One of the darkest days in Dallas history got here to an finish when police used a robotic carrying a bomb to finish an hours-long standoff. It marked the primary time explosives connected to a robotic had been utilized by a U.S. police division.

While that’s an excessive instance, know-how is quickly altering the best way regulation enforcement does its job. From advances in issues we’re acquainted with, like cameras and license plate readers, to newer developments like drones and synthetic intelligence, police departments have extra instruments than ever with which to function.

“We are getting a lot more tools with which to discover criminal activity,” North Richland Hills police Chief Mike Young mentioned. “And so we get a report of criminal activity, we get what we get on the information… It doesn’t mean that we automatically have a case made, that just means that we’ve got a place to go and look.”

While departments grapple with the way to greatest deploy a few of their new instruments, Levelland police Chief Albert Garcia, the president of the Texas Police Chiefs Association, mentioned some departments even can use apps to report minor incidents, like minor auto accidents.

“Some of our younger generation really appreciates that because they’re more versed in how to use that kind of technology than some of our older generation,” he mentioned. “In our older generation, they really appreciate the officer presence and being able to go and make that contact with them.”

As new instruments proceed to change into accessible to departments statewide, ACLU of Texas employees legal professional Savannah Kumar mentioned it might generally be tough for lawmakers to remain on high of regulation know-how.

“That’s an area of the law where we see that the law itself is often well behind how quickly technology is spreading,” she mentioned. “It can be so important to just have those basic requirements enshrined. I mean, of course, the Constitution provides us with some of these guarantees. But really having that spelled out more concretely in terms of limitations, for example, on how technologies can be used.”

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