Interoperability and information sharing

Communication and information sharing are two of the most pressing issues facing the public safety community today. In previous chapters of this volume, authors have made note of the changing public safety landscape as it relates to the need for enhanced information and intelligence sharing among a broad cross-section of organizations. Public safety organizations, particularly law enforcement agencies, have been quick to adopt emerging technologies that have allowed for greater communication and information sharing capacities. While substantial improvements have been made over the decades that enhanced communication and information sharing, many challenges remain in the move to seamlessly integrated communication capacities. The key challenge in the upcoming decades relates to the technical and cultural changes necessary to achieve integrated communication systems. There is no shortage of resources given to increasing the communications capacity of the public safety community, yet serious challenges remain in the degree of interoperability within and across public safety domains. Interoperability has in many ways become the defining issue in the arenas of communications and information sharing. This chapter will provide an overview of critical historical events that placed questions of interoperability and information sharing on the national agenda. The chapter will also provide an overview of national models for information sharing

Evaluation of the strain-line patterns in a human left ventricle: A simulation study

The aim of this paper is to emphasise the role of the primary strain-line patterns in a human left ventricle (LV) within the complex system that is the heart. In particular, a protocol is proposed for the measurement of the principal strain lines (PSL) in the walls of the LV; this protocol is tested by means of a computational model which resembles a human LV. When the analysis is focused on the epicardial surface, PSL can be used to derive information on the directions of muscle fibres during the entire cardiac cycle, not only the systolic phase. © 2013 Taylor & Francis

The Anti-Gang Initiative in Detroit: An Aggressive Enforcement Approach to Gangs

Over the period of the intervention and operation of the-AGI project, there was a considerable decline in gun crimes in the target precincts, whereas the number of such offenses rose in the comparison precinct. This was particularly the case in the Ninth Precinct, where a statistically significant reduction of gun crimes occurred. Perhaps more importantly, this reduction represented 112 fewer gun crimes, and thus a commensurate fewer number of victims, per month in this precinct. Given the design of this study and available data, these results cannot be directly attributed to the intervention. However, there is a strong indication that these aggressive policing tactics contributed significantly to this meaningful reduction

Communities as allies

A popular axiom attributed to British policing is the police are the public and the public are the police. Inherent in this term is a blurring of the distinction between the police and the public they serve; the police are cast as being little different from the citizenry and citizens are cast into a role of responsibility for the safety and well-being of the community. In effect, communities are framed as allies in the fight to ensure safe and secure neighborhoods. Across space and time this idea has held uneven sway within American policing ideologies. This essay considers the relationship between the police and the policed, as well as how that relationship might be influenced be technological and social evolutions. The essay begins with an overview of the very notion of ―community‖ and their relationship with crime and disorder. This is followed by a brief review of the historical trajectory of police-community interactions within American policing. We then consider how emerging and future technologies might modify what ―community‖ means. The essay concludes with a consideration of police and community interactions and partnerships in the digital age

An Ecological Assessment of Property and Violent Crime Rates Across a Latino Urban Landscape: The Role of Social Disorganization and Institutional Anomie Theory

The present research put forth an integrated theoretical framework aimed at providing a more holistic community- level approach explaining crime across a heavily populated Latino city. Guided by social disorganization and institutional anomie theory, this study used several data sources and OLS regression techniques to examine the impact of social disorganization, economic and noneconomic institutional characteristics on rates of property and violent crime across 1,016 census block groups in San Antonio, Texas. While several findings emerged, interactions between alcohol density and concentrated disadvantage were significant and positively associated with property and violent crime. Interactions between welfare generosity and concentrated disadvantage were significant and negatively associated with the outcomes

Bad moon on the rise? Lunar cycles and incidents of crime

Popular cultures in Western societies have long espoused the notion that phases of the moon influence human behavior. In particular, there is a common belief the full moon increases incidents of aberrant, deviant, and criminal behavior. Using police, astronomical, and weather data from a major southwestern American city, this study assessed whether lunar cycles related with rates of reported crime. The findings fail to support popular lore, which has suggested that lunar phase influenced the volume of crime reported to the police. Future research directions examining qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of this problem may yield further inform the understanding of whether lunar cycles appreciably influence demands for policing services