Technological Challenges of Today

The objective of this study is to answer as to what challenges law enforcement officials have faced in the light of technological advances throughout the global environment and to discuss a minimum of three problems that such changes have created. This study will answer as to what the recommendations are for future action that could assist law enforcement officials in becoming more effective in the investigation and prevention of such challenges.

Organized Crime and Technology

The work of Bjelopera and Finklea (2012) reports that technological advances have created new challenges for law enforcement particularly in the area or organized crime. This is because “modern organized criminals often prefer cellular or networked structural models for their flexibility and avoid the hierarchies that previously governed more traditional organized crime groups.” (p.1) These type of “fluid network structures” make it more difficult for law enforcement to “infiltrate, disrupt, and dismantle conspiracies.” (Bjelopera and Finklea, 2012, p. 1) It is reported that globalization has resulted in a revolution in both “licit and illicit commerce.” (Bjelopera and Finklea, 2012, p. 1) Technology driven fraud has been incorporated into the capacity of organized crime and this results in their operations having the ability to cause harm to citizens in the United States without their having to physically enter into the country. The result is “cyber intrusions into corporate databases, theft of individual consumer credit card information, fencing of stolen merchandise online, and levering technology to aid in narcotics smuggling.” (Bjelopera and Finklea, 2012, p. 1)

II. Technology and Drug Crimes

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been involved in apprehending the owner and administrator of ‘the Silk Road’ which is the “online marketplace established in 2011 that was often used to buy and sell illegal drugs, false identification records, handguns, and the like.” (Community Policing Dispatch, 2014, p. 1) This marketplace is reported to have used “Tor technology to create a completely anonymous portal for buyers and sellers to conduct their transactions and used Bitcoin currency to keep financial transactions virtually untraceable.” (Community Policing Dispatch, 2014, p. 1) This case demonstrated the “legal and technological gaps that exist in law enforcement’s ability to cope with and respond to electronic and cyber crime.” (Community Policing Dispatch, 2014, p. 1)

III. Technology and Transnational Crimes

It is reported that government structures and most particularly “judicial and law enforcement agencies set up to tackle drug-related crime have long been faced with the problems of pursuing transnational rime within well-defined limits of territorial jurisdiction and sovereignty.” (INCB.org, nd, p. 4) Transnational crime has become even more of a problem since the advent of the World Wide Web and the related technology which enables criminals to conduct business and go undetected by law enforcement.

Summary and Conclusion

This study has identified three areas in which law enforcement faces new challenges due to technological advances including transnational crimes, drug crimes and organized crime.

References

Bjelopera, JP and Finklea, KM (2012) Organized Crime: An Evolving Challenge for U.S. Law Enforcement. 6 Jan 2012. CRS Report for Congress. Retrieved from: http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41547.pdf

Globalization and new technologies: challenges to drug law enforcement in the twenty-first century. (nd) INCB.org. Retrieved from: http://www.incb.org/documents/Publications/AnnualReports/AR2001/AR_01_Chapter_I.pdf

How the Web Presents New Challenges for Law Enforcement Agencies (2014) Community Policing Dispatch. Vol. 7, Issue 1. Retrieved from: http://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/01-2014/how_the_web_presents_new_challenges_for_law_enforcement_agencies.asp