Assignment:
Discussion: Predictions
If you used a flip phone in the early 2000s, would you have known that the idea of being able to carry a phone in your pocket would evolve into the reality of carrying a powerful computer in your pocket? Would you have seen how this technology would affect law enforcement in profound ways? For example, the ability to track a suspect by their cell phone use created many benefits for law enforcement, while also raising privacy issues. Perhaps you could predict the ability to pinpoint a location via a cell tower signal, but you may not have been able to predict the privacy implications. In this Discussion, you choose a significant feature or tool of modern policing and predict its long-term effects.
Post a response to the following:
1. Identify one significant event or decision from the "modern" era of policing.
2. To what degree do you believe the long-term implications of that event or decision were known at the time?
3. To what degree do you think unintended consequences-positive or negative-could have been predicted.
4. Support your response with an article or other academically appropriate resource.