[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.In the most advanced setups, tracking systems such asTeletrack automatically report the location of each patrol car and display it on the dispatcher's map.Coupled with databases of locations developed to support the 911 emergency system, this permits thedispatcher to recognize where a telephone call is coming from and identify the nearest availableemergency personnel.Within a patrol car, it may provide automatic directions to the place the car hasbeen told to go.The same technologies that permit police forces to track their officers permit them to track and watchindividuals and goods with unprecedented ease.Many truck, bus, and automobile fleets use trackingsystems to monitor the movements of their vehicles.This allows vehicles to be tracked if they arestolen and makes it difficult for the drivers to use them for purposes other than those the employerintended.Surveillance is also facilitated by computerized road tolls, optical character recognition oflicense plates, and specialized networks for tracking "bumper-bugged" vehicles (Burnham 1996, p.138).Police track more than vehicles.It is a rare person in the modern world who can avoid being listed innumerous databases.From a police viewpoint, the process of identification is a process of matching aperson with society's records about that person.17 Until recently, fingerprints were of more use inconfirming identity than establishing it.Even long after the availability of computers, the search of alarge fingerprint file was a slow process requiring expert human labor. Even though fingerprint records have been computerized, fingerprints are not an ideal way oftracking the movements of people, and they are rapidly being supplanted or augmented by othertechnologies.Video cameras are now ubiquitous.It is popularly believed that such cameras run "tape loops"containing, for example, the last half-hour's view of people entering and leaving a bank.In fact,videotape is cheap, and many cameras record images for much longer periods.After the bombing ofthe Murrah federal building, the FBI collected videotapes from all over Oklahoma City, synchronizedthem using the shaking that resulted from the blast, and watched the movements of people before andafter the explosion.18 One developing technology allows automatic identification of people from theirvideotaped images (Busey 1994).Another new form of technology that allows "surreptitiousfingerprinting" is infrared imaging of the veins in the face.Like fingerprints, these are unique toindividuals.Unlike fingerprints, these veins can be detected by hidden infrared cameras installed inairports and other public places.Today almost every American adult carries a driver's license and other forms identification that arehard and illegal to counterfeit.The near ubiquity of identification cards has given them widesocial acceptability.Many communities require hotel registrants to show identification, presumablyas an anti-prostitution measure.The 1995 decision by the Federal Aviation Authority that airtravelers may be required to show government-issued identification when checking in at airports hasmade anonymous travel slower and thus less practical.The Supreme Court ruling that the policecannot require a person to show identification (Kolender, Chief of Police of San Diego, et al.v.Lawson 461 US 352 (1983)) has brought no noticeable change in police practice.Possibly the most important way of tracking individuals is through credit cards.Since credit cards arethe easiest way of making most purchases and are essentially required of persons renting cars orchecking into hotels, the databases used for billing and credit verification contain good pictures of mostpeople's movements.Material objects too are tracked; they are also examined.Fear of terrorism initiated the developmentof a broad range of devices intended to search for guns and bombs.The capabilities of the mostrecent equipment go far beyond that, however.Some baggage x-ray machines can be programmed tolook for sharp things, for guns, for drugs, for precious metals, or for fruits and vegetables.Similardevices can look at an entire truck and detect drugs right through its aluminum skin.There aredetectors based on magnetometry, on vapor analysis, on neutron activation analysis, and on nuclearmagnetic resonance
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]