Analysis of the Relationship Between Smart Cities, Policing and Criminal Investigation
Purpose:
The main objective is to present the symbiosis between smart cities, policing, criminal investigation and criminal intelligence. Moreover, another purpose is to critically address the underlying privacy concerns arising from smart city designs.
Design/Methods/Approach:
The paper is theoretical in scope and utilises a literature review as the basic method. Correlations between smart cities, policing and criminal investigations are identified by analysing the applicability of core smart city technologies and services [SCTS].
Findings:
It is evident that SCTS can influence policing styles and police effectiveness. SCTS hold great potential for criminal investigations and criminal intelligence as they provide information upon which police can develop investigations or crime-control strategies. Vice-versa, criminal investigations and criminal intelligence can provide guidelines for SCTS developers and the governance of smart cities. However, privacy concerns and the slowly developing regulatory framework remain the biggest issues when it comes to SCTS adoption, thus making measures to safeguard privacy a key factor for the legitimacy of smart cities and smart policing.
Practical Implications:
The paper introduces practical knowledge about the implications of smart cities for policing and crime investigation. Some research ideas are presented as well as suggestions for legislators, developers and others whose work area falls in the scope of (smart) city governance.
Originality/Value:
A comprehensive study of the symbiosis between smart cities and policing must not only consider the potential of SCTS but the related need to develop regulation and skillsets of human resources. Only a handful of papers address the connectivity of smart cities, criminal investigations and criminal intelligence from such a multidisciplinary scope. Therefore, the paper represents a contribution to works discussing these concepts.
UDC: 351.78:004.7
Keywords: smart cities, safety and security provision, policing, criminal investigation, criminal intelligence