The Archangel Drones by Joe Nobody Page B
Authors: Joe Nobody
Tags: Fiction, Action & Adventure
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arrest. Her reaction, however, wasn’t due to the howling, misery-laced cries of the suspect, nor was she concerned about the officers’ behavior.
No, what bothered the county’s most powerful elected official was the potential public relations nightmare the video was sure to bring.
Barely 5’3” tall, thin framed, and often referred to as being “mousey” behind her back, the slender woman’s outward appearance gave few clues to the furnace of aspiration that burned within.
She’d joined the Harris County office as an associate after serving one post-graduation year clerking for a federal judge. Her degree from the University of Texas School of Law, complete with the designation of “summa cum laude” on her sheepskin, meant the legal world was the young graduate’s oyster. But she wasn’t interested in contract law, teaching, or hanging her shingle in the corporate world.
Bypassing numerous offers from prestigious firms throughout the Lone Star State, she held fast to a seemingly insatiable desire to put criminals behind bars. She was passionate about defending the people.
Ferocious, unyielding, and deftly skilled in front of a jury, the young Ms. Sanders quickly made a name for herself throughout the legal community of the nation’s fourth largest city. When she had been elected for the first time 12 years ago, Karen Sanders had campaigned as an aggressive, “no holds barred” crime fighter.
She’d seen so much during those years. One of the most striking developments affecting her profession being the advancement of technology. Everything from forensics to investigation tools had been touched by the developments.
So much of the digital age was a positive for law enforcement. Social media, for example, provided insight into many a criminal’s mindset and was now commonly introduced at trials to prove a frame of reference or intent… sometimes even as evidence of a confession.
Innovations in communications interception made privacy a myth. Computer system forensics that could even retrieve the browsing history of the accused now played a role in the day-to-day prosecutions by her office. The police could track and retrace a suspect’s travels via cell phone towers. Cameras could read license plate numbers, placing a specific automobile at the scene of the crime. The availability of this information created a swirling, ever-expanding toolbox to be used for the people’s cause.
But, like most revolutions, there were negatives as well. Criminals had become skilled at manipulating technology at unprecedented levels, committing felonies ranging from identity theft to blocking critical police communications with portable radio jammers.
Of all the changes she’d seen impact her prosecutorial duties, the public distribution of citizens’ recordings from smartphone cameras was one of the most significant developments of the last five years.
Most video was helpful. Police dash cameras had been used countless times to convict criminals or exonerate officers of bogus charges. These days, it seemed like every business, ATM, city bus, and citizen was now equipped to capture historical events. Heck, just about every 10-year-old kid in America owned the kind of phone that fueled documentary filmmaker fantasies. The law enforcement agenda had profited tremendously from the availability of the feed. In the vast majority of cases such evidence was beneficial in putting criminals behind bars.
But not always.
A wave of online video had invaded what was once a private, seldom witnessed aspect of society - the policing of America.
The spectacle of cops interacting with citizens was exciting stuff, often worthy of cell phone recording. For many, the act was merely a “one upping” of rubbernecking a freeway accident during rush hour. True opportunists realized that news outlets would pay for video of major crime scenes. So would defense lawyers and their experts.
Karen could remember watching the Rodney
No, what bothered the county’s most powerful elected official was the potential public relations nightmare the video was sure to bring.
Barely 5’3” tall, thin framed, and often referred to as being “mousey” behind her back, the slender woman’s outward appearance gave few clues to the furnace of aspiration that burned within.
She’d joined the Harris County office as an associate after serving one post-graduation year clerking for a federal judge. Her degree from the University of Texas School of Law, complete with the designation of “summa cum laude” on her sheepskin, meant the legal world was the young graduate’s oyster. But she wasn’t interested in contract law, teaching, or hanging her shingle in the corporate world.
Bypassing numerous offers from prestigious firms throughout the Lone Star State, she held fast to a seemingly insatiable desire to put criminals behind bars. She was passionate about defending the people.
Ferocious, unyielding, and deftly skilled in front of a jury, the young Ms. Sanders quickly made a name for herself throughout the legal community of the nation’s fourth largest city. When she had been elected for the first time 12 years ago, Karen Sanders had campaigned as an aggressive, “no holds barred” crime fighter.
She’d seen so much during those years. One of the most striking developments affecting her profession being the advancement of technology. Everything from forensics to investigation tools had been touched by the developments.
So much of the digital age was a positive for law enforcement. Social media, for example, provided insight into many a criminal’s mindset and was now commonly introduced at trials to prove a frame of reference or intent… sometimes even as evidence of a confession.
Innovations in communications interception made privacy a myth. Computer system forensics that could even retrieve the browsing history of the accused now played a role in the day-to-day prosecutions by her office. The police could track and retrace a suspect’s travels via cell phone towers. Cameras could read license plate numbers, placing a specific automobile at the scene of the crime. The availability of this information created a swirling, ever-expanding toolbox to be used for the people’s cause.
But, like most revolutions, there were negatives as well. Criminals had become skilled at manipulating technology at unprecedented levels, committing felonies ranging from identity theft to blocking critical police communications with portable radio jammers.
Of all the changes she’d seen impact her prosecutorial duties, the public distribution of citizens’ recordings from smartphone cameras was one of the most significant developments of the last five years.
Most video was helpful. Police dash cameras had been used countless times to convict criminals or exonerate officers of bogus charges. These days, it seemed like every business, ATM, city bus, and citizen was now equipped to capture historical events. Heck, just about every 10-year-old kid in America owned the kind of phone that fueled documentary filmmaker fantasies. The law enforcement agenda had profited tremendously from the availability of the feed. In the vast majority of cases such evidence was beneficial in putting criminals behind bars.
But not always.
A wave of online video had invaded what was once a private, seldom witnessed aspect of society - the policing of America.
The spectacle of cops interacting with citizens was exciting stuff, often worthy of cell phone recording. For many, the act was merely a “one upping” of rubbernecking a freeway accident during rush hour. True opportunists realized that news outlets would pay for video of major crime scenes. So would defense lawyers and their experts.
Karen could remember watching the Rodney
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