Officer Krug's Outlook on 21st Century Technology
by Kyle Krug
Today in this interview, I, Kyle Krug, will be asking questions to my brother, Matthew Krug, who is a police officer in my hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts. We will get to hear first-hand from someone who has interacted with modern day police technology. We will be hearing about the uses of such devices, the good, and the bad of the technology that he handles. After hearing some of his experiences on the job I hope we will all have a newfound understanding for the advantages and disadvantages of police technology in the 21st century.
What is the most important piece of technology that you use?
Every night before work I put on my uniform, pack my duty bag, and then I strap on my belt and load it with multiple important items such as handcuffs, mace, light, firearm, and my most important tool which is my radio. My radio without a doubt in my mind is my most important piece of technology. My radio is my call to back up and it is what tells me where to go. Without it I would have no job.
What is the oldest piece of technology that you use?
The cars that our department uses are old and out of date. We drive Ford SUV's that are at the end of the road for most of them. I don’t think a single car has under 150,000 miles on it. The seats in them are terrible. The padding in them are beat to hell and almost non-existent. My back hurts after a long shift with no action because all you do is sit in the car the whole time.
If you could have any piece of technology that you don’t currently have, what would it be?
I don’t know if you could consider this technology but having a partner in the car would make some calls a lot easier. We ride one man to a cruiser. Depending on what part of the city you work the calls differ from easy to hard. I usually work the part of the city with the hard calls so every time I need backup I must wait. If I had a partner there would be no wait, and myself and my partner could handle a call more easily and quickly.
Do you think that the more advanced technology of the 21st century makes it easier to commit a crime?
Technology is a major part of crime in the day an age we live in. It gives criminals an upper hand. Twenty years ago, it was a whole different ball game. I wish I could have been a cop then my job might have been a bit easier.
What is your most used piece of technology?
The laptops we have in our cars are our most important piece of technology. We use them to run license plates, we can check some ones name to see if they have warrants, and much more like watch netflix but thats on the down low haha.
If you could have any piece of technology that you don’t currently have, what would it be?
I don’t know if you could consider this technology but having a partner in the car would make some calls a lot easier. We ride one man to a cruiser. Depending on what part of the city you work the calls differ from easy to hard. I usually work the part of the city with the hard calls so every time I need backup I must wait. If I had a partner there would be no wait, and myself and my partner could handle a call more easily and quickly.
Do you think that the more advanced technology of the 21st century makes it easier to commit a crime?
Technology is a major part of crime in the day an age we live in. It gives criminals an upper hand. Twenty years ago, it was a whole different ball game. I wish I could have been a cop then my job might have been a bit easier.
What is your most used piece of technology?
The laptops we have in our cars are our most important piece of technology. We use them to run license plates, we can check some ones name to see if they have warrants, and much more like watch Netflix but that's on the down-low, haha.
What technology do you think police officers could do away with because it is unneeded?
Everything I carry on me and that’s at my disposal has a purpose. An that purpose is to make my job easier or to make it safer to do, so I cant think of anything off the top of my head that I would want to get rid of.
Cops would just be walking and riding horses around looking for crime. We rely so heavily on the technology we have to do our job. Without it we are practically useless to the people.
Do you think the department should offer better training on the use of technology?
When I went through the police academy. They gave us training on everything possible. We were trained in driving, shooting, how to use a radio, handcuffing, they even put us through a writing course so we would write good police reports. They cover just about everything and train you the best they possibly can.