Knowledge-Based Systems 19 (2006) 381387 www.elsevier.

com/locate/knosys

Stages of knowledge management systems in police investigations

Petter Gottschalk
Department of Leadership and Organization Management, Norwegian School of Management BI Nydalsveien 37 0442 Oslo, Norway Received 10 November 2005; received in revised form 22 February 2006; accepted 4 April 2006 Available online 2 May 2006

Abstract The amount of information that police ocers come into contact with in the course of their work is astounding. By identifying stages of growth in knowledge management systems and by identifying examples of applications from police investigations, this paper makes an important contribution to strategic planning of knowledge management systems in law enforcement. The stages are labeled ocer-totechnology systems, ocer-to-ocer systems, ocer-to-information systems, and ocer-to-application systems. 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Stages of growth; Knowledge management technology; Law enforcement; Detectives; Ocer-to-technology systems; Ocer-to-ocer systems; Ocer-to-information systems; Ocer-to-application systems

1. Introduction Knowledge management as a eld of study is concerned with simplifying and improving the process of sharing, distributing, creating, capturing and understanding knowledge. Hence, knowledge management has direct relevance to policing. So much so that Europol has a Knowledge Management Centre (KMC) at The Hague in the Netherlands. Europol regularly updates its databases at KMC to ensure it keeps abreast of new developments in technology, science or other specialized elds in order to provide optimal law enforcement. It is argued that knowledge is the most important resource in police investigations, and several police researchers make the case that successful investigation depends on knowledge availability (e.g., [22,16,24]). Furthermore, [5] point out that knowledge management in the knowledge-intensive and time-critical work of police investigations presents a real challenge to investigation managers. Part of the reason for this challenge that knowledge management presents to police investigations has to do with the level of IT support required in organizations as
E-mail address: petter.gottschalk@bi.no. 0950-7051/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.knosys.2006.04.002

knowledge management becomes more sophisticated. In this paper, we address the issue of IT support in police investigations by applying a stages of growth model for knowledge management systems [11]. 2. Police investigations Investigations is the police activity concerned with (1) the apprehension of criminals by the gathering of evidence leading to their arrest and (2) the collection and presentation of evidence and testimony for the purpose of obtaining convictions. Investigations is normally divided into two major areas of activity: (1) the preliminary investigation normally carried out by ocers in the uniform patrol division and (2) the follow-up investigation normally carried out by ocers formally trained in investigative techniques, often part of a detective bureau [31]. The challenge of improving the quality of major investigations is one that faces all police forces. Therefore, [29] in the Policing and Reducing Crime Unit in the UK wrote a report on identifying the skills of an eective detective. The Senior Investigative Ocer (SIO) plays a pivotal role within all serious crime investigations. Concerns have been expressed, however, that there is a shortage of investigators with the appropriate qualities to perform this role

382

P. Gottschalk / Knowledge-Based Systems 19 (2006) 381387

eectively. The consequences of such a shortage could be severe. Not only might it threaten the eective workings of the judicial process, it can also waste resources, undermine integrity and reduce public condence in the police service. The principal aim of the research conducted by [29] was to establish what skills, abilities and personal characteristics an SIO ought to possess to be eective in the investigation of low-volume serious crimes (stranger rape, murder and abduction). The investigation of economic crime is an intriguing subject. The complexity of the crime challenges the investigators, the richness of the investigation process challenges the researcher. Economic criminality eciently exploits the loopholes of the legislation and the new opportunities provided by the changes in the operational environment. Economic crime is an increasingly planned, professional activity, the forms of which constantly change [27]. 3. The stages of growth model Various multistage models have been proposed for organizational evolution over time. These models dier in the number of stages. For example, [25] introduced a model with six stages for IT maturity in organizations, which later

was expanded to nine stages. [8] suggested a stages of growth model for evolving the e-business, consisting of the following six stages: external communication, internal communication, e-commerce, e-business, e-enterprise, and transformation. Each of these models identies certain characteristics that typify rms in dierent stages of growth. Among these multistage models, models with four stages seem to have been proposed and tested most frequently [18]. Stages of knowledge management systems is a relative concept concerned with ITs ability to process information for knowledge work. IT at later stages is more useful to knowledge work than IT at earlier stages. The relative concept implies that IT is more directly involved in knowledge work at higher stages, and that IT is able to support more advanced knowledge work at higher stages. Fig. 1 depicts the knowledge management systems (KMS) stage model that conceptualizes on a continuum the stages involved in the growth of knowledge management systems and their relationship to the level of information technology support required. The KMS stage model consists of four stages. The rst stage is general IT support for knowledge workers. This includes word processing, spreadsheets, and email. The second stage is information about knowledge sources.

Level of IT supported knowledge management in law enforcement

Stage 4 Officer-to-Application How-they-think

Stage 3 Officer-to-Information What-they-know

Use of a specific IT system designed to solve a knowledge problem, eg. expert system, business/criminal-security intelligence, etc.

Stage 2 Officer-to-Officer Who-knows-what

Use of IT to provide access to stored documents, eg. databases, contracts, articles, photograhs, reports, etc.

Use of IT to find other knowledge workers, eg. intranets, yellow-pages systems, emails, staff profices, etc.

Stage 1 Officer-to-Technology End-user-tools

Use of IT tools that provide personal efficiency, eg. word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, etc.

Time in years

Fig. 1. The knowledge management systems stage model.

P. Gottschalk / Knowledge-Based Systems 19 (2006) 381387

383

An information system stores information about who knows what within the rm and outside the rm. The system does not store what they actually know. A typical example is the company intranet. The third stage is information representing knowledge. The system stores what knowledge workers know in terms of information. A typical example is a database. The fourth and nal stage is information processing. An information system uses information to evaluate situations. A typical example here is an expert system. Stages of IT support in knowledge management are useful for identifying the current situation as well as planning for future applications in the rm. Each stage is described in the following. 4. Ocer-to-technology stage Tools for end users are made available to knowledge workers. in the simplest stage, this means a capable networked PC on every desk or in every briefcase, with standardized personal productivity tools (word processing, presentation software) so that documents can be exchanged easily throughout a company. More complex and functional desktop infrastructures can also be the basis for the same types of knowledge support. Stage One is recognized by widespread dissemination and use of end-user tools among knowledge workers in the company [20]. For example, lawyers in a law rm will in this stage use word processing, spreadsheets, legal databases, presentation software, and scheduling programs [11]. Related to the new changes in computer technology is the transformation that has occurred in report writing and recordkeeping in police investigations. Every police activity or crime incident demands a report on some kind of form. The majority of police patrol reports written before 1975 were handwritten. Today, ocers can write reports on small notebook computers located in the front seat of the patrol unit; discs are handed in at the end of the shift for hard copy needs. Cursor keys and spell-check functions in these report programs are useful timesaving features [31]. An example of an ocer-to-technology system is the Major Incident Policy Document in the UK [15]. This document is maintained whenever a Major Incident Room using HOLMES system is in operation. Decisions, which should be recorded, are those which aect the practical or administrative features of the enquiry, and each entry has clearly to show the reasoning for the decision. When the HOLMES system is used, the Senior Investigating Ocer (SIO) directs which policy decisions are recorded on the system. The basic information entered into HOLMES is location of incident, data and time of incident, victim(s), senior investigating ocer, and date enquiry commenced. During the enquiry, which has been run on the HOLMES system, a closing report is prepared and registered as another document linked to a category of Closing Report. The report

will contain the following information: introduction, scene, the victim, and miscellaneous. Stage One can be labeled end-user-tools or people-totechnology as information technology provides knowledge workers with tools that improve personal eciency. 5. Ocer-to-ocer stage Information about who knows what is made available to all people in the rm and to selected outside partners. Search engines should enable work with a thesaurus, since the terminology in which expertise is sought may not always match the terms the expert uses to classify that expertise. According to [1], the creation of corporate directories, also referred to as the mapping of internal expertise, is a common application of knowledge management technology. Because much knowledge in an organization remains uncodied, mapping the internal expertise is a potentially useful application of technology to enable easy identication of knowledgeable persons. Here, we nd the cartographic school of knowledge management [9], which is concerned with mapping organizational knowledge. It aims to record and disclose who in the organization knows what by building knowledge directories. Often called Yellow Pages, the principal idea is to make sure knowledgeable people in the organization are accessible to others for advice, consultation, or knowledge exchange. Knowledge-oriented directories are not so much repositories of knowledge-based information as gateways to knowledge, and the knowledge is as likely to be tacit as explicit. At Stage Two, rms apply the personalization strategy in knowledge management. According to [14], the personalization strategy implies that knowledge is tied to the person who developed it and is shared mainly through direct person-to-person contact. This strategy focuses on dialogue between individuals: knowledge is transferred mainly in personal email, meetings and one-on-one conversations. Electronic networks of practice are computer-mediated discussion forums focused on problems of practice that enable individuals to exchange advice and ideas with others based on common interests. Electronic networks have been found to support organizational knowledge ows between geographically dispersed coworkers and distributed research and development eorts. These networks also assist cooperative open-source software development and open congregation on the Internet for individuals interested in a specic practice. Electronic networks make it possible to share information quickly, globally, and with large numbers of individuals [32]. Communication competence is important at stage Two. Communication competence is the ability to demonstrate skills in the appropriate communication behavior to eectively achieve ones goals. Communication between individuals requires both the decoding and encoding of messages [19]. [21] found that knowledge transfer depends

384

P. Gottschalk / Knowledge-Based Systems 19 (2006) 381387

on the completeness or incompleteness of the senders and the receiver information sets. The dramatic reduction in electronic communication costs and ease of computer-to-computer linkages has resulted in opportunities to create new channel structures, fueling interest in inter-organizational systems. Interorganizational systems are planned and managed ventures to develop and use IT-based information exchange systems to support collaboration and strategic alliances between otherwise independent actors. These systems allow for the exchange of information between partners for the purpose of coordination, communication, and cooperation [23]. The typical system at stage 2 of knowledge management technology in police investigations is the intranet. Intranets provide a rich set of tools for creating collaborative environments in which members of an organization can exchange ideas, share information, and work together on common projects and assignments regardless of their physical location. Information from many dierent sources and media, including text, graphics, video, audio, and even digital slides can be displayed, shared, and accessed across an enterprise through a simple common interface [20]. Stage Two can be labeled who-knows-what or people-topeople as knowledge workers use information technology to nd other knowledge workers. 6. Ocer-to-information stage Information from knowledge workers is stored and made available to everyone in the rm and to designated external partners. Data mining techniques can be applied here to nd relevant information and combine information in data warehouses. On a broader basis, search engines are web browsers and server software that operate with a thesaurus, since the terminology in which expertise is sought may not always match the terms used by the expert to classify that expertise. An essential contribution that IT can make is the provision of shared databases across tasks, levels, entities, and geographies to all knowledge workers throughout a process [9]. For example, Infosys Technologies a U.S: $ 1 billion company with over 23,000 employees and globally distributed operations created a central knowledge portal called KShop. The content of KShop was organized into dierent content types, for instance, case studies, reusable artifacts, and downloadable software. Every knowledge asset under a content type was associated with one or more nodes (representing areas of discourse) in a knowledge hierarchy or taxonomy [10]. Sifting though the myriad of content available through knowledge management systems can be challenging, and knowledge workers may be overwhelmed when trying to nd the content most relevant for completing a new task. To address this problem, system designers often include rating schemes and credibility indicators to improve users

search and evaluation of knowledge management system content [26]. An enterprise information portal is viewed as a knowledge community. Enterprise information portals are of multiple forms, ranging from Internet-based data management tools that bring visibility to previously dormant data so that their users can compare, analyze, and share enterprise information to a knowledge portal, which enables its users to obtain specialized knowledge that is related to their specic tasks [28]. Electronic knowledge repositories are electronic stores of content acquired about all subjects for which the organization has decided to maintain knowledge. Such repositories can comprise multiple knowledge bases as well as the mechanisms for acquisition, control, and publication of the knowledge. The process of knowledge sharing through electronic knowledge repositories involves people contributing knowledge to populate repositories (e.g., customer and supplier knowledge, industry best practices, and product expertise) and people seeking knowledge from repositories for use [17]. Individuals knowledge does not transform easily into organizational knowledge even with the implementation of knowledge repositories. According to [4], individuals tend to hoard knowledge for various reasons. Empirical studies have shown that the greater the anticipated reciprocal relationships are, the more favorable the attitude toward knowledge sharing will be. In Stage Three, rms apply the codication strategy in knowledge management. According to [14], the codication strategy centers on information technology: knowledge is carefully codied and stored in knowledge databases and can be accessed and used by anyone. With a codication strategy, knowledge is extracted from the person who developed it, is made independent from the person and stored in form of interview guides, work schedules, benchmark data etc; and then searched and retrieved and used by many employees. Two examples of knowledge management systems at stage 3 in law enforcement are COPLINK and geodemographics. COPLINK has a relational database system for crime-specic cases such as gang-related incidents, and serious crimes such as homicide, aggravated assault, and sexual crimes. Deliberately targeting these criminal areas allows a manageable amount of information to be entered into a database [5,6]. Geodemographic proles of the characteristics of individuals and small areas are central to ecient and eective deployment of law enforcement resources. Geocomputation is based on geographical information systems [2]. Stage Three can be labeled what-they-know or people-todocs as information technology provides knowledge workers with access to information that is typically stored in documents. Examples of documents are contracts and agreements, reports, manuals and handbooks, business forms, letters, memos, articles, drawings, blueprints, photographs, e-mail and voice mail messages, video clips,

P. Gottschalk / Knowledge-Based Systems 19 (2006) 381387

385

script and visuals from presentations, policy statements, computer printouts, and transcripts from meetings. 7. Ocer-to-application stage Information systems solving knowledge problems are made available to knowledge workers and solution seekers. Articial intelligence is applied in these systems. For example, neural networks are statistically oriented tools that excel at using data to classify cases into one category or another. Another example is expert systems that can enable the knowledge of one or a few experts to be used by a much broader group of workers requiring the knowledge. Ocer-to-application systems will only be successful if they are built on a thorough understanding of law enforcement [3]. Articial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer science that endeavors to build machines exhibiting human-like cognitive capabilities. Most modern AI systems are founded on the realization that intelligence is tightly intertwined with knowledge. Knowledge is associated with the symbols we manipulate. Knowledge-based systems deal with solving problems by exercising knowledge. The most important parts of these systems are the knowledge base and the inference engine. The former holds the domain-specic knowledge whereas the latter contains the functions to exercise the knowledge in the knowledge base. Knowledge can be represented as either rules or frames. Rules are a natural choice for representing conditional knowledge, which is in the form of if-when statements. Inference engines supply the motive power to the knowledge. There are several ways to exercise knowledge, depending on the nature of the knowledge. For example, backward-chaining systems work backward from the conclusions to the inputs. These systems attempt to validate the conclusions by nding evidence to support them. In law enforcement this is an important system feature, as evidence determines whether a person is charged or not for a crime. Case-based reasoning systems are a dierent way to represent knowledge through explicit historical cases. This approach diers from the rule-based approach because the knowledge is not complied and interpreted by an expert. Instead, the experiences that possibly shaped the experts knowledge are directly used to make decisions. Learning is an important issue in case-based reasoning, because with the mere addition of new cases to the library, the system learns. In law enforcement police ocers are looking for similar cases to learn how they were handled in the past, making case-based reasoning systems an attractive application in policing. Use of expert systems in law enforcement includes systems that attempt to aid in information retrieval by drawing upon human heuristics or rules and procedures to investigate tasks. The AICAMS project is a knowledgebased system for identifying suspects. AICAMS also includes a component to fulll the needs for a simple but eective facial identication procedure based on a library

of facial components. The system provides a capability for assembling an innite number of possible facial composites by varying the position and size of the components. AICAMS also provides a geomapping component by incorporating a map-based user interface [5,6]. Stage Four can be labeled how-they-think or people-tosystems where the system is intended to help solve a knowledge problem. 8. Discussion Information technology to support knowledge work of police investigators is improving. According to [5,6], the problem is not necessarily that the information has not been captured - any ocer who lls out up to seven forms per incident can attest to that. The problem is one of access. Typically, law-enforcement agencies have captured data only on paper or have fed it into a database or crime information system. If the agency involved has more than one database (that are possibly incompatible), information retrieval can be dicult or timeconsuming. The ambition level using knowledge management systems can be dened in terms of stages of knowledge management technology as illustrated in Fig. 1. Police ocers often need to document the manner in which they have drawn a conclusion. This document is used in legal proceedings to justify subsequent actions. According to [5], an ocer may have to ll out up to seven forms per incident. This is a typical example of technology use at stage 1. According to [5], database technology plays an important role in the management of information for a police department. The use of relational database systems for crime-specic cases such as gang-related incidents, and serious crimes such as homicide, aggravated assault, and sexual crimes, has been proven highly eective. These systems are typical examples of information technology at stage 3. An example of such a police system at stage 3 is COPLINK, which is used by the Tucson Police Department [6]. The records management part of the system contains approximately 1.5 million incident records sets. The criminal information computer in the system tracks approximately 1200 individuals the department considers responsible for a majority of major crimes. According to [5] we also nd examples of information technology at stage 4 in police investigation work. Use of expert systems includes expert system for police investigators of economic crimes and articial intelligence crime analysis and management system (AICAMS). These systems attempt to aid in information retrieval by drawing upon human heuristics or rules and procedures to investigate tasks. The AICAMS project is collaboration between the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Police Force. Another interesting example of information technology in police investigations is geodemographics. According to

386

P. Gottschalk / Knowledge-Based Systems 19 (2006) 381387 [6] H. Chen, D. Zheng, H. Atabakhsh, W. Wyzga, J. Schroeder, COPLINK managing law enforcement data and knowledge, Communications of the ACM 46 (1) (2003) 2834. [7] ComputerWeekly, Knowledge Management: Surrey Police, ComputerWeekly, 28/02/2002 (2002). [8] M.J. Earl, Evolving the E-Business, Business Strategy Review 11 (2) (2000) 3338. [9] M.J. Earl, Knowledge management strategies: toward a taxonomy, Journal of Management Information Systems 18 (1) (2001) 215233. [10] R. Garud, A. Kumaraswamy, Vicious and virtuous circles in the management of knowledge: the case of infosys technologies, MIS Quarterly 29 (1) (2005) 933. [11] P. Gottschalk, Strategic Knowledge Management Technology, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, USA, 2005. [12] P. Gottschalk, Knowledge Management Systems in Law Enforcement: Technologies and Techniques, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, USA, 2006. [14] M.T. Hansen, N. Nohria, T. Tierney, Whats your strategy for managing knowledge? Harvard Business Review (1999) 106116, March-April. [15] Home Oce, Guidance on statutory performance indicators for policing 205/2006, Police Standards Unit, Home Oce of the UK Government, <www.policereform.gov.uk> (2005). [16] V. Hughes, P. Jackson, The inuence of technical, social and structural factors on the eective use of information in a policing environment, The Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management vol. 2 (1) (2004) 6576. [17] A. Kankanhalli, B.C.Y. Tan, K.K. Wei, Contributing knowledge to electronic knowledge repositories: an empirical investigation, MIS Quarterly 29 (1) (2005) 113143. [18] W.R. King, T.S.H. Teo, Integration between business planning and information systems planning: validating a stage hypothesis, Decision Sciences 28 (2) (1997) 279307. [19] D.G. Ko, L.J. Kirsch, W.R. King, Antecedents of knowledge transfer from consultants to clients in enterprise system implementations, MIS Quarterly 29 (1) (2005) 5985. [20] K.C. Laudon, J.P. Laudon, Essentials of Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, sixth ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2005. [21] L. Lin, X. Geng, A.B. Whinston, A sender-receiver framework for knowledge transfer, MIS Quarterly 29 (2) (2005) 197219. [22] T.W. Luen, S. Al-Hawamdeh, Knowledge management in the public sector: principles and practices in police work, Journal of Information Science 27 (5) (2001) 311318. [23] A. Malhotra, S. Gosain, O.A. El Sawy, Absorptive capacity congurations in supply chains: gearing for partner-enabled market knowledge creation, MIS Quarterly 29 (1) (2005) 145187. [24] C. Murphy, The rationalization of Canadian public policing: a study of the impact and implications of resource limits and market strategies, The Canadian Review of Policing Research (2005), ISSN:1710-6915. [25] R.L. Nolan, Managing the crises in data processing, Harvard Business Review (1979) 115126, MarchApril. [26] R.S. Poston, C. Speier, Eective use of knowledge management systems: a process model of content ratings and credibility indicators, MIS Quarterly 29 (2) (2005) 221244. [27] A. Puonti, Tools for collaboration: using and designing tools in interorganizational economic-crime investigation, Mind, Culture, and Activity 11 (2) (2004) 133152. [28] C. Ryu, Y.J. Kim, A. Chaudhury, H.R. Rao, Knowledge acquisition via three learning processes in enterprise information portals: learning-by-investment, learning-by-doing, and learning-from-others, MIS Quarterly 29 (2) (2005) 245278. [29] N. Smith, C. Flanagan, The Eective Detective: Identifying the skills of an eective SIO, Police Research Series Paper 122, Policing and Reducing Crime Unit, London, UK, (2000). [30] R. Surette, The thinking eye Pros and cons of second generation CCTV surveillance systems, Policing An international journal of police strategies and management 28 (1) (2005) 152173.

[2], the eld of geodemographics is one of the most fertile applications areas of geocomputation systems. Geodemographic proles of the characteristics of individuals and small areas are becoming central to ecient and eective deployment of resources by public services. Geocomputation systems are an IT application that belongs to both stage 1 as a tool and stage 3 as an information source. SPIKE is a knowledge management system at stage 3. The system enables real-time knowledge sharing and has become a catalyst for a quantum change in the organizations structure and the method by which it delivers its services [7]. The rst generation systems of CCTV are found at stage 1, while second generation systems belong to stage 2 of the stages of growth model for knowledge management technology. Second generation systems reduce the human factor in surveillance and address some of the basic concerns associated with rst generation surveillance systems such as swamping, boredom, voyeurism, and proling [30]. 9. Conclusion The amount of information that police ocers come into contact with in the course of their work is astounding. Such information is captured within police organizations in various forms. The challenge for police organizations is how to surface information and knowledge and bring it to bear on the problems faced by police ocers in a timely and eective manner. This information and knowledge challenge in police organizations was the focus of and the reason for this paper. By identifying stages of growth in knowledge management systems and by identifying examples of applications from police investigations, this paper makes an important contribution to strategic planning of knowledge management systems in law enforcement. Future research can build on this paper by studying law enforcement cases concerned with knowledge management systems in police investigations [12]. References
[1] M. Alavi, D.E. Leidner, Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues, MIS Quarterly 25 (1) (2001) 107136. [2] D.I. Ashby, P.A. Longley, Geocomputation, geodemographics and resource allocation for local policing, Transactions in GIS 9 (1) (2005) 5372. [3] I. Becerra-Fernandez, A. Gonzalez, R. Sabherwal, Knowledge Management: Challenges, Solutions, and Technologies, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2004. [4] G.W. Bock, R.W. Zmud, Y.G. Kim, Behavioral intention formation in knowledge sharing: examining the roles of extrinsic motivators, social-psychological forces, and organizational climate, MIS Quarterly 29 (1) (2005) 87111. [5] H. Chen, J. Schroeder, R.V. Hauck, L. Ridgeway, H. Atabakhsh, H. Gupta, C. Boarman, K. Rasmussen, A.W. Clements, COPLINK connect: information and knowledge management for law enforcement, Decision Support Systems 34 (2002) 271285.

P. Gottschalk / Knowledge-Based Systems 19 (2006) 381387 [31] E.A. Thibault, L.M. Lynch, R.B. McBride, Proactive Police Management, Fourth Edition., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA, 1998.

387

[32] M.M. Wasko, S. Faraj, Why should I share? Examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice, MIS Quarterly 29 (1) (2005) 3557.