The Impact of Technology on Criminal Investigation: A Report

This report delves into the significant impact of technology on criminal investigations, examining both its benefits and drawbacks. The introduction highlights the evolving nature of criminal investigations and the role of technology in gathering evidence. The report discusses various technological advancements, including smartphone tracking, biometrics, data mapping, high-security check-ups, and automated license plate readers, illustrating how these tools aid law enforcement. It acknowledges the positive aspects, such as increased efficiency and enhanced security, while also addressing the negative implications, such as the rise of cybercrime, privacy concerns, and the increasing sophistication of criminals. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of adapting to technological changes in criminal investigation, weighing its benefits and challenges.

Running Head: Criminal Law 1
Criminal Justice
Student Name
2/20/2020

Running Head: Criminal Law 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Impact of technology on criminal investigation:.............................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

Running Head: Criminal Law 3
Introduction
Criminal Investigation is an undertaking that seeks, collects as well as gathers the
evidence of a crime for a case or specific purpose. Such process includes huge level of study
about crimes and criminals. The investigation is conducted by a group of officers who are
mentally and physically eligible. They are very well trained and prepared to deal with every type
of situation and individuals. The criminal investigation covers different types of crime such as,
fraud investigation, theft investigation, kidnapping investigation, crime scene investigation and
assault investigations. From the past scenarios, big changes occurred in criminal investigation
due to technology. The augment in technology has benefited a lot to combat crime. But at same
time there are some disadvantages of updating technology. To declare someone as an accused or
guilty for an offence is mainly done through investigation process as it is the first step. The
process includes step which aids in determining that the crime is committed or not and whether
the suspect is guilty or not (Becker, & Dutelle, 2018).
Thesis statement:
“Technology, a Boon or Ban in Criminal Investigation?”
Impact of technology on criminal investigation:
Through technology advancement there has been a lot of change in the field of crime
department. The crime percentage is increasing rapidly and therefore, the investigation officers
are updating themselves. They are introducing new method and techniques to solve the issues.
To attain the results the technology has supported a lot such as:
 Smartphone Tracking: to detect or track exact location of criminals or suspect them
there is a facility of tracking phones. This aids officers to direct access the location of
victims or suspect by tracking their phones. Every single movement of suspect is known
by the officer. The investigation is done before trial and in this step the suspect if not
accused then declared innocent but if they are guilty then further proceedings are
conducted (Kemp, 2019).

Running Head: Criminal Law 4
 Biometrics: it is a technology used to identify and access Smartphones by unlocking
with a fingerprint or iris scan. This system from last 2-3 years has become accessible to
public. This technology has given a new security to the Smartphones or other technology
systems. The criminal justification is using this in a way that they had made identification
devices to spot criminals who have some past records. This saves a lot of time of officers.
Another use of this is at crime scene by taking digital fingerprints of the suspect or any
other person and then uses them in the investigation process (Koper, & Lum, 2019).
 Data Mapping: this technology has been approaching from decades but it went public in
recent times. This has made very easy to access any location at any place. The impact of
this on criminal investigation is that they are providing to police departments or
investigation agencies in foreign or any other country a clear geographical location to
look out crime rate and volume of crimes (Liedka, Meehan, & Lauer, 2019).
 High Security Check-ups: the most commonly used technology. Almost in every mall,
movie hall, airports, metro stations, and hotel or at events there is baffle gate or turnstile
used. There is a sensor fix in the gate to detect any wrong or unauthorized person passing
through it. Only a single person is allowed to pass at a time. If any wrong is accessed then
an alarm is raised. This impact on criminal investigation is that it helps in allocating a
criminal who is hiding himself from the officers (Lum, Koper, & Willis, 2017).
 Automated license plate readers: through technology advancement the department of
investing is raising their standards. Now they have created a system through which
vehicle’s number plate is easily recognized. The system has high quality cameras to scan
the license plate number of any vehicle at any place. This impacted criminal investigation
in a way that they can easily access owner address by knowing the number plates and can
connect with the owner of the vehicle. The use of digital media has made life very easy.
Each and every work is just a second far away from the results only because of digital
media (Pagallo, & Quattrocolo, 2018).
It shows that technology is supporting criminal investigation at large but at the same time
due to technology only there is an increase of frauds, crime, and misconduct. The hackers are
introducing new technology and software to hack or fraud with internet security. Now everything
seems online and therefore, the personal or confidential information is easily accessible to other

Running Head: Criminal Law 5
persons who want to misuse. This is the major drawback of advancement technology. In criminal
investigation each and every step is confidential but with the latest technology there is a high risk
of losing confidentiality. There is a high requirement to control the affairs of individuals
misusing technology. In criminal investigation the officers need to pay high attention to the case
but due to the technology there are numbers of distractions which are not tolerated or tenable
while working as an investigation officer (Pramanik et al., 2017).
The other negative impact is that criminals are very aware of technology and they use
them as their self-defence. The criminals develop software with high coded language so that their
information remains confidential. The usage of technology is high but mainly by the hackers,
illegal operators and unethical persons. Because of this criminal investigation officers have to
face more difficulties to convict criminal (Sullivan et al., 2018)
Conclusion
The above information can be summarized in the form that criminal investigation is first
step to determine that any offence is committed or not and if committed then it is cognizable or
non-cognizable. The person who committed offence is guilty of his act or not guilty. All these
questions are answered in the process of criminal investigation. The investigation is foremost
important and now it is been upgrading as per latest technologies. The advancement of
technology has influenced criminal investigation a lot and enhanced the style or process.
Technology aids in increase of security, hi-tech facilities, new system with safe coding etc. but at
same time there is negative impact of technology in criminal investigation as criminals are more
aware and making new style and software to do fraud and misconduct.

Running Head: Criminal Law 6
References
Becker, R. F., & Dutelle, A. W. (2018). Criminal investigation. US: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Kemp, S. L. (2019). Criminal Investigations. In British Justice, War Crimes and Human Rights
Violations (pp. 191-311). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Koper, C. S., & Lum, C. (2019). The impacts of large-scale license plate reader deployment on
criminal investigations. Police Quarterly, 22(3), 305-329.
Liedka, R. V., Meehan, A. J., & Lauer, T. W. (2019). CCTV and campus crime: Challenging a
technological “fix”. Criminal justice policy review, 30(2), 316-338.
Lum, C., Koper, C. S., & Willis, J. (2017). Understanding the limits of technology’s impact on
police effectiveness. Police quarterly, 20(2), 135-163.
Pagallo, U., & Quattrocolo, S. (2018). The impact of AI on criminal law, and its two fold
procedures. In Research Handbook on the Law of Artificial Intelligence. UK: Edward
Elgar Publishing.
Pramanik, M. I., Lau, R. Y., Yue, W. T., Ye, Y., & Li, C. (2017). Big data analytics for security
and criminal investigations. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and
Knowledge Discovery, 7(4), e1208.
Sullivan, T., Smith, J., Ombler, F., & Brayley-Morris, H. (2018). Prioritising the investigation of
organised crime. Policing and Society, 1-22.
Umanailo, M. C. B., Fachruddin, I., Mayasari, D., Kurniawan, R., Agustin, D. N., Ganefwati, R.,
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