law enforcment

The use of joined computer networks and databases for law enforcement would prove of great benefit to society. Criminals of transient nature who travel outside of the country, to different provinces or communities who break the law can be easily identified and detained. People violating parole, or with arrest warrents who are stopped for routine traffic violations or other things can be apprehended on the spot. eliminating the risk of setting wanted criminals free mistakenly. DNA databases could keep track of sex offenders, the "usual suspects" either eliminated or caught because is a record is kept and shared. The shared information would enable police to detect patterns, share profiles, and develope experimental strategies to maintain public order and safty.

Conversly, cases of mistaken identity could be one negative impact. For example, there may be two John Henry's from Winnepeg, John Henry #1 is a violent offender and parole violator, John Henry #2 is a regular law abiding citizen, who just happened to get pulled over for speeding. John Henry #2 name comes up on the data base in the patrol car and John Henry #1 suddenly finds himself pinned face down on the sidewalk with handcuffs on and a gun pointed at him. Details that can distinguish between the two John Henry's may be reliant on the sophistication of the softwear police are using. Data may be lost, corrupted, or dropped betweem incompatable law enforcemnt data bases. The shared data and computer systems would have to be universally compatable, understandable and easy to use by the police and investigators. Money may not be available in one jurisdiction to get top of the line softwear and hardware. The RCMP, city police, CISIS, the FBI, CIA, British Intelegence, and any other European or Eastern law enforcemnet agencies would all have different systems in place with variying degrees of sophistication and compatability. This setup could lead to errors. Since 911 various people, including toddlars have been detained by airport security, showing up on No Fly Lists because they share a common name with suspected terrorist's.