LEIM 37th Annual IACP: Tuesday May 21st 2013
This was my second year attending LEIM and certainly the most enjoyable as the setting for this year was the beautiful Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Hotel. Coming from a country (Ireland) that has been deprived of good summers for the last few years, I was overwhelmed by the glorious sunshine.
As I walked around the beautiful grounds of the Fairmont Princess, enjoying the heat, I took in the perfectly manicured lawns, the towering cactus displays and the perfect little bunnies. This was just heaven and so far away from the cold, rainy Dublin I had left some days previous.
I’m glad to say as I write this from my kitchen in Dublin; the sun is streaming in the window, and is bringing back memories of Scottsdale!
I discarded my swimsuit and dressed more appropriately for the Opening Ceremony of LEIM 2013. Scott Edson, the past year’s Chair, opened LEIM with a warm welcome for everyone and a brief outline of the next few days events and sessions. He was joined by Alan G. Rodbell, Chief of Police, Scottsdale and Bart Johnson, Executive Director, IACP; they too gave a brief introduction and welcomed all.
After the opening I went along to my first plenary session of LEIM, The Evolving Role of Technology in Policing. This sessions also included results from the previous days Information Technology (IT) summit. Tom Casady spoke about technology changes over the years and how it changed law enforcement.
- The telephone was a big innovation from the 1930’s, and is still a critical tool today.
- Cars and motorcycles changed everything for the average policeman patrolling the street on foot.. Harley Davidson credits Detroit, Michigan as being the first purchaser of police motorcycles as early as 1908. The use of cars and motor cycles by police was widespread by the 1930’s.
- Two-way radio with the invention of the Motorola Police Cruiser Radio Receiver in 1936 again changed policing for the better. This was a rugged one-way car radio designed to receive police broadcasts. These have of course evolved into the Police Scanners we know today.
- In 1968 the first 911 call centre began where people could contact police on a simple but easy number to remember, in an emergency. This highly successful contact is still used to this day.
- The typewriter was used from the early 20th century and of course has evolved from the 1960’s, to the computers and laptops that are used today.
- Finally, in 1974, the stun gun was invented. It became an invaluable tool to subdue fleeing or potentially dangerous persons, and gives officers a less lethal alternative to firearms in many situations. As many lives as it has saved, it is still a subject of controversy, as it’s use has been implicated in some instances of serious injury or death. But having seen its use over the years, and in particular, the British police recently using this device to subdue the two terrorists responsible for the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on May 22nd, I do agree with police being armed with them.
Of course technology has evolved from all this, to the brilliance of what we have today. From Cell phones, Laptops, Augmented Reality, Wearable Technology, i.e.: Cameras, Voice Recognition, Facial Recognition, Predictive Analytics, DNA Biometrics, Embedded GPS and to Social Media using Twitter and Facebook as a means of getting information from the public at the time and place of a crime or disaster.
There are a few articles and more information on this subject below:
Stay tuned for a couple more blog postings about the 2013 LEIM Conference.
Thanks…r/Mary