Department.

research2 usually concentrate onthe next budget year, rather thanon a 5- or 10-year strategic planfor their agencies.

But, the future is here andprobably changing faster thananyone can envision. Manypeople can remember a worldwithout automated teller ma-chines or the ubiquitous cellphone, but these items, notto mention computers, havechanged the world to the pointthat society no longer can func-tion the way it did in the past. Tothis end, law enforcement pro-fessionals must understand theimportance of futures research.To help illustrate this, the au-thors present three scenarios thatdepict probable, possible, andpreferred outcomes of the future.Each scenario then poses a ques-tion that all law enforcement

agencies should answer basedupon their preparedness to han-dle similar situations.

Probable scenario: A majorterrorist attack on American soilresulted in law enforcementagencies scrambling to exchangeinformation and intelligence.Unfortunately, the agenciesfound most of that informationincompatible and inaccessible.How many agencies are preparedfor a present, and now obvious,danger?

Possible scenario: Duringroll call on the swing shift, offi-cers learned that another homi-cide occurred south of MainStreet, so additional patrols mustcover the area. They heard aboutdaytime burglaries increasingnear the high school, but the dayshift can handle those. They findout that the group of homeless

people that suddenly appeared inthe city has begun camping un-der a bridge, so more patrolsmust focus on that location. Fi-nally, they learned that city coun-cil, once again, has denied thechief’s request for more person-nel to fight the growing crimeproblem. Although happy withall of the overtime, the patrol of-ficers recognized that they canaccomplish only so much withlimited personnel and funds.How many agencies are preparedonly for business as usual?

Preferred scenario: A chief’sjournal entry on a typical Sundaynight showed that he logged ontothe department’s network fromhome and scanned the activitiesof the weekend, just in case themayor should ask about pend-ing cases or potential risks to thecity at their breakfast meeting


Monday. Luckily for the chief,the system, organized in order ofimportance, enabled him to re-view the incidents that the mediahad accessed previously. He readabout the latest report of “cyberroad rage,” where the suspect,incensed at a string of e-mails ona list serve, hacked into anothercitizen’s personal computerthrough a broadband Internethookup. This effectively as-saulted the victim’s computerand financial records. Thedepartment’s system mined andgathered information from theInternet, based on keywords thatthe chief input, and organized thedata in a short, abridged format.The last item that the chief sawwas a bulletin about the latestorganized crime ring stealingstored harvested human organsand selling them on the blackmarket. This meant that peoplewho can afford it and need

Despite working in a dynam-ic environment, law enforcementprofessionals traditionally resistchange, particularly organiza-tional change. At a time whenmost of society struggles to keeppace with changes in technologi-cal and demographic areas, cru-cial institutions, such as law en-forcement, must prepare forchange not only to simply toler-ate it but also to view it as anopportunity to make future com-munities safe. “Futures researchoffers both philosophical andmethodological tools to analyze,forecast, and plan in ways rarelyseen in policing in the past.”3 Tothis end, agencies can employthese techniques of futures re-search to help them determineorganizational capacity, applytechnologies, develop potentialofficers, identify and obtain nec-essary resources, and explore theprofession’s direction.

DeterminingOrganizational Capacity

Forecasting can be as simpleas analyzing emerging trendsand thinking about their poten-tial outcomes. Law enforcementorganizations are surrounded bydata sources that readily feedinto trend analysis. In their pri-mary mission to preserve life,protect property, and preventcrime, law enforcement agenciesrely heavily on information man-agement, while the resultant dataprovide a rich basis for trend

transplants would have quickeraccess to these life-saving mea-sures than those waiting on themedically generated priority list.How many agencies are preparedfor such future challenges?

ENVISIONINGTHE FUTURE

The remedy to the questionsposed by these scenarios lies infutures research and in preparinglaw enforcement officers to havethe capacity not only to managechange but also to thrive on it. Aworld exists beyond traditionalpolice exercises of annual bud-geting, strategic planning for 3-to 5-year periods, and critical in-cident debriefings. Futures re-search leads to the examinationof the probable, possible, andpreferable outcomes of the futureand provides a basis for decisionmaking today that will lead to apreferable future.

© Dynamic Graphics

January 2004 / 5

analysis. Law enforcement ad-ministrators probably can iden-tify interested members of theiragencies who enjoy planning,demonstrate creativity, and un-derstand emerging technologies.Whether individually or inteams, such organizational re-sources can help all members ofan agency broaden their views ofthe future. Some future-forecast-ing methods call on topical “ex-perts” to compare their ideas onwhat may lie ahead. In law en-forcement organizations, numer-ous such experts daily participatein a dynamic environment tocarry out the police mission.

Applying TechnologiesOverall, government and law

enforcement seem to lag behindthe private sector in both the useof technologies and the devel-opment of expertise in such ap-plications. A common themeamong members of the Societyof Police Futurists International4

is the fear that the law enforce-ment profession will never“catch up” with the necessarycomputer-based investigativeskills to keep pace with criminalswho use computer technology.But, technology involves muchmore than using computers tohack into systems or commitidentity theft. Whether throughnanotechnology, augmented re-ality, or biometrics, criminals al-ways will attempt to steal, mis-use, exploit, or employ technol-ogies as an instrument of their

the future. Administrators whowatch trends to consider futureprofiles can contemplate howbest to integrate testing and re-cruitment that will attract candi-dates most likely to fulfill theskill set needed. The fact that anagency considers trends andforecasts could represent a use-ful recruitment tool in a time oftight competition for the limitedapplicant pool. Perhaps as im-portant as selecting the right fu-ture officers, helping existing of-ficers cope with the increasingpace of change ranks as a neces-sity if law enforcement organiza-tions are to prove effective in thefuture. Understanding wherechange may take them will helplaw enforcement leaders illumi-nate the pathways of change fortheir officers into the future.

Identifying and ObtainingNecessary Resources

Most governmental budgetprocesses operate 1 to 2 yearsahead, with some potential 5-year capital expenditure plans in-cluded. New human resourcesoften are created in reaction tochanges in the local environ-ment, and, with the lag time toimplement trained personnel,agencies always must play“catch up.” Futures research mayhelp law enforcement leadersidentify what they will need inthe future. It also may make acase for them proactively liningup those resources so that theseleaders can contribute to the

technology in the immediate fu-ture. Policing, therefore, must in-sert itself at the beginning of thecreative processes that developnew products and techniques, in-stead of relying on the hand-me-down obsolescence from mili-tary and private sector sources.

Developing Potential OfficersBy using forecasting and fu-

tures research methods, or evenby simply scanning the literatureof futurists, law enforcement ad-ministrators can develop profilesof the skills needed by officers of

crimes. If law enforcement doesnot proactively anticipate suchillicit uses, the victims of thesecrimes eventually will rely onprivate sources of relief, mini-mizing the role of police. Whencontemplating the impact that asingle technology, such as DNAanalysis, has played in combat-ing lawlessness, it almost be-comes unimaginable what foren-sic and investigative tools willemerge from the explosion in

Futures researchleads to the

examination of theprobable, possible,

and preferableoutcomes of the

future....

“”

preferred outcomes, rather thanreacting to the sudden realities.

Exploring theProfession’s Direction

One of the most often dis-cussed items within the law en-forcement community centers onwhere the profession is headed.What will transcend its currentefforts? In short, what comes af-ter community policing? Futuresresearch may constitute the onlyhope to predict with any degreeof accuracy what is coming,rather than to guess haphazardlyand only hope for somethingclose to a correct assessment.“While not claiming to be pre-dictive, futures research can de-velop intelligent forecasts con-cerning what is possible whileindicating strategies for workingtoward desired goals. In a time ofaccelerating change, these meth-odologies can help...managers tocope successfully with uncer-tainty and move confidently intotomorrow.”5

CONCLUSION“My interest is in the future

because I am going to spend therest of my life there.”6 Thesewords provide strong evidenceof the importance of futures re-search. By examining a varietyof alternative outcomes to futuresituations, people can morereadily see the consequences oftheir decisions.

Futures research can aidthose facing the daunting task of

trying to accurately predict howto prepare for the challenges thatlie ahead in today’s ever-chang-ing and increasingly fast-pacedworld.

No one is immune to thesechallenges, particularly those inthe law enforcement profession.Advances in technology havecreated enormous changes in thetypes of crime perpetratedagainst society and in the way

2 “Futures research encompasses bothan evolving philosophy and a range oftechniques. Its primary objective is toassist decision makers to understand betterthe potential consequences of present andfuture decisions by developing images ofalternative futures. It has strong and soundhistorical origins in sociology, morerecently in political science, and in theother social sciences. It has independentorigins also in corporate and institutionalplanning, in strategic and long-rangeplanning, and has significant contemporaryroots in government, particularly innational security. Successful practice offutures research requires contributionsboth from established academic disciplinesand from such cross-disciplinary fields astechnology assessment, policy analysis,operations research, issues management,and many more.” For additional informa-tion, see World Future Society, FuturesResearch Quarterly; retrieved on February3, 2002, from http://www.wfs.org/frq.htm.

3 The Society of Police FuturistsInternational; retrieved on February 3,2002, from http://www.policefuturists.org.

4 “The Society of Police FuturistsInternational (PFI) is an organization oflaw enforcement practitioners, educators,researchers, private security specialists,technology experts, and other profession-als dedicated to improving criminal andsocial justice through theprofessionalization of policing. Futuresresearch (long-range planning andforecasting) is the pivotal discipline thatconstitutes the philosophical underpin-nings of PFI”; retrieved on February 3,2002, from http://www.policefuturists.org.

5 Darlene E. Weingand, “FuturesResearch Methodologies: Linking Today’sDecisions with Tomorrow’s Possibilities,”in 61st IFLA General ConferenceProceedings, August 20-25, 1995;retrieved on February 3, 2003, from http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla61/61-weid.htm.

6 Charles F. Kettering, a well-knowninventor, held over 200 patents; retrievedon February 3, 2003, from http://www.quotemeonit.com/Kettering.html.

that law enforcement agenciesmust respond to protect theircommunities. Officers and ad-ministrators alike must preparefor even more diverse threats tothe public’s safety, many fromyet-to-be invented sources. But,by planning for the risks, as wellas the benefits, of modern ad-vances, the law enforcementcommunity can help ensure thatthose seeking a peaceful exist-ence will triumph.

Endnotes1 Retrieved on February 19, 2003, from

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Albert_Einstein.


”...law enforcementprofessionals must

understand theimportance of

futures research.

“

January 2004 / 7

octors and nurses, attorneys and parale-gals, parents and day care providers, pres-

idents and aides—all people need support andassistance to accomplish their goals. Why shouldpublic law enforcement agencies be different?

Today’s police departments are under monu-mental pressure to perform, keep crime rates low,and do it all with fewer resources. Agencies canaccomplish this seemingly impossible mandateby forming supportive partnerships with privatesecurity providers.1

A Historical PerspectivePrivatization of law enforcement activities is

not a new concept. Perhaps, the monopolizationof policing by government is an aberration.2 Onlyin the last 100 to 200 years has governmenteffectively monopolized policing, which is notuniform across all countries. In Europe, forexample, France led the way in the systematic

nationalization of policing in the 17th century.Nationalization followed fitfully throughout therest of continental Europe, concentrated largely intowns and often deferring to the private authorityof the landowning aristocracy. In England, polic-ing remained largely in private hands until wellinto the 19th century. In the United States, wherecities gradually governmentalized policing in themiddle of the 19th century, private policing neverreally died. The constituent states did not beginto develop organized police forces until the early20th century, and the national government did notdo so until approximately a decade later. Whilethe 1960s characterized a period of indifferencetoward private security and the 1970s one ofchanging perceptions and some mistrust of theindustry, the 1980s and 1990s most likely will beregarded as the era of collaboration and jointventures between public law enforcement andprivate security.3 Individual and corporate citi-zens policed by public law enforcement alsoincreasingly are becoming the clients of privatesecurity, as illustrated by increases in the use ofcorporate security and the number of gatedcommunities.

Lower Crime Rates, Higher CostsIn the late 1990s, serious crime continued to

fall in the United States,4 reaching a 25-year low.The potential that criminals will receive punish-ment and that they will serve a longer amount oftime both are higher today than in the last 30years.

The economic boom of the late 1990s, whichincreased wages and rates of employment, im-pacted the reduction of crime. But, on the otherhand, criminal punishment also increased. Com-pared to 1996, the probability of going to prisonin 1997 for murder rose 13 percent, while itincreased 1 percent for rape, 7 percent for rob-bery, and 11 percent for aggravated assault.5

Once convicted, prisoners now stay incarceratedlonger. Compared to the 1980s, the median

Police Practice

D

The Future of Public/PrivatePartnershipsBy Al Youngs

© Digital Juice


sentence served by prisoners has risen for everycategory of serious crime except aggravatedassault.6

Potential criminals respond to incentives.7

Crime decreases when expected punishmentincreases, and the reverse proves true as well. Toachieve an even lower crime rate, law enforce-ment must continue to make crime less profitableby further increasing expected punishment. But,higher arrest rates require more money for policestaffing, equipment, and procedures.8 Higherconviction and sentencing rates require moreresources for prosecution andcriminal courts. The need formore prison space also in-creases, and, although the costof building and maintainingmore prisons is high, the costof not doing so appears to behigher.

The Time for PrivatizationThe hope of the public,

as well as the goal for policedepartments, is to continuelowering crime rates. However,achieving this requires more policing and morecost precisely when law enforcement agenciesface serious recruitment problems, additionalequipment costs, a decrease in tax revenues, andlegislative restrictions denying access to anysurpluses. “Many municipalities and countieslack the necessary funds due to legislated limitson taxation and spending, inadequate bonding,capacities and voters’ reluctance to approvespecial bonding obligations or other spendingmeasures.”9

Fortunately, privatization of certain policedepartment functions has proven a powerfulsolution to the problem. The steady decline ofgovernments’ capital resources and their increas-ingly urgent search for ways to continue provid-ing the services that citizens demand without

raising taxes are driving the privatization trend.10

Some federal agencies have saved as much as50 percent by hiring contractors to provideservices.11

Police in today’s environment typically spendless than 20 percent of their time on crime-relatedmatters. In California, a police officer may cost$100,000 a year, taking into account salary,benefits, and such overhead expenses as squadcars.12 Faced with rising calls for service, thisproves expensive for tasks, such as transportingprisoners, providing court security, conducting

traffic control, and servingsummonses. The real trend inthe future will be contractingout the functions of publicpolice that do not involvecrimes or emergencies.

For example, the Fresno,California, Sheriff’s Depart-ment reaped savings byoutsourcing its transport ofprisoners. The total cost forthe department to transport aprisoner from San Diego toFresno was $284 using a private

firm. The same trip using sheriff’s departmentpersonnel and equipment would cost three timesas much.13

Police departments in 18 states currentlyuse, or plan to use, private security guards to fillsupport roles.14 One firm provides security for sixmajor public transit systems around the country,transports prisoners, maintains booking andsecurity for a juvenile assessment center, andsupplies security for court houses in 40 states.Other public-private partnerships exist coast tocoast.

Just as corporations outsource many servicesto enable them to concentrate on core competen-cies, the use of private firms by law enforcementagencies frees them to concentrate their efforts onduties that only trained police officers can, and

“

”

...privatizationof certain police

department functionshas proven a

powerful solution....

January 2004 / 9

should, do. Over the past several decades,privatization in law enforcement has grown tosuch an extent that virtually every function,including security, jails, prisons, and court-related services, is being contracted out some-where in the United States.15

Using private security on site at businesses,sporting venues, and malls is no new trend. But,agencies can outsource other duties that do notrequire the authority to make arrests or use deadlyforce. Such tasks include directing traffic, guard-ing prisoners, assisting at crime scenes, transport-ing prisoners, processing reports, and investigat-ing accidents.

The Approach to Public-Private PartnershipsPublic-private partnerships can provide many

benefits, especially in terms ofpairing law enforcement with aprivate security provider to savepublic monies. Agencies shouldconsider several recommenda-tions when determining whetherto use this type of partnership.• Services with the potential to

be priced should be consid-ered as candidates forprivate provision or usercharges.

• To save money and helppolice officers become moreavailable to perform the tasks that only theycan conduct, agencies should privatize tasksthat do not require the full range of skills ofpolice officers.

• Private companies should provide suchservices as response to burglary alarms,and people with alarm systems should payfor the services that they demand.

• Private security can prove effective in adistinct geographic area; therefore, owners ofapartment complexes should consider private

policing. Further, agencies should encouragecompetition between apartment complexes toprovide safer environments. Requiring publi-cation of apartments’ safety experience helpsrenters make informed decisions.

• Agencies should consider any relatively low-skill or specialized high-skill services as acandidate for transfer to private security.

• Departments should ensure that the cost ofmonitoring contractor compliance and per-formance should not exceed the savingsfrom privatization.

• Agencies should request that their statelegislatures consider whether the current legalstatus and regulations pertaining to privatesecurity are appropriate in view of the ex-

panded role expected fromthem, such as emergencyvehicle status and expandedpowers of arrest.

• Problem-oriented policingoffers the prospect of improvedpolice-private partnerships indealing with specific crimeproblems.

• The community policingapproach offers hope for im-proving police performanceand the community’s sense of

participation.16 Like privatization, communitypolicing helps society better determine theuse of its scarce police resources. Further, itbrings the police “back” to constituents.Successful community policing satisfies thedesires of the community.

One Community’s ExperienceLakewood, Colorado, offers an example of

the benefits of outsourcing law enforcement tasksto private firms. Lakewood boasts a population of145,000 within the metropolitan Denver area. Its

© Mark C. Ide


progressive approach to public-private partner-ships in law enforcement is demonstrated by itstrack record—the city has contracted with outsidefirms for police department assistance for nearly10 years. As a result, the Lakewood PoliceDepartment considers the public-private partner-ship beneficial. It helps in terms of deployment,as well as economically. “Paying a private secu-rity officer an hourly rate to guard a prisoner or acrime scene frees up police officers. Police don’thave to call in an officer on overtime or pullsomeone off patrol duty.”17

Lakewood’s current privatization effortsinclude the use of trained citizen volunteers forpolice administrative work, such as fingerprintingcitizens and issuing parking tickets to violators ofhandicapped parking. Graduates of its citizenpolice academy volunteer with the LakewoodPolice Department and serve as a surveillanceunit regarding specific crimes,such as graffiti. Civilian investi-gative technicians conductfollow-up, question victims andsuspects, and prepare affidavits.

Further, the LakewoodPolice Department contractswith a private security firm toguard prisoners hospitalized infacilities in the Denver metro-politan area and to provideassistance in protecting crimescenes. These private securityofficers are specially selected for crime-scenedetail based on their background and experience,and they often attend Lakewood Police Depart-ment roll calls for training (similarly, members ofthe Lakewood Police Department attend thesecurity roll calls). These private security firmofficers know the rules of evidence, and, in fact,many are certified police officers in the state ofColorado. They provide 24-hour assistance andtypically respond with officers within 4 hours ofthe department’s request. In addition, for security

purposes, background investigations have beencompleted on each of these officers.

In Lakewood, the cost of an off-duty policeagent is $37 per hour, including vehicle. Manycrime scenes take an average of 2 days to process.Because 24-hour protection is required, usingprivate security at $29 per hour for this assign-ment, a savings of nearly 22 percent, makeseconomic sense. Furthermore, the partnership hasstrengthened the lines of communication and trustbetween police and private security personnel. “Inthis partnership, everyone’s a winner. The policedepartment is a winner in that we are providingessential services at a reduced cost. Through theprivate portion of it; it’s good for business; itemploys people; it’s good for our economy.”18

Such moves to privatization are substantiatedby the numbers. Private security guards outnum-ber public law enforcement officers by 3 to 1

nationally, and 4 to 1 in Califor-nia.19 The trend is not confinedto the United States; Canada, theUnited Kingdom, and Australiahave approximately twice asmany private guards as publicpolice.

ConclusionToday, law enforcement

agencies have fewer resources toaccomplish their goals. Depart-ments can form partnerships

with private security firms to save money, as wellas to free trained police officers to conduct dutiesthat only they should address.

Public law enforcement entities can gainmore efficient use of funds and personnel inpublic-private partnerships, in addition to extend-ing their reach and effectiveness. Properly de-fined and managed, a partnership with a privateenterprise can make the job of police officersmore effective and rewarding and the resultsreported to voters more positive in the long run.

“

”

Public-privatepartnerships can

provide manybenefits....

Chief Youngs heads the community resources division ofthe Lakewood, Colorado, Police Department and serves asthe acting assistant dean of the criminal justice program atthe University of Phoenix in Lakewood.

January 2004 / 11

Wanted:Notable Speeches

he FBI Law EnforcementBulletin seeks transcriptsT

of presentations made by crim-inal justice professionals forits Notable Speech depart-ment. Anyone who hasdelivered a speech recentlyand would like to share theinformation with a wideraudience may submit a trans-cript of the presentation to theBulletin for consideration.

As with article submis-sions, the Bulletin staff willedit the speech for length andclarity, but, realizing that theinformation was presentedorally, maintain as much ofthe original flavor as possible.Presenters should submit theirtranscripts typed and double-spaced on 8 ½- by 11-inchwhite paper with all pagesnumbered. When possible, anelectronic version of the tran-script saved on computer diskshould accompany the docu-ment. Send the material to:

Editor, FBI LawEnforcement BulletinFBI AcademyMadison Building,Room 209Quantico, VA 22135telephone: 703-632-1952,e-mail: [email protected]

Endnotes1 For graphic representations of the trends on expenditures for

law enforcement officers and number of police officers comparedto private security agents, visit http://www.ncpa.org/studies/s181/gif/s181c.gif and http://www.ncpa.org/studies/s181/gif/s181d.gif.

2 David H. Bayley and Clifford D. Shearing, U.S. Departmentof Justice, National Institute of Justice, The New Structure ofPolicing: Description, Conceptualization, and Research AgendaNCJ 187083 (Washington, DC, July 2001); retrieved on March24, 2003, from http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/187083.pdf.

3 Terence J. Mangan and Michael G. Shanahan, “Public LawEnforcement/Private Security: A New Partnership?” FBI LawEnforcement Bulletin, January 1990, 18-22.

4 The National Center for Policy Analysis, Crime and Punish-ment in America: 1999, Policy Report No. 229 (Dallas, TX,October 1999).

5 Ibid.6 Ibid.7 Ibid.8 Ibid.9 Wantland J. Smith, “Private Sector Development: A Winning

Strategy for New Police Stations, Sheriff’s Stations, and Jails,”The Police Chief, August 1991, 29-33.

10 Elizabeth Moore, “Doling out Services: The Push forPrivatization is Strong, But Will Unions, Taxpayers, Standfor It?” Newsday, April 15, 1996, sec. C, p. 1.

11 Ibid.12 Supra note 4.13 Marty L. West, “Get a Piece of the Privatization Pie: Private

Security Agencies,” The American Society for Industrial Security,Security Management 37, no. 3 (March 1993): 54.

14 http://www.ncpa.org/pi/crime.15 Bruce L. Benson, “Privatization in Criminal Justice,”

Independent Policy Report, Independent Institute (Oakland, CA,1996), see http://www.ncpa.org.

16 Erwin A. Blackstone and Simon Hakim, “Police Services:The Private Challenge,” Independent Policy Report, IndependentInstitute (Oakland, CA, 1996), 10-33.

17 Russell Ruffin, reporter, “Lakewood Police Utilize PrivateSecurity,” Law Enforcement Television News (Denver, CO:Cherokee Productions).

18 Ibid.19 http://www.ncpa.org.


oday’s rapidly changingsociety is driven byhigher and higher levels

take hold and alter the way inwhich people live and interactwith each other. Rapidly emerg-ing technologies also affordcriminals and terrorists new op-portunities for exploiting, dis-rupting, and harming society.While human intelligence andtraditional policing methodolo-gies continue as important as-pects of law enforcement, high-tech systems are becominga principle, and undeniablynecessary, means of maintain-ing domestic security. To em-ploy emerging technologies

effectively and thwart their illicituse by criminals and terrorists,law enforcement officers need tounderstand fully the state of cur-rent technological capabilitiesand how those capabilities willchange in the coming decades.

One of these emerging andpowerful technologies, aug-mented reality (AR), uses wear-able components to overlayvirtual (computer-generated) in-formation onto individuals’ real-world view or into their real-world experiences in a way thatimproves and enhances their

of technological advancement.For good or bad, technologybrings change. The eventsof September 11, 2001, haveserved to fuel the debate con-cerning the role that technologyshould play in people’s lives,particularly future battles againstterrorism in a free society.

The rate of change itself,however, is changing, signifi-cantly compressing the time thatit takes for new technologies to

T

Improving the Viewof the WorldLaw Enforcementand AugmentedReality TechnologyBy THOMAS COWPER

© Digital Juice

January 2004 / 13

“

”

...AR brings togethera variety of

technologies todisplay informationto individuals in away that instantly

applies to a given taskor situation.

Captain Cowper serves withthe New York State Police.

abilities to accomplish a widevariety of tasks and missions.Still in the early stages of re-search and development, ARcombines the real and the virtual,displaying information in realtime, in a way that enhances theindividual abilities of people op-erating in the real world.

Each weekend, millions ofauto racing and football fansview one popular type of AR ontelevision. Broadcasters displaydriver and speed informationtagged to race cars hurtlingaround a track, as well as super-impose yellow first-down lineson a football field, to help fansbetter understand the real-timeaction of the events. Anotherpopular AR application is theheads-up display (HUD), com-mon in military fighter aircraft.While not a wearable applica-tion, the HUD superimposesaerodynamic and other aircraftsystem data onto the forwardview of the cockpit canopy, al-lowing the pilot to see criticalinformation about the flight situ-ation while maintaining focus onthe enemy target.

By using virtual graphics,three-dimensional maps, textualannotations, auditory informa-tion, and haptic (touch) sensa-tions in a coordinated real-timepresentation, AR brings togethera variety of technologies to dis-play information to individualsin a way that instantly applies toa given task or situation. The use

of AR technology may positivelyinfluence any situation enhancedor helped by the visual, audible,or haptic display of informationnot available or detectable bynormal human senses.1

A fully interactive AR sys-tem may derive informationfrom a multitude of sources.Data can be transmitted wire-lessly from a computer network,accessed from the wearable com-puter carried by the AR user, ac-quired from embedded deviceswithin a surrounding intelligentenvironment, and obtained fromwearable sensor arrays scanningthe immediate or visible locationof the user. Linking individ-ual users together on a wirelessnetwork could allow them toview each other’s location andstatus to coordinate activitiesand take supportive action whenappropriate.

Augmenting reality in thisway also allows for someuniquely tailored applications inspecific circumstances. Users ofAR systems can block out cer-tain aspects of the real world thatmight either detract from the taskat hand, a process known as di-minished reality, or they can fil-ter out confusing informationand see things not normally vis-ible to the unaided eye, a freeze-frame process called mediatedreality.

THE AR SYSTEMFundamentally, an AR sys-

tem consists of a wearable com-puter, a head-mounted display(HMD), and tracking and sens-ing devices, along with advancedsoftware and virtual three-dimensional-rendering applica-tions. Depending on the intendeduse, the basic system could


incorporate a wide range of othercomponents adapted for specificoperational functions.2

AR is a mobile technologydesigned to improve situationalawareness and speed human de-cision making. To accomplishthis, the human-machine inter-face must streamline the processof input and output so that theuser can maintain focus on thetask at hand with minimal dis-traction. Traditional methods ofcomputer input control (key-board, mouse, and trackball) andoutput receptors (monitors andflat-panel displays) prove diffi-cult, if not impossible, to use in adynamic mobile environment.AR system development re-volves around the use of moderninterface devices, features, andmethodologies that allow theuser to concentrate on real-worldtasks while seamlessly enhanc-ing the real-world experiencewith useful data.

The coherent integration ofsupplemental visual data to theuser via a see-through HMDconstitutes the principle meansof achieving an enhanced hu-man-machine interface. High-quality HMDs for AR use arestill under development, and sev-eral different approaches to ac-complishing the display of visualdata exist. An optical see-through HMD is a semitranspar-ent display that allows the user tosee the real world directly, pro-jecting visual data on the insideof the screen in front of the user’s

eyes. A video see-through HMDhas an opaque display and useshead-mounted video cameras toprovide the real-world view, in-corporating both the video andvirtual data onto the opaquescreen. Each approach has ben-efits and drawbacks for law en-forcement use, depending on theapplication and operational envi-ronment where used.

user’s field of view, correctly as-sociated with relative real-worldobjects. For virtual images to becorrectly and accurately overlaidor “registered” on the HMD, theAR system must have the capa-bility to continuously track theuser’s head movements, exactposition, viewing direction, andreal-world orientation.3

AR systems employ a varietyof mechanisms to accomplishthis tracking, such as mechani-cal, magnetic, acoustic, inertial,and optical sensors or a hybridcombination of several of thesetechnologies. Of particular con-cern to law enforcement is theneed for the tracking system tofunction accurately outdoors inopen terrain, as well as indoors.Outdoor tracking proves a muchmore difficult problem for ARsystems and depends heavily onGPS (the U.S. Department ofDefense’s Global PositioningSystem), dead-reckoning tech-niques,4 compasses, and gyro-scopes to achieve accurate imageregistration in unprepared envi-ronments.5 Sensing the entire en-vironment in real time using ahybrid tracking system to accu-rately determine the location ofthe user, as well as natural andmanmade terrain features, is anecessity and a hurdle that tech-nology has yet to fully overcome.

Voice-activation, speech-recognition, and text-to-speechtechnologies take advantage ofthe most natural form of humancommunication. The use of

Another option for both opti-cal and video see-through HMDsis a one-display configurationthat mounts a single display overone eye, leaving the other eyecompletely unobstructed. Thelatest development in HMDtechnology, the virtual retinaldisplay (VRD), uses low-pow-ered laser light projected directlyon the retina to display informa-tion. Providing the benefits ofthe optical see-through display,the VRD can exhibit high-reso-lution graphics, even in brightsunlight.

To be effective, such devicesmust overlay textual and graphi-cal data precisely within the

”

AR is a mobiletechnology designedto improve situationalawareness and speed

human decisionmaking.

“

January 2004 / 15

sonification—the translation ofnonaudible data into an acousticsignal—can facilitate rapid inter-pretation and comprehension ofdata. Haptic interfaces allow us-ers to feel various data compo-nents that lend themselves totouch or heat sensations. Aug-mented cognition programs us-ing artificial intelligence couldprovide a comprehensive situ-ational context to the user, com-bining location, the presence ofother people and objects, actionspresently occurring, user goals,and other situational compo-nents to help determine the bestcourse of action.

While several current re-search programs in the UnitedStates are examining AR tech-nology, until recently, none ofthem had explored the applica-tion of AR to policing. The Fu-tures Working Group currently isworking with the Naval Re-search Lab (NRL) in Washing-ton, D.C., to examine AR appli-cations for policing. Based uponNRL’s battlefield augmented re-ality system for the U.S. military,a law enforcement augmentedreality system test-bed projectwill look at potential uses of ARin policing and explore the vari-ous components and configura-tions to best serve the needs ofthe law enforcement community.

LAW ENFORCEMENTAPPLICATIONS

Preliminary research indi-cates a number of likely law

enforcement applications whereAR technology could advanceofficer performance well beyondcurrent levels. The true strengthof AR will rest with its ability toimprove the situational aware-ness of an individual officer ornetworked team of officers byemploying a number of relatedtechnologies, alone or in combi-nation, to accomplish lawenforcement-related tasks and

the knowledge and creativity oflaw enforcement officers willlimit the actual number and typeof eventual applications for ARtechnology.

Patrol DutiesUniformed patrol officers

will have many potential uses forAR technology over a widerange of scenarios. Among themare a variety of applications tofacilitate interaction with a di-verse population and to detectcriminals and crimes in progress.• Real-time language transla-

tion, along with data oncultural customs and tradi-tions, could strengthenpolice ties with minoritygroups and improve infor-mation flow to police.

• The immediate display ofreal-time intelligence aboutcrimes and criminals in thepatrol area could fosterappropriate patrol actionsto reduce crime.

• Facial, voiceprint, and otherbiometric recognition dataof known criminals wouldallow officers to identifywanted subjects merely byobserving people on thestreet.

• Integration of chemical,biological, and explosivesensors could notify officersimmediately of any localcontamination and recom-mend appropriate protectivemeasures that they could

missions. Devices and technolo-gies that could be incorporatedinto a law enforcement AR sys-tem include night and thermalimagers; biometric, chemical/biological, and explosive sen-sors; identification and trackingof moving and stationary ob-jects; and real-time speechtranslation and text-to-speechsystems.

Patrol duties, special weap-ons and tactics (SWAT) opera-tions, investigative situations,training efforts, and manage-ment issues provide merely apartial list of potential uses. Only

© Digital Stock


take for themselves and thepublic.

• The accessibility of scalable,three-dimensional maps(complete with buildingfloor plans, sewer systemschematics, public utilityinformation, and publictransportation routes)could improve situationalawareness and response toproblems.

• The availability of patrol caroperator data and regionaltraffic management infor-mation could make drivingsafer and more efficient,especially in pursuit andrapid-response situations.

SWAT OperationsAR could make SWAT op-

erations safer and more effec-tive. Basically, it could improvesituational awareness during dy-namic and dangerous incidents,enhance communication be-tween team members, and pro-vide better coordination withcommand personnel.• Advanced audio could

moderate the audible inten-sity of gunshots and explo-sions, but provide superiorhearing capabilities overlong distances.

• Advanced optics couldprovide zoom, thermal, andinfrared imaging for thelocation and apprehensionof fleeing criminals.

• Identification friend or foe(IFF) technology, worn byevery law enforcementofficer, could reduce oreliminate friendly firecasualties by visually,audibly, or haptically high-lighting fellow officers.

• The human-machine inter-face could expand to includerobots and other mechanicaldevices that could extendhuman capabilities toremote locations throughphysical, virtual, and hapticinterfaces.6

• Speaker-recognition technol-ogy, under development,will give investigators theability to accurately matchvoices against knowncriminals.7

• With advanced optics,investigators could lip-readfrom great distances insituations where listeningdevices would proveimpractical.8mm

• Thermal imaging mightimprove interrogationsby helping to indicate thetruthfulness of subjects’statements.9

• AR video, audio, and sensingdevices used to visualizeblood patterns, blood stains,and other sensor-detectableforensic data could enhancecrime scene investigations.

• Forensic pathology couldbenefit from various ad-vanced medical imagingtechniques to visualizetraumatic penetratingwounds before physicalautopsy.10

• The coordinated use ofrobots, unmanned arielvehicles (UAVs), and lawenforcement officers man-aged through an AR net-work could enhancelsurveillance operations.

Training EffortsTraining programs could use

AR to simulate dangerous law

Investigative SituationsAR could enhance investiga-

tors’ abilities to gather informa-tion, follow leads, and visualizelarge amounts of data. In turn, itwould lead to an increase in thenumber of crimes solved and tothe quicker identification andcapture of dangerous criminalsand terrorists.

”

Of particular concernto law enforcement

is the need forthe tracking system

to function accuratelyoutdoors in open

terrain, as wellas indoors.

“

January 2004 / 17

enforcement environments byblending real-world equipmentand fellow trainees into realisticscenarios. Interactive simula-tions, such as shoot/don’t shootscenarios and use-of-force dem-onstrations, can add further real-ism to police training efforts.

Management IssuesLeadership from the front is a

commonly talked about principlerarely employed in law enforce-ment. The primary reason forthis lies in the difficulty leadershave with accessing and visual-izing all of the available supervi-sory and management data whilemobile.• Using video feed from their

personnel on the street,supervisors potentiallycould see what their peopleare seeing in real time.

• A three-dimensional mapdisplay of the communitycould contain location,activity, and statusinformation.

• During critical incidents,supervisors could monitorthe physiologic status of allpersonnel and make deci-sions concerning tacticaldeployment and dynamicaction based upon thoseofficers, both mentally andphysically, best capable toperform.

• The use of visual, audible,and haptic cues from thesupervisor could enhance

systems, whereas appearance it-self creates a major concern fornumerous officers and law en-forcement administrators. Manylaw enforcement agencies maynot adapt readily to the detrac-tion from the traditional policeappearance that historically hasconnoted professionalism. Addi-tionally, the AR system must bemobile, lightweight, and com-pact, conforming to the user’sbody in a way that makes it unob-trusive and nonhindering to theemployment of other law en-forcement equipment. It must berugged and capable of withstand-ing extremes of cold and heat, aswell as the rigors of street policework, attributes that the technol-ogy does not posses today. In ad-dition, like many of the technolo-gies available today, the cost ofAR systems may inhibit agenciesfrom purchasing them, at leastinitially. To this end, the law en-forcement community will needto address all of these potentialproblems and weigh the risksand benefits of employing ARtechnology.

CONCLUSIONAugmented reality is a com-

pletely human-centered technol-ogy. Unlike the quest for artifi-cial intelligence, robotics, orsome other “smart-technology”research designed to eliminatethe need for humans in favor ofdecision making by computers,AR will enhance human perfor-mance directly, allowing people

the coordination of widelydispersed units.

IMPLICATIONSFOR POLICING

AR remains an emergingtechnology unsuitable for lawenforcement use today. Also, anumber of issues with the tech-nology currently exist that couldmake adoption by the law en-forcement community and ac-ceptance by the public a difficultprospect. Public sanction ofcivilian police with a futuristic

appearance could present a prob-lem. Indeed, the apparent physi-cal melding of law enforcementofficers with powerful technol-ogy may induce a visceral nega-tive reaction by some citizens.11

Acceptance by law enforce-ment officers themselves mayprove even more problematic.Bulk and mobility issues associ-ated with the additional equip-ment could cause many officersto reject the advent of AR


to work both faster and smarterand in full control of technology,instead of it controlling them.

AR could give law enforce-ment officers tremendous physi-cal and sensory enhancementthat remains completely underthe user’s control and responsi-bility. In this post-September11th age, characterized by thecriminal and terrorist exploita-tion of existing technologies andthe serious threat that they poseto free societies, AR could be-come a potent tool for improvedpolicing. The future preventionand timely termination of crimesand terrorist attacks may dependon the individual law enforce-ment officer’s ability to rapidlyprocess and analyze availabledata and take immediate actionin an extremely short time frame,precisely the kind of potential ca-pability offered by AR. Researchand development efforts are un-derway that dramatically willimprove the underlying technol-ogy in a few years. To take fulladvantage of the enhanced capa-bilities when they occur, the lawenforcement profession shouldunderstand these efforts fully soit can develop the policies andstrategies necessary for effectiveimplementation. The FuturesWorking Group AR project, inpartnership with the Naval Re-search Lab, will study the poten-tial of AR and help foster theeffective implementation of suchsystems for law enforcementuse.

Endnotes1 W. Robinett, “Synthetic Experience:

A Proposed Taxonomy,” Presence:Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 1,no. 2 (Spring 1992): 229-247.

2 D. McAllister, L. Nyland, V.Popescu, A. Lastra, and C. McCue, Real-Time Rendering of Real-World Environ-ments (1999); retrieved February 10, 2002,from ftp://ftp.cs.unc.edu/pub/publications/techreports/99-019.pdf.

“Recent Advances in Augmented Reality,”IEEE Computer Graphics and Applica-tions (November/December 2001); re-trieved February 9, 2002, from http://www.computer.org/cga/cg2001/g6toc.htm.

6 J. Colgate, W. Wannasuphoprasit, andM. Peshkin, “Cobots: Robots for Collabo-ration with Human Operators,” inProceedings of the International Mechani-cal Engineering Congress and Exhibition,in Atlanta, Georgia, 1996, DSC-Vol. 58,433-39; retrieved February 15, 2002, fromhttp://lims.mech.nwu.edu/publications/jecolgateIMECE96.Colgate.Wannasuphoprasit.Peshkin.html.

7 Q. Jin and A. Waibel, “Applicationsof LDA to Speaker Recognition,”presented at the International Conferenceon Speech and Language Processing,Beijing, China, October 2000; retrievedFebruary 10, 2002, from http://www.is.cs.cmu.edu/mie/.

8 U. Meier, R. Stiefelhagen, J. Yang,and A. Waibel, “Towards UnrestrictedLipreading,” International Journal ofPattern Recognition and ArtificialIntelligence 14, no. 5 (2000): 571-785;retrieved February 16, 2002, from http://www.is.cs.cmu.edu/mie/.

9 K. Patch, “Hot Spots Give AwayLying Eyes,” Technology Research News,January 23, 2002; retrieved February 23,2002, from http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2002/012302/Hot_spots_give_away_lying_eyes_012302.html.

10 E. Viire, H. Pryor, S. Nagata, andT. Furness, “The Virtual Retinal Display:A New Technology for Virtual Reality andAugmented Vision in Medicine,” in theProceedings of Medicine Meets VirtualReality in San Diego, California, January28-31, eds. J.D. Westwood, H.M.Hoffman, D. Stredney, and S.J. Weghorst(Amsterdam, Berlin, Oxford, Tokyo, andWashington, DC: IOS/Ohmsha Press,1998), 252-257.

11 S. Mann and H. Niedzviecki,Cyborg: Digital Destiny and HumanPossibility in the Age of the WearableComputer (Canada: Doubleday, 2002).

3 M. Bajura, Merging Real and VirtualEnvironments with Video See-ThroughHead-Mounted Displays (Ph.D. diss.,University of North Carolina, 1997);retrieved February 1, 2002, from http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/cache/papers/cs/1615/ftp:zSzzSzftp.cs.unc.eduzSzpubzSzpublicationszSztechreportszSz98-036.pdf/bajura97merging.pdf.

4 “The determination without the aid ofcelestial observations of the position of aship or aircraft from the record of thecourses sailed or flown, the distance made,and the known or estimated drift.”Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary10th ed. (1996), s.v. “dead reckoning.”

5 R. Azuma, Y. Baillot, R. Behringer,S. Feiner, S. Julier, and B. MacIntyre,

”

Preliminary researchindicates a number

of likely lawenforcement

applications whereAR technology could

advance officerperformance well

beyond current levels.

“

laced in a life-threatening, rapidly develop-ing situation, individuals with true exper-

The Future of SimulationTechnology for LawEnforcementDiverse Experience withRealistic Simulated HumansBy Chris Forsythe, Ph.D.

Mr. Forsythe serves in thecomputational initiatives

department at SandiaNational Laboratories in

Albuquerque, New Mexico,and is a technical lead for

the laboratory’s multiprojectcognition program.

Ptise exhibit the capacity to assess the availablecues, interpret events, and quickly reach a deci-sion concerning an appropriate course of action.In contrast, when presented with identical cir-cumstances, a novice will display either indeci-siveness, failing to comprehend events, or reach ahasty judgment by overlooking or misinterpretingvital cues. This observation applies to interac-tions with suspects, bystanders, and the individ-ual’s own team members. What characteristicsunderlie expert decision making? How cansimulation technologies be used both as trainingand tactical tools to accelerate and enhancedecision making by law enforcement personnel?

People long thought, and often used as thebasis for training, that expert decision makinginvolved a thorough consideration of the alterna-tive courses of action and careful evaluation ofthe pros and cons to identify an optimum deci-sion. However, when experts in the field werestudied making real-life decisions in stressfulcircumstances with accountability for the out-come of individual actions, a very differentpattern of behavior emerged. These individualsrarely attempted to identify alternative courses ofaction, and, quite often, they only considered asingle solution. Furthermore, instead of commit-ting the resources of time, attention, and mentaleffort to an evaluation of alternative courses ofaction, experts devoted these resources to under-standing the cues available to them. Once the

expert had collected sufficient cues, familiarpatterns emerged within these cues. The expertrecognized the “situation” and, accompanyingthis recognition, implicit knowledge of theactions appropriate to the situation, as well asexpectations of what might or might not happen,emerged. This pattern of behavior has beenobserved for expert decision making within avariety of contexts, including personnel involvedin fire fighting, military and aviation operations,and medical and business professions.1

Simulation as a Tool forTraining Decision Making

Because of the differences between expertdecision makers and novices, how might technol-ogy and, in particular, simulation technology, beemployed to enhance decision-making capabili-ties? Tremendous investment has been placed intechnologies, such as expert systems and decisionsupport systems that seek to automate the deci-sion-making process. While offering great prom-ise, such technologies often have failed to meet

Perspective

January 2004 / 19


expectations. Researchers have documentedseveral problems and, in general, these technolo-gies tend to promote disengagement by thehuman decision maker. Humans step aside and letthe technology take over, sacrificing situationawareness and, most alarmingly, sometimesdoubting their own expertise in favor of thetechnology. Thus, the law enforcement professionmust use caution when adopting any technicalsolution that removes the human decision makerfrom the process.

Experts have experience that covers a suffi-cient number of events to allow them to recog-nize subtle patterns of cues andsee similarities between ongoingand past events. With thisrecognition, experts anticipatewhat to expect next, and whatactions will, or will not, besuccessful.

Simulation-based trainershave become commonplacetools for enabling individuals toacquire experience operatingequipment, ranging from auto-mobiles and aircraft to thecontrol stations of nuclearpower plants. However, in training law enforce-ment personnel, the requirements for simulation-based training are somewhat different. Lawenforcement personnel need experience makingdecisions in situations in which other people,whether suspects, bystanders, or team members,are primary features. In these areas, future simu-lation technologies stand to have the greatestimpact for law enforcement personnel.

Many current simulations, as well as com-puter games, incorporate human entities andallow participants to interact with those entities.It might seem that the ability for trainees to gainexperience in a law enforcement role alreadyexists. Many people are concerned that the

synthetic humans used to populate most currentsimulations do not provide a sufficient level ofbehavioral realism.2

For many years, within the simulation andcomputer-gaming industry, researchers haveplaced a heavy emphasis on accurately modelingthe characteristics of equipment and providing ahigh degree of realism in computer graphics,sound, and other sensory experiences. Substan-tially less emphasis has been placed on thebehavioral realism of simulated humans. In manycases, synthetic humans have been providedsimplistic and predictable behavioral routines that

are highly susceptible to gam-ing (i.e., once the behavioralroutine is recognized, playersexploit this knowledge of theunderlying software to theiradvantage).

In other cases, sophisticatedartificial intelligence andmachine learning have beenemployed to create simulatedentities with a broad repertoireof behavior and flexibility toadapt behavior during thecourse of a single or multiple

simulations. Behavioral breadth and flexibilityare only two of many factors that contribute to therealism of simulated humans. Probably, the mostimportant attribute missing with nearly all currentartificial intelligence-based simulator entities isthe ability to think like humans. Granted, count-less illustrations of machine reasoning exist.However, human experts prove extremely compe-tent without much reliance on the logical opera-tions that characterize typical machine reasoning.In contrast, realistic, human-like entities shoulduse the knowledge and experiences unique tothem to extract patterns from cues present in theenvironment, resulting in their recognition of“situations.” People base everyday interactions on

““

”

...simulated humansmay be attributed

experiential knowledgecomparable to a life

history.

January 2004 / 21

an implicit understanding of this basic humancognitive process, and simulated entities mustbehave similarly for simulation-based trainingto realize its potential as a source of experiencein attaining expertise in a law enforcement role.

Simulation Technologyfor Law Enforcement

As a training system for law enforcement,simulation technology must enhance the objectiveof allowing personnel to gain experience with abreadth of social interactions characteristic ofthose encountered by law enforcement. Withsimulation-based trainers, available technologyspans a wide gambit with fullyimmersive virtual reality, usinghead-mounted displays andbodysuits at one end and text-based systems presented on adesktop computer at the other.Given a reasonably high levelof fidelity with respect to thetasks being trained, little orno additional gain in trainingoccurs from having highfidelity in other dimensionsof the simulation.

A notional simulatortrainer might include a three-dimensional computer graphic representation of avariety of residential, commercial, industrial, andother settings with an ability to naturally moveabout, look around, and direct actions (e.g., aima firearm, point); a variety of computer graphicrepresentations of human figures that movenaturally, display appropriate gestures and ex-pressions, and exhibit realistic patterns of speech;and a capability for the trainee to speak naturallyand the simulator to comprehend that speech anddirect the behavior of simulated humans accord-ingly. While an integrated system currently is notavailable off the shelf, each of these technical

capabilities exists with varying degrees ofmaturity and integration. Fully integrated systemsshould be available and affordable within thenext 5 to 10 years.

Current research and development at oneresearch laboratory provides a framework forcreating highly realistic simulated humans.Specifically, these synthetic entities process cuesand interpret situations in a manner consistentwith decision-making processes, presenting acomputer-based entity human-like at the levelof its most basis cognitive operations.

Within the framework developed by thislaboratory, the behavior of simulated entities is a

direct product of the knowledgeattributed to those entities. Atthe most basic level, thisknowledge consists of threecomponents. First, situationsoccur where knowledge in-volves contexts conducive tospecific actions, although theaction may be to do nothing.For example, “take a hostage,”“don protective clothing,” and“hide” each might denotesituations. Second, cues exist,such as “presence of marks-men,” “sound of a diversionary

device,” or “availability of a hiding place.”Finally, knowledge of the patterns and combina-tions of cues that give rise to recognition ofdifferent situations must be present.

At a slightly more sophisticated level, theknowledge attributed to simulated entities wouldinclude emotional associations with cues andsituations. Emotional processes are important toachieving realism due to their influence on theattention directed to cues and situations. Specifi-cally, when a cue has a strong emotional associa-tion (e.g., association between a snake and fear),attention is focused on that cue while other

© Digital Stock

equally salient or important cues are neglected.Given simulated humans that respond in thismanner, trainees may explore the use of tacticsthat seek to intentionally evoke an emotionalresponse.

At an even more sophisticated level, simu-lated humans may be attributed experientialknowledge comparable to a life history. Thisis believed particularly important because, argu-ably, how people interpret a situation is as mucha function of their unique life experiences asother knowledge that they might possess. In thecourse of a simulation scenario, various eventsmay trigger the recall of pastexperiences, including emo-tional associations, with thesimulated entity interpretingongoing events relative to thosepast experiences. Furthermore,trainees may be provided full orpartial knowledge of these pastexperiences, or even erroneousinformation, and allowed to usethis information in their interac-tions with simulated entities.

Researchers are developingtools that will automate theprocess of creating simulated entities. Thus,unlike most current systems in which a single ora small collection of simulated entities exists, thenumber of simulated entities will be unlimitedwith each entity possessing unique knowledge,emotional associations, and life histories. Conse-quently, trainees may interact with a variety ofindividuals.

An even greater diversity of experience maybe attained by presenting simulated entities thatexhibit cognitive and behavioral characteristicsconsistent with various psychopathologies, aswell as basic personality traits and degrees ofintelligence. For example, by manipulatingparameters underlying the cognitive operations

of simulated entities, certain personality traits(e.g., extroversion/introversion) may be mani-fested. Similarly, other adjustments may producecognitive behavior typically observed with certainpsychopathological conditions, such as schizo-phrenia. In addition, it also should be possibleto simulate the effects of fatigue and certainpsychogenic substances (e.g., amphetamines).

Other developments focus on creating theability to represent, in a simulated entity, theknowledge and, to some extent, experiencestypical of individuals from specific cultures orgroups. Taking these capabilities a step further,

it becomes possible to createentities representative of spe-cific high-profile individuals.For example, this techniquemay be used with cult leadersfor whom a vast record exists oftheir past experiences, writings,correspondences, and speeches.

Other Applicationsfor Simulation

While future capabilities forsimulation technology primarilyaddress the needs for law en-

forcement training, two other applications alsomay prove useful. First, simulation may beemployed in a mission rehearsal capacity. Beforebeing sent to clear a building, trainees mayconduct the operation, including potential inter-actions, using simulation. This would exposepersonnel to a wide array of various contingen-cies that might arise during the course of anoperation. Furthermore, in high-profile cases,this same capability also may allow negotiatorsto explore various approaches in dealing withknown individuals and to see the range of po-tential reactions certain tactics may produce.

Second, simulation may be used as an analy-sis tool. In this capacity, alternative tactics and

“

”

...simulation may beemployed in a

mission rehearsalcapacity.


team compositions may be explored, lethal andnon-lethal weapons assessed, and vulnerabilitiesin facility and other security operations identified.

ConclusionLaw enforcement personnel exhibit various

characteristics during the decision-making pro-cess. To further enhance decision-making capa-bilities, agencies can use simulation technologyas a training method for their officers to gainexperience in various situations.

The key development in simulation technol-ogy that benefits the law enforcement professioninvolves the ability to interact in a natural man-ner with highly realistic and diverse simulated

humans. These capabilities are not yet available;however, rudimentary capabilities have beendeveloped. Currently, research laboratories areworking on simulation technologies to providethe full range of capabilities that the law enforce-ment profession needs, as well as to offer them inpackages that departments can afford.

Endnotes1 For additional information, see Gary Klein, “An Overview of

Naturalistic Decision-Making Applications,” in C.E. Zsambokand G. Klein, Naturalistic Decision Making (Mowah, NJ:Lawrence Earlbaum,1997), 49-59.

2 R.W. Pew and A.S. Mavor, National Research Council,Modeling Human and Organizational Behavior (Washington,DC: National Academy Press, 1998).

Subscribe Now

January 2004 / 23

Book Review

Private Investigation and ProcessServing by Raymond P. Siljander, Charles C.Thomas Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, 2001.

Private Investigation and Process Servingcontains investigative, protective, and servingconcepts; technical information; and investi-gative recording forms to support operations,all presented in nontechncial language. At thesame time, it offers the extensive mental andphysical skills required of an effective andcompetent private investigator and processservice representative.

Section I covers many quality aspects. Itcontains outstanding peripheral informationinvolving field tips for process servers withthe greatest value to the reader being themanner in which the author illustrates a wayof thinking “outside the box” that lends itselfto the completion of the investigative mission.This section presents the minimum criteriathat private investigators and servers mustpossess, including a list of tools, equipment,and supplies needed to sustain an investiga-tion and meet the evidence needs of attorneys.It also contains examples and applications of“pretext” investigative techniques, such asestablishing and using telephone lines and

numbers. The author shares comprehensiveundercover investigative and interviewstrategies by private investigators that lawenforcement officers can use when interview-ing and interrogating subjects. He discussestechniques of determining the signs of inno-cence or guilt, identifying and responding tosuspect and subject resistance, and under-standing “roping” methodologies, includingeyewitness identification and testimonyaspects.

Section II addresses process serving as anofficer of the court, ranging from training andlicensing requirements, liabilities, and unac-ceptable investigative behaviors to whatconstitutes proper and improper server rulesand criminal charges for their violation. Italso covers types of serves (e.g., complaints,summons, detainers, subpoenas, and protec-tion orders) and fees chargeable to the court(e.g., client and affidavit billing with writtenexamples). This section’s major contributionis the identification of 88 field tips for serv-ers, with an excellent caution and important-to-know statement.

The author addresses physical surveil-lance through the practical application eyesof the private investigator, with extensiveexperiences ranging from personal andphysical qualifications of a surveillant toconducting fixed (e.g., structure, concealedarea, and motor vehicle) and mobile (e.g.,motor vehicle and foot) surveillance. He alsocovers other topics from identifying subjectsand selecting proper surveillance techniquesfor case effectiveness to using various locat-ing and tracking systems and aids for visualsurveillance extension and enhancement.

The book presents well-documentedinformation on bodyguard service (executiveprotection), which includes techniques for


conducting risk management, vulnerabilityanalysis, and threat assessment and forplanning protective programs. It also de-scribes walking and driving defensive andoffensive protection methods of executiveprotection and safety, as well as the func-tional techniques and methods employed bybodyguards, including report writing require-ments, forms, and examples. In the businessmanagement portion of the book, the authoremphasizes that the private process servermust be adept at reading the operationalenvironment, behavior clues, neighborhooddynamics, and the predictable nature ofpeople.

Overall, Private Investigation and Pro-cess Serving stands as an excellent work thatcan assist practicing criminal and defenseattorneys and their staff members who shouldfind its contents beneficial in many aspects ofcase preparation where they need assistancefrom a private investigator. It also can helpthe aspiring, as well as the experienced,member of the private investigative service.

Reviewed byLarry R. Moore

Certified Protection ProfessionalAmerican Society for Industrial Security

Knoxville, Tennessee

January 2004 / 25

T he FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin staff invitesyou to communicate with us via e-mail. Our

Internet address is [email protected] would like to know your thoughts on con-

temporary law enforcement issues. Wewelcome your comments, questions, and

suggestions about the magazine. Pleaseinclude your name, title, and agency

on all e-mail messages.Also, the Bulletin is available forviewing or downloading on anumber of computer services,as well as the FBI’s home page.The home page address ishttp://www.fbi.gov.

The Bulletin’sE-mail Address


he vision of a college-educated police profes-sion is a dream almost aT

century old and, moreover, adream still unrealized. Both po-licing and higher education aretradition-bound institutions withdivergent interests. The internalconcerns of each occupation hashad greater immediacy than adiscussion of how to build aneducational curriculum withcommon purpose and benefit.Though advancements havebeen made since the 1960s, theold issues remain salient, even ascurrent events and rapidly evolv-ing technology add new ones.

As new challenges presentthemselves, policing still isstruggling to realize the benefitsof older commitments and re-forms. It is time for a new dia-logue between the law enforce-ment and academic communitiesto better integrate education withthe training and service needs of

agencies. By cooperatively iden-tifying current and future needs,police professionals and acade-micians may develop tools to ad-dress both lingering promisesand emerging challenges. To thisend, a look at the existing systemof criminal justice education, thehistory of the uneasy alliance ofpolicing and education, the dif-ferences between education andtraining, and the future needs of

the law enforcement profes-sion can offer some guidancefor creating a stronger link be-tween education, training, andan end result of improved policeservices.1

A THREE-TIEREDSYSTEM

Over the years, criminal jus-tice education has developedthree distinct types of programs,

EducatingandTrainingthe FuturePoliceOfficerBy MICHAEL BUERGER, Ph.D.

© K. L. Morrison

January 2004 / 27

linked in many ways to the entry-level qualifications of policing.The first step on the ladder re-mains the high school diploma orgeneral equivalency degree(GED), which seems to depictthe “industry standard” despiteconsiderable change elsewhere.An improvement over the previ-ous era’s lack of educationalstandards, it, nonetheless, re-mains a relatively modest crite-rion. Once hired, the recruit at-tends a police training academy(ranging from about 400 hours toalmost a year, depending uponjurisdiction) to study a widerange of topics, most of whichthe state Police Officer Stan-dards and Training (POST)Board or equivalent body hasmandated. Topics covered in-clude domestic violence, defen-sive driving, multiculturalism,interpersonal communications,firearms retention, the criminalcode, basics of forensics, intro-duction to weapons of mass de-struction, and many others com-pressed into as short a programas possible.

The associate degree, a 2-year program, constitutes themiddle rung on the higher educa-tion ladder. Some programs offerpurely academic courses; othersincorporate basic law enforce-ment certification into their 2-year curricula. Many states haveintegrated their mandate-basedpolice training into their 2-yearprograms on a preservice basis.Students who complete criminal

justice programs in those set-tings often earn both an associatedegree and certification neces-sary for employment.

At the third level, an increas-ing number of police agenciesnow require the 4-year bach-elor’s degree as a hiring creden-tial. Generally regarded as part ofthe social sciences, 4-year crimi-nal justice programs focus moreon research than on skills train-ing, in accordance with long-standing dictates of the disci-plines. Students learn criminal

continue to follow the social sci-ence model, offering knowledgeabout the system and developingskills to study the system. Train-ing academies instill the skills tofunction adequately within thefield as currently constituted(and hopefully lay the ground-work for successfully copingwith changes in the social andlegal environments).

Speaking broadly, the lawenforcement profession appar-ently has not known what to dowith a college education. Al-though college-educated personshave succeeded in policing,“education” seems to remain tiedin an abstract way to profes-sionalization and more optionalthan necessary. For example, thedegree from the substandard in-stitution can carry as muchweight as that from a flagshipuniversity; professional develop-ment through additional trainingcan count as much or more inpromotional processes than mereeducation; and training itself stillbegins at the level of the leastskilled, rather than the more edu-cated. In addition, the assertionthat the credential indicates amore rounded person, of broadervision, who can be molded into asuperior police officer remainsdifficult to prove in more thananecdotal terms. Nor has thecriminal justice degree necessar-ily proven itself valuable as apreparation credential; after all,many of today’s college-edu-cated officers hold degrees from

“”

The future will createnew training needs

not currentlystandard in either

college programs orpolice training

academies.

justice from a systems perspec-tive and generally are taughtskills in research methods andstatistics, rather than interview-ing or managing problem indi-viduals. Bachelor of arts andbachelor of science degrees areawarded either by an indepen-dent criminal justice depart-ment or from programs withinanother discipline, typically so-ciology, public affairs, or politi-cal science. The 4-year programs


other disciplines, ranging fromEnglish literature to chemicalengineering.

On the other hand, highereducation has taken great painsto distinguish itself from “train-ing,” even though a portion ofpolice academy training alreadyfalls under the guise of the liberalarts discipline in some states.Many programs rightfully boastof widening their students’ per-ceptions and ability to think criti-cally about topics, but mostcriminal justice curricula focuson understanding criminal jus-tice theory and practice throughthe lens of social science re-search. In turn, the best studentspossibly may leave educationalinstitutions with well-honedskills of analysis more suited foracademia than for their chosenoccupation. If they present them-selves for employment withabilities that their employers willnever ask them to use but with-out those with direct applicationto their professional lives, thenthe net result is the “educatedindividual” whose professionaldevelopment begins only afterbeing hired.

In the end, though, bothtraining and education competewith a cultural view that experi-ential learning constitutes theonly real preparation for policework. The platitude of “Listen,kid, forget all that stuff youlearned in college or at the acad-emy” still can be heard in some

quarters. Experience even has atoehold in the hiring queue, asmany agencies accept 2 years ofmilitary service in lieu of 2 yearsof college, apparently on thegrounds that the experience issomehow equivalent to a formaleducation.2

Criminal justice educationgrew out of the handful of policescience programs that existed atthe time. It expanded rapidlywith the availability of Law En-forcement Education Program(LEEP) funds from the OmnibusCrime Control and Safe StreetsAct of 1968. The creation andrapid expansion of those pro-grams proved erratic, as practi-tioners often were thrust into fac-ulty roles to meet demand. Thisled to criticisms that the educa-tional component was weak,with credit given for training (or,worse, for “war stories”) con-taining no thinking componentcomparable to the establishedcollegiate majors.

As a result, the criminal jus-tice discipline continues to fighta battle for legitimacy within theeducational community, seekingto shed the early stigma of“Handcuffing 101.” The antidotewithin higher education hasinvolved replicating the meth-ods and standards of criminaljustice’s parent disciplines—so-ciology, psychology, and politi-cal science—emphasizing re-search methods and statisticalanalysis as a way of understand-ing system outcomes. Except inrare cases, the 4-year programshave not developed personalskills components comparable tothe clinical portion of medicaltraining. Overall, graduates mayappear better prepared to becomesocial scientists, rather than

A SHORT HISTORYThe awkward marriage of

policing and education is alegacy of the 1967 Report of thePresident’s Commission on LawEnforcement and the Adminis-tration of Justice, which forced aformerly insular profession toconfront the weaknesses in itsstructure. In the wake of wide-spread dissatisfaction over crimerates, police relations with mi-nority citizens, and police han-dling of civil rights and antiwarprotests, the report proffered“better-educated police officers”as a vehicle for change.

...both training andeducation competewith a cultural view

that experientiallearning constitutes

the only realpreparation for

police work.

“

”

January 2004 / 29

police officers, although excep-tions to such a sweeping state-ment certainly could exist.3

Since the 1970s, economicforces have altered the frame-work. As legislative mandateshave added to the skills core oftraditional training curricula,employer-sponsored training hasbecome more expensive. Tocompensate, mechanisms forpreservice certification, whichplaces the financial burden fortraining on the prospective em-ployee, have created trainingprograms in academic settings.As a result, despite misgivings,4-year programs end up givingacademic credit for completingpolice academy training in somesystems under the transfer rulesthat carry 2-year students into the4-year institutions (even thoughthe actual number of credit hourstends to be limited).

DIFFERENT GOALSEducation and training are

fundamentally different tasks,though in an ideal world theyshould complement each other.Education should prepare stu-dents to succeed in any trainingregimen or philosophy or in anyoccupation, regardless of theiracademic major. The process ofeducation is less a transfer of factor philosophy than that of ob-taining the skills of learning howto learn. A college education isdesigned to build within eachstudent the ability to critically

assess new situations, undertakenew learning as needed, andeven to question the “facts” andunderlying assumptions of exist-ing canons of knowledge, whennecessary. Educated individualswho graduate from college oruniversity possess abilities thattranscend even the most specificvocational aspirations (e.g., sin-gular areas of study, such as pre-med and prelaw), as well as mul-tiple changes in career trajectory.

police academy training cur-ricula also contain a growingnumber of topics that embody alearning component quite differ-ent from the strictly tactical mas-tery of wrist locks and Weaverstances, such as the nuances ofdomestic violence and childabuse, multicultural issues, andlegal rights of the accused.Moreover, several dimensionsdistinguish criminal justice edu-cation from police academytraining, including the amount oftime spent on material, the dif-ferent educational and experien-tial credentials of the instructors,the nature of testing and grading,and the scope of applicationbeyond a particular vocationalsetting.

While the course title“Criminal Law” may appear thesame, a university may feel thatthe “cookbook” approach ofsome police academy trainingcourses—learning the materialelements of each category of of-fenses in the criminal code—does not compare to the broaderapproach that examines the un-derlying philosophy of law, thenature of legal reasoning that in-forms U.S. Supreme Court opin-ions, and other similar issues. Bythe same token, though, law en-forcement agencies need some-one who can write a report thatmaterially supports an affidavitand court complaint for robberyor burglary. Therefore, in a well-developed system, the collegiate

By comparison, training sys-tematically builds particularskills to achieve certain ends.The oft-expressed idea that aperson “falls back on training” inhigh-stress situations embodiesone aspect of training goals, therepeated achievement of a de-sired action (and result) in a vari-ety of contexts. Although the“Handcuffing 101” pejorative ofhigher education implied thatskills training is physical (andeducation, therefore, mental),

© Mark C. Ide


process would feed well-pre-pared individuals into a policetraining process that capitalizeson their education, thus creatinga complementary approach toimproving police services.

DIFFERENT STRENGTHS,DIFFERENT WEAKNESSES

The future will create newtraining needs not currently stan-dard in either college programsor police training academies.New developments in technol-ogy will create a need for investi-gators who can cope with thecriminal uses of those technolo-gies. The sheer volume of finan-cial crimes perpetrated via com-puter hacking and identity theftwill exceed the capacity of fed-eral agencies to investigate. If lo-cal police do not adapt to theneed, private resources likelywill fill the gap or leave localjurisdictions and their constitu-ents without legal recourse.

Most police training cur-ricula and most traditional socialscience-based criminal justiceprograms lack the ability to pre-pare students to deal with tech-nology-based crime or withfinancial crime. Those skills aretaught in business and computerscience programs in universitiesand elsewhere. Originally pro-moted as an interdisciplinaryfield of study, criminal justicehas narrowed. The struggle ofcriminal justice programs forlegitimacy within the higher

education sphere has forcedthem to hew close to the doctri-nal requirements of the parentdisciplines: sociology, psychol-ogy, and public administration.Doctoral-level faculty comefrom those disciplines and maymodel their programs on theirown courses of study.

The social scientists whoteach how to draw valid conclu-sions by analyzing databases donot have the skills to teach stu-dents to deal with distraught, in-toxicated, scared and aggressive,

officer safety. Historically, fewpractitioner instructors met (oreven understood) the levels ofscholarship demanded by col-leges and universities, thoughthat has changed dramatically inrecent years. Practitioners able tointegrate macro-level social sci-ence knowledge with street-levelexperiential learning remain ascarce commodity.

That said, there should be noreason that a preferred collegeeducation cannot be an interdis-ciplinary course of study that en-compasses both understandingand a usable skill set thatundergirds subsequent training.A variety of baccalaureate pro-grams have a clinical componentthat involves developing skillswith direct application to the jobmarket under the tutelage of sea-soned practitioners. The medicaland psychological sciences havesuch a mix, as do accredited pro-grams in social work. Manycriminal justice programs allowor require internship or prac-ticum experiences, providing aframework to develop a compa-rable “clinical” aspect to crimi-nal justice education.

With all of these factorsin mind, what can the law en-forcement and academic com-munities do to improve thebalance between educating andtraining future police officers?Three main models—creatinga new model of interdiscipli-nary criminal justice degree;

or deceitful individuals. Nor arethey necessarily the best personsto teach students how to recog-nize behavioral manifestationsof mental illness or emotionaldisturbance; those clinical skillsare taught by nursing or socialwork programs.

It also may be that police in-structors do not have those skillseither, preferring norm-driveninstruction that focuses on

Education and trainingare fundamentally

different tasks,though in an idealworld they should

complementeach other.

“”

January 2004 / 31

modifying the existing social sci-ence curricula to similar effect;and placing greater emphasis atthe point of hiring upon thecourse of study, rather than onmere possession of a degree—demonstrate some possibleapproaches.

Model 1: A NewInterdisciplinary Approach

The faculty of the top aca-demic criminal justice programscame from a wide range of fields,such as sociology, psychology,urban planning, political sci-ence, and public affairs. Theyapplied the tools of those dis-ciplines to the study of the crimi-nal justice system, offering dif-ferent perspectives and raisingdifferent questions. In the morethan 30 years since that time, thefield has become homogenized,with a fairly standard set of cur-ricular offerings common tomost programs, built upon anever-expanding body of researchfindings.

In a newly multidisciplinaryapproach, criminal justice pro-grams might require a specifiednumber of hours in accounting,computer science, and ethnicstudies, in addition to the socialscience core of criminal justice.If the old concern that “the newkids don’t know how to talk withpeople” remains, then the pro-grams might consider includingdrama classes, public speaking,or even courses in the great

antithesis of policing, socialwork, that require students tointeract in person with people.The whole idea is to use the aca-demic environment to teachthe thornier social lessons sodifficult to approach in policetraining settings. The academicatmosphere is different, less po-litically or emotionally charged,and the venue allows for a morepluralistic (i.e., not “all cops”)exploration of the issues raised.

session. Using literature and avariety of media, educators canpresent and discuss related is-sues in a manner that policetraining typically does not ac-commodate. Understanding ofother cultures becomes a founda-tion—even if a fairly narrowone—upon which police trainingcan build, as opposed to a bolt-on module that flies in the face ofpolice cultural norms and be-comes something to be endured,rather than adopted.

Model 2: AdaptingExisting Programs

Creating new programs rep-resents a visionary approach thatmay be possible in institutionsthat do not have a criminal jus-tice program. The larger reality isthat the institutions with existingcriminal justice programs are un-likely to make radical changeswithout cause. Issues of aca-demic tenure and contractualmatters are as real as their coun-terparts in policing. The study ofcriminal justice will continue asa social science pursuit, with theprograms serving those who as-pire to the professoriat, as well asthose with ambitions toward be-coming police officers, detec-tives, or federal agents.

Change in academia will notcome about without a strong sig-nal from the receiving profes-sions, those who ultimately willhire the products of academic en-deavors. If the field speaks with a

Teaching “multiculturalism”or “cultural sensitivity” in a po-lice training environment oftenresults in an awkward experi-ence for instructor and attendeesalike. Exposure to different cul-tures through educational studymay be a better, more results-oriented approach. The explora-tion of new ideas occurs over alonger time and requires a differ-ent level of engagement thanan 8-hour in-service training

© Mark C. Ide

concerted voice about the needfor certain skills and emphasizeshiring individuals with thoseskills, then academia will moveto provide them. For example, itis gratifying—if a bit surpris-ing—to have police agenciescomplain about the lack of writ-ing skills of some college gradu-ates and interns. Given the com-petitive marketplace of highereducation, “employability ofgraduates” remains a sellingpoint for many institutions.

Model 3: Course ofStudy, Not Major

The third option does notrequire institutional change onthe part of academia. Instead, itplaces the onus on the aspiringpolice professional. If the fieldsignals that it considers proof ofcertain skills, acquired in an aca-demic setting, as a bona fideoccupational qualification, theexisting programs will make therecommendation, and the stu-dents will seek the courses them-selves. Academia already givessuch direction concerning sec-ond languages and accountingskills (for those who aspire to befederal investigators); it easilycould do the same for clinicalskills. Students will have to sur-mount institutional barriers, suchas the unavailability of pre-requisite courses and those re-quiring academic major status.Nevertheless, if the field pro-vides the signal, an impetus ex-ists for institutional adaptation,

and it well may be that this thirdmodel might ultimately turn intothe first, a third-generationcriminal justice major that ismultidimensional.

CONCLUSIONDuring a coffee-break con-

versation at a training session, apolice officer said to the author,“No offense, Doc, but I couldteach the useful parts of your 4-year program in a day.” His point

formal study nor secondhand ex-perience is an adequate prepara-tion for the demanding tasks ofpolice work. Experience is animportant teacher, to be sure, butthe old adage remains that foolscan learn from their own mis-takes. Wise individuals mini-mize their mistakes by learningfrom the mistakes and successesof others. Both training and edu-cation share the mandate to makesuch learning possible. A futurein which the two endeavors com-plement each other can occur,but appears unlikely to happen ofits own accord. A dialogue thatexplores the needs of the law en-forcement profession and the ca-pacities and possibilities of theacademic field is needed to fuelsuch change; the challenges ofthe future should create thespark.

Endnotes1 The author based this article on his

experiences as a police officer andacademician, as well as his close associa-tion with numerous law enforcementprofessionals.

2 Such a view is anathema in academiccircles. Instead, the value of militaryservice is recognized as a complementaryprocess and as a maturing influence, butnot as comparable to formal education.

3 The author acknowledges theprobability of local exceptions. It is notpossible, however, to know the offeringsof every program in the United Stateswithout an extensive research effort farbeyond the scope of this article.

was essentially correct if the onlythings that counted were thefactoids students could recall 3years after graduation. The au-thor countered with the observa-tion that he could fill the 4-yearcurriculum with war stories andthe students would leave the pro-gram as ignorant as the day theyarrived.

Both points were equallyvalid and equally off the mark.Without integration, neither


“

”

By cooperativelyidentifying current and

future needs, policeprofessionals andacademicians may

develop tools toaddress both lingering

promises andemerging challenges.

Dr. Buerger, a former police officer, is anassociate professor of criminal justice atBowling Green State University in Ohio.

The Bulletin Notes

Law enforcement officers are challenged daily in the performance of their duties; they face eachchallenge freely and unselfishly while answering the call to duty. In certain instances, their actionswarrant special attention from their respective departments. The Bulletin also wants to recognizethose situations that transcend the normal rigors of the law enforcement profession.

Officer Horner

Early one morning, Officer Cody Horner of the Shakopee, Minnesota,Police Department observed smoke pouring out of the windows and roofof an apartment building. Officer Horner entered a hallway of the build-ing but, after pounding on two apartment doors and alerting occupants ofthe fire, was forced to retreat from the heavy smoke. After gaining airoutside, Officer Horner crawled into the same hallway and alerted manymore residents of the growing fire. Numerous occupants exited the build-ing during this time. The local fire department advised that because ofOfficer Horner’s willingness to put his life in danger, all of the residentsof the apartment building eluded the fire and reached safety.

Officer Guest

During a tropical storm, Officer Rodger Guest of the Bedford, NewYork, Police Department responded to a residence that had partiallycollapsed and shifted on its foundation due to fallen trees and a mudslide.Two residents were trapped in the basement, which was rapidly fillingwith storm water that already had risen above waist level. Upon arrival,Officer Guest found all normal entryways to the basement blocked. Afterlocating a small opening in the foundation, he crawled under a porch andbegan to break away stone and mortar. Assisted by local firefighters,Officer Guest made an opening large enough to pull the homeowners tosafety. Officer Guest’s efficient response was instrumental in saving thetrapped residents.

Officer Evans

While off duty but in uniform, Officer Lee Evans of the West WindsorTownship, New Jersey, Police Department received notification of a motorvehicle accident in which the car involved had plunged into a 12-foot-deepcanal. Officer Evans immediately arrived at the scene and, observing thevehicle sinking into the frigid waters with a man trapped inside, entered thewater without concern for his own safety. With the help of four passingmotorists, Officer Evans broke out the rear window of the vehicle and thenremained with the individual, bringing him to the surface of the water.After helping the victim to the bank of the canal, Officer Evans, with theassistance of onlookers, lifted the man out of the water. Officer Evans’quick and selfless actions under extreme pressure saved the motorist’s life.

PeriodicalsPostage and Fees PaidFederal Bureau of InvestigationISSN 0014-5688

U.S. Department of JusticeFederal Bureau of InvestigationFBI Law Enforcement Bulletin935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.Washington, DC 20535-0001

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

The patch of the Mississippi Highway Patrolfeatures an eagle with extended pinions, holdinga palm branch and a bundle of arrows in itstalons. The red, white, and blue on the eagle’schest symbolize the American flag. The phrase,“Virtute et Armis,” or “By Valor and Arms,”serves as the motto of Mississippi.

The patch of the Unalaska, Alaska, Depart-ment of Public Safety depicts the southwestportion of Alaska’s coastline and the AleutianIslands along with a crab and a fishing vessel,which represent the staple of the city’s economy.Unalaska’s shipping port, the International Portof Dutch Harbor, is a leading seafood producer.

Patch Call

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - Jan04leb

Documents

Transcript of FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - Jan04leb