9-1-1, What's Your Risk? Minimizing the Risk of Police Violence Through Computer-Assisted Dispatch.

• Author: Krystek, Bethany

Table of Contents I. Introduction 375 II. Background 376 A. The Development of Police Dispatch Technology 376 1. The First Police Communication Systems 376 2. The Creation of 9-1-1 378 3. The Current Regime: Computer Aided Dispatch Systems 379 B. The Rise in Police Use of Excessive Force 380 C. The Psychology Behind Excessive Force 384 III. Problems with the Current State of CAD 385 A. Lack of Digital Prevention Mechanisms 386 B. Post-Traumatic Incident Policy Guidelines Vary Widely by City 388 C. Failure to Leverage Full Technological Capabilities 389 IV. A Risk-Based Approach to CAD 389 A. How to Re-vamp CAD: Use of Coding to Leverage Current Technologies 390 B. Application of Risk-Based CAD Through a National Mandate 391 1.Cities Where Risk-Based CAD Would Have the Greatest Impact 391 2. Anticipated Costs of Compliance with a Risk-Based CAD System 394 3. Funding for Risk-Based CAD 396 V. Conclusion 400 I. INTRODUCTION

Psychiatrist and human rights activist Ralph Crawshaw once said that "the exercise of power by a police official is one significant manifestation of an interaction between the world of the powerful and the powerless." (1) Despite Crawshaw's skepticism, one scholar suggested that "[t]he obligation of the police leadership to protect Human Rights will be fulfilled when it is realized that power for the police is not an end in itself but is a means to serve the people." (2) Yet in the last decade, those in densely populated inner cities are plagued by the following paradox: How can those specifically designated to keep us safe end up being those who many fear the most?

The nature of a police force itself promotes the idea of protection and security. In the United States, when you call 9-1-1 you feel confident the police department will know how to locate you and send help. (3) Typically, the dispatcher will ask the caller a series of questions to determine the nature and priority of the emergency using the computer-based telephone system. (4) This information is then entered into a Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. (5) The dispatcher then relays the request to a police officer, who is typically located through the use of a GPS-based vehicle locating system, which tracks the location of officers throughout the city. (6) The dispatcher then makes a subjective assessment to determine which officers to send to the location of the emergency based on the officer's distance from the emergency location and estimated time of arrival. (7) When the officer arrives, the rational constituent anticipates that the officer will address the situation by only using as much force as necessary to protect his own safety and the well-being of the surrounding community. (8) However, over the last decade in many U.S. cities, this assumption that police officers will respond by using an appropriate level of force has become rather dubious, causing increased police-related fatalities and a demise in the public trust of law enforcement. (9)

This Note will discuss some implications of current police dispatch technology and suggest an algorithm-based solution that will minimize the violent triggers brought out by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder while decreasing the chance for the use of excessive force. Section I will introduce the issue of police use of excessive force and its implications. Section II will provide background on the development of police dispatch technology, including the first police communication systems, the road to 9-1-1, and the current regime: computer aided dispatch systems. Section II will also detail the rise in police use of excessive force, and the psychology behind excessive force. Section III will describe problems with the current state of CAD, including the lack of digital prevention mechanisms, the fact that post-traumatic incident policy guidelines vary widely by city, and the failure to leverage full technological capabilities. Section IV will suggest a risk-based approach to CAD, including how to revamp CAD using a coding system to leverage current technologies and how the risk-based CAD system could be applied through a national mandate. Section IV will also assess the cities where risk-based CAD would have the greatest impact, the anticipated costs of compliance with a risk-based CAD system, and the source of funding for risk-based CAD.

2. BACKGROUND

   1. The Development of Police Dispatch Technology

      1. The First Police Communication Systems

         Although CAD and other forms of police technology provide for a quick and efficient response by emergency personnel, these are relatively new technologies aiding police communication. (10) The first documented police communications date back to Old England, where "constables (11) carried a hand bell or rattle, referred to as a ratchet." (12) The constables would sound the rattle when necessary to alert others in the surrounding area of their need for assistance. (13) These rattles were used by "police forces, fire brigades, and military units across the British Empire up through [World War I]." (14)

         Another form of police communication was developed in the late 1800s. (15) Police communicated with one another on the streets by placing a red signal light near major intersections where officers were needed. (16) By 1870, the Chicago Police Department updated its signal lights with "call booths," accessible only by an officer or "reputable citizen" who was issued a key. (17) Inside each call booth was a "telegraph that was set up with a device that looked like a clock with a bell on top." (18) For police officers to communicate with police headquarters regarding their status, "an officer would move the pointer on the telegraph to one of eleven specific choices (19)...and pull a handle." (20) Just a decade later, the Chicago Police Department updated the call booths by adding telephones that linked the officer directly to the police department. (21)

         Detroit was the first city to utilize an "on the air" voice communication for police dispatch. (22) In 1928, the Detroit Police Department began utilizing a one-way radio to facilitate arrests. (23) However, the application of the one-way radio was limited in the sense that only the police department could talk to the officer, and the officer could not directly respond; police officers had to communicate back to headquarters through telephone or call booths. (24) A marked advancement in police technology came five years later with the advent of the two-way radio, which was first used in Bayonne, New Jersey. (25) The two-way radio connected the Bayonne Police Department to nine of their patrol vehicles. (26)

         With popular manufacturers such as General Electric, RCA, and Motorola mass-producing police radios, by 1940 the first statewide radio system was implemented by the Connecticut State Police. (27) Still, when an officer left his vehicle, he was unable to communicate directly with headquarters, creating a major need for a hand-held mode of communication. (28) Hand-held radios were first developed in 1960 using technologies utilized during World War II. (29) While hand-held radios were an advancement, they also had drawbacks. (30) The first hand-held radios were the "size of a brick and weighed about five pounds." (31) Naturally, an officer could not carry such a heavy and cumbersome object or wear it in his or her belt without it hindering his or her actions. (32)

         Still, even with these vast improvements in radio technology, a new deficit was identified. (33) Because many people did not know the seven-digit phone number for their local police department, telephone operators became "unofficial public safety dispatchers." (34) This placed telephone companies in the precarious position of determining the best point of contact for a particular emergency, often in the absence of the caller's exact location. (35) It became clear that an "easily remembered means" was necessary to "connect callers to the appropriate agency and identify their location." (36)

      2. The Creation of 9-1-1

         The National Association of Fire Chiefs was the organization to first call for a nationwide emergency telephone number. (37) In 1957, the Association recommended use of a single number for reporting fires. (38) A decade later, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended that a single number be established nationwide for reporting emergency situations. (39) Additionally, "[t]he use of different telephone numbers for each type of emergency was determined to be contrary to the purpose of a single, universal number." (40) As a result, the President's Commission sought help from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop a single-number solution. (41)

         In November 1967, the FCC met with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in hopes of creating what would become a universal emergency number that could be utilized throughout the country. (42) At the time, AT&T operated a vast majority of telephone traffic in the United States. (43) In 1968, "AT&T announced that it would establish the digits 9-1-1... as the emergency code throughout the United States." (44) The code 9-1-1 was chosen for two reasons:

         First, and most important, it met public requirements because it is brief, easily remembered, and can be dialed quickly. Second, because it is a unique number, never having been authorized as an office code, area code, or service code, it best met the long-range numbering plans and switching configurations of the telephone industry. (45) Congress supported AT&T's plan and ultimately passed legislation requiring the telephone providers to absorb the cost of central office modifications and local law enforcement agencies to pay network trunking (46) costs according to tariffed rates. (47) The Executive Branch confirmed the establishment of 9-1-1 in March 1973 by issuing a "national policy statement which recognized the benefits of 9-1-1, encouraged the nationwide...