Evaluating the Effects of Information Technology on Problem-Oriented-Policing

The experiences of a state police agency during its use of cellular digital packet data systems to support its problem-oriented policing (POP) project suggest the need for better databases to measure performance as well as more informed federal funding of ways to assess the impact of technologies.

Abstract

Technologies promise to make our organizations more productive, efficient or effective. But our experience does not always fulfill this promise. Public safety agencies are the target of a barrage of new information technologies offering better performance, many of which are attractive because they can be financed through federal grants. But when evaluations are performed of these technologies, improvements do not always result. This article describes the experiences of a state police agency (SPA) during its use of cellular digital packet data (CDPD) systems to support its problem-oriented policing (POP) project. The CDPD system should have improved the SPA's POP operations; in practice, it was not as clear. Although participants believed the CDPD technology worthwhile, there were only a few minor differences between POP officers that did and did not use it. This evaluation suggests the need for better databases to measure performance as well as more informed federal funding of ways to assess the impact of technologies.