In the world there is crime everywhere, and with the current growth of the information age it has brought a whole new range of different crimes that can be committed but yet also can be prevented, I will talk about how ICT prevents crime mainly. ICT has been a godsend to help prevent crime mainly for the Police, but we can also use ICT to help prevent crime against us.
The Police use ICT to help prevent crime, but yet also store lots of information about other criminals on their computer database (Police National Computer) . This database stores names, which contains a large amount of information about people who have previously been cautioned, arrested or convicted. Not only does it just have names on it but it also has fingerprint and DNA technology inbuilt into the device. Criminals who are wanted or missing are also stored on this database. The Police National Computer also stores million of vehicle files which contain the usual details of the registered keeper, tax, insurance and whether its stolen or wanted. This is a great feature of using technology in our current world because if a driver is uninsured then it can automatically be picked up by the PNC with the use of ANPR software.
Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and it’s basically a mass surveillance method, which is used by police cars, security cameras and toll roads. When the ANPR scans a cars number plate, that number plate is then scanned against the Police National Computer, and if everything is fine then nothing will happen but on the other hand if that car is stolen an alert will pop up on screen and alert the operator that there is something wrong with that car. In my opinion this is a great bit of software that helps stop crime, although I don’t really think that it prevents crime because it needs something to be wrong with the car before it will actually pick it up, although some can say it does prevent crime because it can also act as a deterrent as people will be too scared to drive around with no insurance or tax. Bearing all of this in mind I still think that it’s a great bit of kit that is used by the Police today. Below is a picture of a typical ANPR van that is used by the police today.
In this current day and age we are being watched nearly all the time but do not know it, the main type of surveillance are CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras. These types of cameras are usually placed in busy areas such as shopping malls, busy streets but yet also quiet ones because crime can occur where people think it is quiet as well. These cameras are constantly filming the area that they are placed in. baring all of this in mind I think it is a great system that can capture critical evidence to a crime, although some complain that they are being filmed way too much but you hardly notice it when you are out shopping because the cameras are becoming much smaller and being put in more discreet places. Below is a picture of a ordinary CCTV tower, they can be grouped together or placed on their own.
With all the use of online shopping and people doing online banking there is bound to be someone trying to take advantage of innocent people, the most popular crime on the internet is probably fraud and identity theft, these usually occur from someone logging into a phishing site. A phishing site is a way of attempting to acquire a person’s private information such as passwords, credit/debit card details etc. the list goes on. The main way people try and phish your details is by creating an email address and sending you an legitimate looking email claiming to be your bank and you must verify your details with them for some reason, if you then click on the web link and enter in your details you’ve had it! They will have all the information that you have just entered in. There are a few ways to prevent phishing, the main one being is being able to educate yourself for example when you receive an email address check the email address it has come from etc. that would be the first step, if you don’t notice that and you actually click on the link, some anti virus software’s have a web checker. This would actually check your web page to see if it’s a ‘https’ or just a bog standard ‘http’ these types of software help prevent crime a lot because since everyone is jumping on the band wagon to do online banking people are becoming a lot more vulnerable and software like this is helping prevent it.
People stealing clothes from shops have always been a problem, now most valuable items are tagged inside a shop. This stops people from stealing them because if they try to exit the store without paying for it (this is also where the tag gets removed) the stores alarm will go off and alert a security guard. Sometime people try and take the tags off in store so they don’t set the alarm off, but nowadays tags are usually fitted with an ink device of some sort. For example if you try and take the tag off then the tag will release ink and you will literally be caught red handed. Below is a generic security tag with an ink device fitted.
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