The police field is where the most progress has been made in utilizing new technology. Computers have been used by police for problem solving, for developing systematic analysis of problems. They are being used for evaluation and case management as a very important part of community policing. One of the things that happens with police departments is that when you get away from recording an officer's success in terms of how many arrests he or she has made, or how many citations they might have issued, you get to the point where their success is measured by how well they serve the community. You need more sophisticated devices for evaluating those factors and that is where computers can be very important.
Computers are also very important in the investigation of crime.
In an area of Los Angeles, police homicide detectives in one jurisdiction are now, through the use of computers, solving 105 percent of all the murders taking place in that locale. And as a result they are able to counteract the deteriorating clearance rate of homicides in the country. In New York City, they have been able to reduce crime by 36 percent over a three-year period. And computers and technology have been a very important part of that. They utilized computerized pin-mapping.