By the 1920's, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had become interested in the use of fingerprints for the "identification of criminals." J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI at that time, was an important figure in the development of the use of fingerprints in criminal investigations.
Although fingerprinting has been around for nearly one hundred years, the use of computers in solving criminal cases did not begin until about two decades ago. Before that time, the use of computers in law enforcement was not practical. This was because the early computers were both very large and very expensive. In the early 1970s, however, microcomputers were introduced into American society. These computers were much smaller and much cheaper, yet they were able to do almost as much work as the larger ones. With the introduction of microcomputers, the use of computers quickly spread among American businesses and homes as well as among criminal investigators. Before the rise of the microcomputer, investigators were extremely limited in the amount of work that they could do. However, the microcomputer changed this with its ability to handle "many large data bases." In addition to its ability to handle large loads of information, the microcomputer is capable of working much faster and much more reliably than the average human being. It was not long before computers were being accepted by police departments all around the country. As a result, the last two decades has shown a steady increase in the use of computers among America's police departments.
In addition to analyzing fingerprints, the police use computers for the purpose of processing various other data. The computer has been found to be quite useful in organizing and analyzing the information which is required during the daily routines of police work. The police can also use computers to help them analyze patterns of crime activity in their area. Thus, computers serve as a to...