Thomas Kuhn posits that the structure of science promotes revolutionary discovery. The decision of a scientific community to discard the status quo in favour of a revolutionary paradigm is influenced by sociological forces. Karl Popper disagreed, arguing that falsification is required. An examination of a random sample of 501 articles published in 14 peer-reviewed American outlets in criminology and criminal justice from 1993 to 2008 is coupled with oral histories from 17 leading criminologists in determining which approach best characterizes criminology. Twelve per cent of papers falsify theory. When not explicitly falsified, atrophy occurs when theory is overused (exhaustion), ignored (indolence) and subjected to a sustained critique (assault). The intention of the effort is to document and describe falsification and then invite further discourse.
law enforcement users will be able to seamlessly and securely communicate over whatever local point of access is the best fit at any specific location, time, and situation. The second major theme dealt with being able to filter, prioritize, and make sense out of all the new data sent over this network. A common concern was the danger of information overload and how to manage and curate information to make it most useful for various areas of law enforcement, ranging from officers in the field to operations centers and public safety answering points. Specific needs in support of these themes included architectural development, developing guidance for agencies on acquiring, managing, and using new technologies, and conducting research and development on a range of technologies related to bringing about the future hybrid networks and information prioritization.
The panel was structured to reflect four top-level questions: 1. What are the core public safety applications for VA/SF? 2. What are the specific VA/SF tasks needed to carry out those applications? 3. What security, privacy, and civil rights protections are needed? 4. What technology, policy, and educational needs for innovation are most important to address? The panel specified four key business cases for employing VA/SF in public safety, summarized in Figure S.1. The panelists collectively noted that the use of VA/SF to detect crimes and major incidents potentially in progress (accidents, fires) was the highest priority business case. An example comment was that "we want to stop [crime] from happening, not investigate it later." The panel also identified a core set of technical functions for supporting the business cases and needs for core bodies of research on recognizing objects and events in images, video, and other sensor feeds; developing computational infrastructures; and providing a range of security, privacy, and civil rights protections. The body of this report provides detailed lists of common objects and behaviors that VA/SF systems should be able to detect, along with a list of common security, privacy, and civil rights protections that should be integrated into VA/SF implementations. The panel generated 22 high-priority needs for innovation to enhance the effectiveness and security of VA/SF for law enforcement. These 22 needs, combined with discussion about the business cases and enabling research at the workshop, inform creation of an investment roadmap that describes necessary investments and whether they are near-or long-term investments. Table S.1 summarizes the resulting investment roadmap. In general, the panel found that VA/SF were extremely promising technologies for improving public safety. The capability to detect crimes or major incidents was seen as potentially very valuable for society. The panel also said that VA/SF could be of great benefit in investigating crimes and incidents, could provide major time-savers through automatic reporting, and could support performance mon-• There are 22 high-priority needs for innovation to enhance the effectiveness and security of video analytics and sensor fusion (VA/SF) for law enforcement. • VA/SF could be of great benefit in investigating crimes and incidents. • VA/SF could support law enforcement by monitoring officer performance and protecting officers' health and safety. • The risks of VA/SF technologies are significant, with security, privacy, and civil rights protections needed if these technologies are not to be misused or abused. • While VA/SF technologies are indeed promising for supporting public safety, they have a long way to go before reaching their full potential.
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