Law Enforcement Applications of IoT
In this article, let us look at the various law enforcement IoT applications. We shall first look at how IoT can help law enforcement personnel in their day-to-day work and then at 10 fascinating applications of IoT in law enforcement. So buckle up, and read till the end of the article!
IoT Uses in Law Enforcement
We all know that IoT has infinite applications in many domains and fields. In short, IoT has the power to change the world. It can help us in unimaginable ways, like detecting crime, gathering evidence, coordinating traffic etc.
Law enforcement officials can take advantage of IoT and bring justice faster, or in some cases, avoid crime altogether! Let us look at 10 fantastic examples of IoT applications in Law enforcement.
1. Smart Vehicles
When I say smart vehicles, I don’t mean driverless cars. Instead, I mean cars and vehicles belonging to law enforcement agencies. These vehicles are connected to the cloud and can gather information from law enforcement databases.
These smart vehicles can be connected to each other and the cloud to perform many tasks, like informing the closest vehicle to respond, predicting traffic, choosing an alternate route, setting roadblocks quicker and much more.
2. Predicting and Detecting Crime
We all know that collecting and storing data is an essential part of IoT systems, which helps prevent and detect crimes and take early precautions.
Pairing IoT with powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can help us predict crime. One such example is “Heat mapping”, a system through which officers can perform data analytics to locate criminal hotspots and help understand where specific crimes occur.
3. IoT Firearms
Sounds bizarre, doesn’t it? Well, there are already many examples of IoT firearms. Let us look at a few of them:
1. Smart guns, which only legal adults with a gun license can use.
2. Guns that check authorization before operating by using biometrics.
3. Weapons that record where the shots were fired.
4. Body cams that automatically turn on in high-pressure situations.
4. Gathering Evidence
We already saw that some of IoT’s vital features are collecting, processing, and storing data. This data later gets transmitted to various devices connected over a network. This feature proves to be extremely useful at crime scenes.
Law enforcement personnel can access this data on smartwatches, tablets, and phones and store it as evidence. To take it a step further, public security cameras and Wi-Fi also primarily store user information. Under government demand, this information can be accessed to recover details about a crime.
5. Drones in Border Patrol
In times of warfare, we need the strongest and toughest soldiers safeguarding our nation. But we can’t all put the responsibility on humans. With evolving technology, we can use IoT paired with AI and Ml for many tasks. Here are two of them:
a. We can implement IoT to minimize crimes such as trafficking, illegal immigration, and terrorism.
b. IoT sensors and cameras can deliver real-time information, and drones with cameras can help the government to monitor the border remotely.
Countries like France, North Africa, and Spain have already implemented IoT devices like sensors, cameras, data processing tools, and transmission modes to secure their borders.
6. Courts
You might be wondering how courts can use IoT. Well, IoT is not directly used in courts for giving verdicts, but it does indirectly help serve justice. As we saw, IoT is a key player in the collection of evidence.
Courts use IoT to store valuable data that serves as evidence that helps to serve justice. For example, various IoT devices store pieces of evidence to use for arguments in hearings. Nowadays, many courts are adapting to IoT technology.
7. Maintaining Law and Order
IoT cameras and sensors can help maintain law and order. For example, cameras can detect if a person is wearing a helmet or not, and if the person is not wearing a helmet, the cameras can run the number plate and cross-check it in the database, acquire the rider’s number and then send a message to pay the fine in a limited time.
IoT security systems and alarms around the city provide law enforcement personnel with valid and live information about the crime situation in the locality. In addition, through the internet, officers can quickly find the criminal records of any citizen.
There are countless examples of such IoT devices. Another example is speeding cameras, where the camera catches a vehicle speeding and sends a message to the driver regarding the fine. So, as you can see, IoT is helping reduce crime across the globe.
8. Traffic Sensor Signals
Using IoT cameras and sensors, we can even manage and control traffic. For example, law enforcement agencies can install sensors to detect movement on the streets and send information to centres run by the police department.
Once this data is processed, police can find the driver’s address and contact information and proceed with necessary actions. As a result, it helps the traffic police keep the traffic under control and, in turn, prevent accidents.
Sensors can be paired with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to analyze the traffic in specific locations and then operate traffic signals as per the conditions. It can drastically reduce traffic jams and congestion in busy cities.
9. Wearable IoT Devices
Law enforcement officers can wear wearable IoT devices like rings, smart watches, etc., that monitor their health vitals like pulse rate and send an alert in case of emergencies.
These wearable IoT devices help in the flow of data from one device to another and help in creating real-time data and images of activity performed in different devices. These devices can also be used to record the exact activity that happened, this helps in building public confidence by presenting proof in front of them.
These IoT devices can also keep track of their schedule and manage information constantly. Furthermore, these devices can track their sleep schedule, body weight, daily steps, and so more.
10. Unmanned vehicles
With connected drones, cops can monitor areas where security is currently less. Moreover, instead of controlling these drones manually, they can even use unmanned drones to constantly collect information about the locality, people, cars, and so many more examples.
These are only a few scenarios and fields where law enforcement uses and can use IoT to reduce crimes around the world. However, there are countless more examples where IoT can be used to predict, analyze and detect crimes.
Summary
You have now learned many applications where the government can use IoT for the betterment of a nation. In this article, we have seen 10 fantastic examples: smart vehicles, traffic management, wearable IoT devices for police, IoT firearms, detecting crime, and so many more.