There's a 'puter in my car

             It's 12:25am on a Friday night. It's very quiet and Officer Peterson (my younger brother) and I are sitting quietly in the cruiser at the Speedway after getting a cup of coffee. Peterson reaches over and flips the switch on the laptop that sits between the driver and passenger seats and the familiar sound of Windows resonates through the patrol car. The computers desktop opens and there are two icons that don't look familiar, one is for the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the other is for the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS). Officer Peterson clicks on the NCIC icon which brings up a direct connection to the NCIC page at the FBI's website. He grins and starts chuckling as he types my name into the system, the machine pauses and then the page goes blank, the light in the patrol car dims for a second before the page is refreshed. I look at my brother and as the light returns, he points at the screen and there it is... all my information. From my address, phone number, age, place of birth, to my social security number, drivers' license number and driving record. I didn't even have time to respond when a call came over the radio, the voice of a female calls out something about a domestic disturbance and rattles off an address that I barely catch. Officer Peterson clicks on the LEADS icon on his laptop and the information of the call is displayed immediately on the system. As we pull out of the Speedway, Peterson flips on his siren and glances down, clicks on another icon on the desktop and a map pops up that shows the exact location of the call. In this paper, we will discuss the types of systems used, software and databases used, the benefits and problems of computers in patrol cars and also touch on issues of privacy that have come up due to this type of information being available.
             The systems used in patrol cars are called Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) which are eithe...

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There's a 'puter in my car. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 07:20, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/20637.html