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Community policing is a widely-adopted model put into practice for nearly 40 years. The concept stemmed from a desire to address community concerns about rising crime rates through increased citizen involvement. To strengthen relationships with their constituents and improve their own reputations, police officers asked for assistance in solving and preventing crimes in the area. Recent advancements in technology are altering the ways in which law enforcement agencies can incorporate community policing into their operations. By providing an easier and more efficient way for people to report crime and share information, social networks like Facebook and Twitter significantly impact how well police connect with people. Software for mobile devices facilitates and eases communication both internal and external to a department. Officers who master these digital tools may increase the effectiveness of community policing in their jurisdictions.

New technology is changing the way law enforcement agencies fight crime. Wearable tech is already being tested in police departments, and the next wave of gadgets could consist of applications that predict crime before it even occurs.

There are strong correlations between rising temperatures and crime rates. To keep the public safe, leaders need not only to be aware of this relationship, but also to engage peers and the public in developing solutions to the impending resource gaps.

After a crime occurs, law enforcement officials move quickly to gather and react to facts as they piece together what happened. New technology hints at a future where police won't be limited by the arrow of time, allowing them to look into the past to solve the crime

There is no scientific evidence that hot weather causes crime, but experts have found strong correlations between rising temperatures and more frequent violent crime. To keep the public safe, officers must be aware of this relationship and anticipate how resource availability and workload may change in the future.

The responsibilities of a fire department span a wide range of tasks, but patrolling streets and acting as a deterrent to crime are not typically among them. That is exactly what firefighters in our nation's capital were told to do, however, igniting a debate that could spread to other areas around the country.

New York State is offering a unique training program for law enforcement today in Utica, aimed at giving agencies resources and information to better address critical incidents, such as the death of one of their own in the line of duty or as a result of suicide. The state Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) developed the TRAUMA (Trauma Resources and Unified Management Assistance) program as part of its mission to offer trainings for law enforcement agencies and officers so they can better serve their communities. DCJS Executive Deputy Commissioner Michael C. Green said: "As a former prosecutor, I have seen first-hand the toll that a line-of-duty death or devastating injury can have on a department. Men and women on the front lines of this state's fight against crime may be reluctant to share their grief or on-the-job experiences with co-workers, family, and friends, which can lead to extreme stress. The aim of this training is to provide a line of defense for those officers to help themselves, each other and their families."

The switch was thrown quietly in May 2012, hidden inside a 16-page directive, "Gang Violence Reduction Strategy," and largely ignored amid a 60 percent rise in murders in the first quarter alone. With less than a year on the job, McCarthy had already disbanded two special task forces, roving teams that muscled neighborhoods into submission. Now he was betting on what he calls "the next phase of community policing in this world": an emphasis not on the traditional "hot spots" for crime, but on the "hot people" who commit most criminal acts.

When local law enforcement is able to engage residents in an exchange of information, crime-fighting is more effective. Increasingly, social media is becoming a valuable tool for police and citizens to engage each other. These networks present opportunities to gather and distribute information quickly. Many departments are not able, willing or sometimes allowed to leverage the benefits of this technology. The ones who do so successfully, however, provide a blueprint for peers to follow.

What each of these stories have in common is that they all arose in states-California, Massachusetts and New York-that do not have laws governing the licensing of law enforcement officers who engage in serious misconduct. Thus, it is up to each department to decide whether to apply discipline-and what kind of punishment, if any, is merited. Similarly, New Jersey, Hawaii and Rhode Island have no police licensing rules. The remainder- 44 states-do have the authority to remove the licenses of unfit police officers.