KingFish
25 Jun 2004, 7:34pm
USA Today discusses the pros and cons of the wealth of information available to police agencies in today's unwired world.
A growing number of police departments now have instant access via handheld wireless devices to vast commercial databases that contain details on just about anyone officers encounter on the beat. In a time of terrorism worries, the information could theoretically save lives, or produce clues that an eagle-eyed cop could use to solve a case. But placing a commercial database full of personal details at an officer's fingertips also raises troubling questions for electronic privacy activists.
Source: USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/data/2004-06-25-wireless-and-id_x.htm)
A growing number of police departments now have instant access via handheld wireless devices to vast commercial databases that contain details on just about anyone officers encounter on the beat. In a time of terrorism worries, the information could theoretically save lives, or produce clues that an eagle-eyed cop could use to solve a case. But placing a commercial database full of personal details at an officer's fingertips also raises troubling questions for electronic privacy activists.
Source: USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/data/2004-06-25-wireless-and-id_x.htm)