How Technology is Solving Crimes 

Technology has been used to solve crimes for a few decades now. Police have commonly used things like DNA testing and even fingerprinting to track and identify criminals and victims. 

As technology is becoming more and more advanced, instead of just identifying criminals and victims after the fact, there is now technology to protect you. Here is how tech is changing the way we fight and solve crimes. 

Facial recognition 

Facial recognition is becoming more advanced almost every day. Being able to spot wanted criminals as they walk the streets or blend into large crowds is sometimes the difference between apprehending them and never seeing them again. 

Supermarkets, malls, ATMs, gas stations, and many other public areas are almost always fitted with cameras. Being able to quickly identify when a person of interest uses one of these facilities is a game-changer. 

Immediate access 

Police cars have evolved into mobile police stations. Officers have access to a variety of apps and programs that let them check the criminal history of someone they’ve stopped, run background checks, and give them access to information that they would otherwise have to get out of the suspect. 

This allows police to quickly and efficiently learn and process information that will give them more control over a case and more information and suspects and witnesses. 

Artificial Intelligence 

AI technology is becoming a massive part of solving crimes and finding criminals. AI has the ability to process large amounts of data faster than any human could, and separate what is essential and what isn’t to save time, and not follow dead leads. 

Faster video analysis 

Video analysis is still an essential part of investigations when it is available. Police need to sit through hours of footage to find the suspect, the victims, see if they can place either at a particular place at a specific time. 

However, this is incredibly time-consuming. You have to watch hours, sometimes days of footage, to find just one detail or event, which can also be missed if you aren’t paying attention, you’re tired, or you don’t even know that was the event. 

AI is able to quickly process all the footage and pick out relevant parts, condensing the time spent watching to a few minutes. This allows police to see what they need to see and save vital time in an investigation. 

Recording analysis and transcription 

Much like video footage, listening to recordings and phone calls can also take hours to do. If the investigation has been spread over several years, you could be faced with thousands of hours of recordings and heaps of statements and paperwork. 

Once again, AI can sift through the heaps of data and pull out what investigators need. As mentioned before, this means that only relevant data is put into reports, and nothing can be missed or misunderstood. 

DNA testing 

DNA testing has been part of the justice system for years now. It has identified criminals and proven others to be innocent for as long as it has been around. There have always been a few flaws, though.

You would need fresh samples, and it was difficult to tell when specific DNA found its way onto a particular surface, as in, was a specific drop of blood or drop of sweat there before or after the time a crime is determined to have taken place. 

As technology is getting more advanced, scientists can age DNA and run tests on older and smaller amounts of DNA. There is no need to have vials of whatever needs to be tested; sufficient tests can be run on a drop or two, and even fragments. 

Online activity 

Police and investigators can track the online activity of suspects nowadays. Many cases have been cracked open due to a suspect searching specific, suspicious things. 

While it is simple, a digital footprint has helped police find out a ton of information that once again, they would have had to find out through interviews and days, or even months of investigation. 

Considering so many of us have an online profile of some kind, a Gmail account, a Facebook account, or the like, very few people don’t have an online presence that can be monitored. 

Biometrics 

Biometric technology has severely changed how we find and identify people. Fingerprinting and photos were the norm, but considering you can wear gloves and conceal your face, or even change it altogether using surgery, fingerprints and photos just aren’t good enough. 

Biometrics takes things to the next level; authorities are able to spot scars, face shapes, height, body type and use far more aspects to determine the identity of someone. This allows for quicker and more accurate identification, and finding someone in a crowd is easier than ever before. 

Crime mapping 

Technology is used to track weather systems, predict storms, severe wind, and natural disasters, and identify areas that are more likely to be the hardest hit or regions where severe weather is experienced more often. 

Crime mapping is the same. The data is crunched, and authorities can see where crime is more prevalent, what type of crime is committed the most, and when crime is at its peak, whether that is a specific time of day or year. 

While it can’t be completely accurate, it will help police and the authorities identify where most speeding offenses happen, where petty crime is more prevalent, and the like. They can then spread the resources more effectively and be prepared for the crime they are most likely to encounter. 

Final thoughts

As you can see, as technology becomes more advanced, it is becoming easier and quicker to identify criminals, find suspects, uncover evidence, and reach a suitable and correct outcome when following through with an investigation. 

We have come a long way from police relying on small amounts of evidence which they need to build a case; they now have access to so much information to allow them to find and arrest the correct people and hopefully eliminate the incidences of false arrests and convictions.