Crime Prevention

Crime prevention

Police work

What is the PNC?

PNC stands for ‘Police National Computer’. The first PNC started in 1974, the only information that it contained was the stolen vehicles database. Since the start of the PNC more databases have been added or changed. The PNC several separate databases these include:

·         Names file- This database contains a very large amount of information about people who have been convicted caution or recently arrested. This database has links to each individual person’s file which contains fingerprints, DNA and contact details. Recently arrested people referred to as Nominals, can be placed on the PNC at anytime under ‘wanted/missing’ if they are connected to a crime, are on a warrant or if they have failed to appear at court. They may also have been put on the PNC if they have been Absent Without Leave from military service or are reported missing. Any previous arrests and convictions will appear on PNC database along with any impending offences which are awaiting court. Information stored on this PNC database may include: a physical description, all previous addresses, local intelligence or any co-defendants.

·         Vehicle file- This database contains details on the registered owner of a vehicle as well as any information from the DVLA as to a vehicles status for example: Tax expiration date, whether or not the insure submitted a valid V23, if the car is stolen, Chassis number or engine number. The police can add reports to this database if they are related to the vehicle or the owners status this might happen because of a number or different things some of which may include the vehicle being stolen or reported missing, if the vehicle may be a clone or if the owner is believed to have something to do with a crime. In the database the system is currently linked to the Motor Insurance Database and maintained by the Motor Insurers Bureau. This allows the police to look up and confirm insurance policies and details about the driver which includes the driver’s name, policy dates, police number and which insurance company the driver is insured by. The Vehicle Operator Service have updated their MOT databases and digitalised them because they have done this direct links can be made from the PNC to the MOT database. The vehicle file actually has two separate databases that are shown on one screen. One database is updated by the DVLA and controlled by the DVLA, the other database is updated and controlled entirely by the police and is the responsibility of the police. This database contains vehicle reports which the DVLA do not have access to.

·         Property File- This deals with different types of stolen and found property which can be put on the PNC system giving a description of each item. Each item that is lost or found can be separated into different categories, these categories are: Trailers as well as sidecars, Plant which is non-DVLA-registered agricultural machinery, Engines which do not fall into any of the other categories, Animals which have been registered, Marine crafts and Firearms which includes imitation firearms.

·         Drivers file- this database has been recently added and it contains information on over 48 million people who either hold a valid driving licence or are disqualified from keeping one. Each record will have information that relates to test passes, endorsements and the licence entitlements. This database is the responsibility of and is manage and controlled by DVLA and is updated every single morning.

The PNC is only a text document so there are no photos stored in any of the databases only digital data. However further inquires can me made which allows the police officers looking for photographical information able to access copies of photos obtained in crime scenes or whiles in custody. Until 1995 the PNC was more mainly a data storage warehouse but with the surge of technology it has become solely internet based to give information on on-going investigations. This has enabled police to  search the PNC databases for information on criminals, suspects, vehicles or any other information may be stored in the PNC, with only limited pieces of information such as surnames, number plates or other bits of information.

E-FIT

E-FIT stands for the Electronic Facial Identification Technique. This is a digital method of using eyewitness’s descriptions of suspects, wanted criminals or missing persons to construct a 3D visual image on the computer of the person. E-FIT is used to identify people for serious and minor crimes. In the UK, the BBC TV programme called Crimewatch uses this feature quite often. The most known time it was used in Crimewatch was when a presenter themselves fell victim to a stalker. E-FIT is a system which is available in many different languages such as: Spanish, German, English UK and US, French, Italian, Portuguese and Swedish. The first E-FIT system was introduced in the late 1980’s By John Platten and since then he has been improving and refining the system working with Dr Matthew Maylin. E-FIT is a highly reliable and easy going system for facial reconstruction. The E-FIT system is slowly being replaced by the EFIT-V. This is a full colour system that increases flexibility and the speed of the face rendering software. This allows the EFIT-V to give a full colour 3D reconstruction of a person’s face.

·         Communication between all the different police forces and international (Interpol what do they do?)

·         What do police carry equipment wise? Do they have smart phonesà standard police equipment

Police equipment

Giving the new advances in technology you would think that police equipment would be updated to include the latest smart phones and tablets but this is not the case, this is because smartphones would be to easy intercept messages and to bug and eavesdrop on confidential conversations. The standard police equipment for an average police officer is:

·         Body armour- body armour is compulsory equipment. This protects the police officer if they get attacked while on patrol. It offers protection against knifes and some types of firearms. The body armour is made by placing special ‘pads’ inside the outer cover  this helps to take the impact of forceful blows i.e. stabbing or shooting, and because the outer cover is black they can also be used in covert operations underneath clothing to help keep them safe.

·         Handcuffs- hand cuffs are a vital part of police equipment. They can be used when the police believe the suspect or suspects can be acting dangerously, they are trying to escape or if there is any danger to the police officers themselves.

·         Batons- the most commonly used type of baton is called the ‘PR24’ this has a side handle and can be extended to 24 inches long. Batons are carried by police officers to protect the public by using special defensive blocking moves and offensive striking moves. The baton can also be used to subdue a violent person.

·         Air wave radios- The police carry Radios on their person these can also be used as mobile telephones; they can send and receive text messages from it. The radio channel that the police use has been specifically designed so that confidential phone calls or text messages can be picked up and recorded by other people using scanners. The radios themselves have a built in tracking signal which is connected to the head Control Room. This means that if an officer need emergency backup or help all they have to do is push an emergency button on the radio and help will be sent to their exact location as soon as they get the emergency signal.

Car crime

·         Number plate recognition- Automatic number plate recognition or ANPR for short is a huge surveillance process that uses optical character recognition on images this allows them to read number plates (vehicle registration plates). The ANPR can use existing closed-circuit television, road-rule enforcement cameras or cameras that were specifically design to recognise number plates. This is used by many police forces to keep track of the electronic toll collection and to make sure that movement of traffic and/ or individuals is recorded. ANPR can also store the images that they capture and some have been specifically modified to capture a photo of the drivers and this can be used with facial recognition software to get an exact identify of the driver even if the car is licenced to someone else. The ANRP system uses infrared lighting in order to take photos at any time of the day or of the night. The problems that have risen because of this are that some people are afraid of the government tracking their movements, misidentifying them because of the high error ratio and waste in government spending.

Cyber crime

Theft of data

In today’s society the internet has become a huge window of access to criminals. One of the most often offences is theft of data. The reason why criminals try to steal or copy data from large businesses is because if they can get their hands on the data then they can sell it to other companies or use it to blackmail the company the stole it from. If a company’s data gets stolen then the company has to start collecting the data all over again wasting valuable time and money collect , processing and analysing the data.

Phishing

Phishing is when someone sends fake e-mails pretending to be from legitimate companies and businesses to persuade people to divulge personal and financial information. They do this by sending emails to lots and lots of email addresses which they have randomly selected by randomly generating addresses or by guessing popular and common email addresses. Each email will either have a link to a website that may have viruses or just looks like a professional website or the email itself will contain a virus that will attack your computer and copy files and programmes and/ or delete the files.

Identity theft

Another danger of criminals stealing data is that they can steal credit card and bank account details, which means they can impersonate and steal the identity of a persona and take money out of the account. All it takes is for someone to hack into a website and download all of the personal data that customers have given to that company and the hacker has everything they need to impersonate the customer and find out personal details about the customer.

Anti-virus protection

You can protect your computer against viruses with anti-virus software. Some examples of anti-virus software are ‘Kaspersky Internet Security’ and ‘Norton security software’. This scans emails and programmes before you open them and gives you detailed reports on each file, programme or piece of software. They also can block harmful websites that carry viruses on the web.

Education part 2

Education part 2

Education and learning has been impacted by technology. With the great leaps in technological advancements Education has changed greatly. In schools throughout the UK ICT, IT or computer based subjects are compulsory to be taught in key stage three and four. This gives the young people who are learning in schools a great advantage because they have grown up learning the functions of a computer and how to use them which is a great advantage. Although there are some great advantages to computer technology in schools, there are also some disadvantages as well. The increase in popularity in technology in schools creates problems for teachers and examiners.

The VLE, short for the Virtual Learning Environment) is one example of how technology has been used to improve education. The VLE program is an online interactive program that offers resources for schools teachers and students. Revision, assessments, class work sheets, homework and extra work are features that can be set up to cover all aspects of everyday school life. There are several VLE systems currently used, mostly in schools, and the FROG VLE is one example of a secondary school based VLE. A VLE system can be accessed by almost any computer as long as the school who owns the system has given the person trying to access it a username and password; this allows them to uncover any learning material that they may need.

Another example of how the information age has effected education today is the use of Interactive whiteboard, also known as Smart Boards. An interactive whiteboard is a touch interactive board and a projector which is linked up with the teacher’s computer. This allows the teacher to bring up work, which they might have on their personal hard drive, and put it in the board with the use of the projector. The board is an interactive board which allows the teachers to use a stylus pen or a finger to interact with what’s on the board may that be writing notes or solving an education game. Interactive whiteboards are becoming increasingly successful and are now in most secondary school and some primary schools.

The effectiveness of Registration has now been improved thanks to technology. Registration used to be all paper bases and had to be filled into dates and times but with the application of computers programs such as SIMS allow schools to register their students electronically. SIMS can be used to record information not only about the student’s attendance but also on their contact details and medical appointments. Other types of electronic registration have recently been introduced in some schools to monitor students’ attendance. Some of these methods are the use of swipe cards and a barcode scanning system, the scanner identifies each student by the use of a unique barcode which has been assigned to each student. This allows the students to sign in and sign out very easily and helps the school to keep track of their attendance.

With the increase in technology schools are trying to stay up to date. Some schools are more successful because they have a higher budget to use, while others steadily update when they have to. In some schools they are starting to introduce Tablets i.e. the I Pad by Apple. This has really started to increase in popularity in areas such as Europe and America. This is probably because the accessibility the I Pad gives and just how easy it is to use by both students and teachers. This does not mean that everyone agrees with the use of I Pads, some people think that desktop PCs are more efficient and typing homework and programs like Flash and JavaScript are not available on the I Pad. Also some people think that we should keep to a more traditional way of teaching without the use of I Pad.

The use of I Pad in schools has mixed views. Some schools see it as an opportunity to take advantage of new technology and to keep up to date, while others schools see it as a distraction for the students because of the leisure side of the device and they prefer to stick with more traditional teaching methods.

The advance in technology has really affected what type of education pupils receive in schools. For example ICT is now a recognised subject that is compulsory for years 3-9 and in some schools it is also compulsory to undergo GCSE’s in ICT, this is usually the case in ICT specialist school. The ICT lessons teach students how to use the internet safely and how to use basic computer programmes in an efficient way. The reason why ICT has become a compulsory subject is because the amount of jobs that use a computer or electronic devices had gone up so much that new jobs have been invented because of computers that we never needed before, a qualification in ICT and to have training in computers is a highly valuable skill .

Some schools spilt up the ICT course into more specified courses. For example some schools teach core ICT, IT, Computing and Applied ICT. Some are only available at higher levels of education i.e. GCSE, A-Level or even Degrees. This allows the school to teach the core subject and then the students can make the choice to study different aspects of the ICT course in higher education.

There are some disadvantages to the increase of computer technology which has been a problem not only in schools but other places to. A major disadvantage is plagiarism and how easy it is to copy and paste other peoples work and claim it as your own. This allows students to hand in work that hasn’t actually been written by them; because information is so easily accessible because of the internet they can do this without getting permission. Another disadvantage of using computers is the decreasing quality of peoples hand writing. Some people say that because we are relying on the use of computers to type up everything, our hand writing skills are declining. Because of this there are now both written exams and in some cases typed exams. The examiners assess the quality of both handwriting and spellings in the written exams. The use of typed exams assist some students which prefer to type as a substitute for writing in there exams.

Employment

Employment

Employment has changed because of the effect that computers and electronic devices have had on many jobs.  Computers have changed jobs and even made some jobs irrelevant throughout the whole world; it has sped up processes that would have taken hours, months or sometimes years to be able to be carried out in a matter of minutes. Computers are partly responsible for removing some jobs but they have also created new jobs that we previously wouldn’t have been able to imagine.

How computers have effected employment

The increase in technology has affected the use of computers in the work place. The work place has changed a great amount, some of the main differences are that documents had to be hand written or typed using a type writer, if it was an official document then a mistake would mean starting all over again. In offices they would have had filing cabinets to store all of their paper work and documents. If you had to contact someone in your job then you would rely only on the phone or by writing a letter and using the mail. The invention of the computer allows you to just delete mistakes or typos and to save documents on a hard drive. You can also send people emails or have a video conference by using a webcams.

How have Tablets and computers changed the jobs?

Tablet computers are a new development in computer technology. They have changed some jobs so much. For example doctors can now carry around a tablet computer and use that to store all their patients’ details and prescriptions. Another job that has changed is the delivery service. A delivery person can use a Sat Nav to find directions to the building or place that they are delivering to by just entering the address and post code, they can also get the customer to electronically sign their tablet computer by using the touch screen screen.

Advantages

There are so many advantages to using computers in the work place that it would be impossible to list them all, but here are a few main advantages. Computers have the ability to work out mathematical and logical problems in a manner of milliseconds, whereas for some of these problems humans physically would not be able to complete by themselves and if they could then it would take them a lot longer than a computer. A computer also has the ability to do more than one thing at a time so multiple actions and problems can be carried out in an instant. Another advantage of a computer is that it has a huge storage space. This allows you to store file’s, documents and programmes or any other types of information on the computer’s hard drive. This means that you can store all your important documents on your computer instead of having to keep paper copies and finding room to store them in filing cabinets or other storage methods. The Internet has so much information available is gigantic so the internet is now being used as a source of research.

Disadvantages

There are also many disadvantages to computers in the place of work, for example one is that the possibility that the computer might crash or their might be computer failures. Some computer failures may lead to loss important data if the data has not been saved. Virus attacks can be very harmful, they can delete very important data or copy files and send the files to come one else. Another disadvantage is that if there was a power cut any unsaved documents would be lost and also if you were trying to run a business and you relied solely on your computer then your company would come to a standstill. The increase in computer usage means that some jobs are irrelevant because a computer can simply do it fast and anyone can use a computer, so some jobs just become useless.

Online Entertainment

Online Entertainment

Online entertainment has become something that is natural for most people. When people are bored they turn to the internet for entrainment straight away. Some people would go as far to say that they would rather be online than with actual people.

Streaming

Streaming is when you watch, listen or play something online without actually downloading the file, programme or document onto your computer and saving it to watch, listen to or play whenever you want. When watching, listening or playing something that is streamed from the internet then you watch it in ‘real time’ and you don’t save it onto your computer. When you stream programmes, files or documents you do not save them onto your hard drive you just see it at that exact moment in a stream of data. The reason why most company’s and businesses use streaming rather than downloading is because it makes it a lot harder and a lot more difficult to save and copy the content to distribute, unfortunately it is not impossible and can still happen.

Games

Online gaming has greatly increased in popularity; this is due to online gaming being so openly available to the public. There are some free internet games that can be played by anyone, some websites are dedicated to finding out this games and letting users play them for free i.e. freeonlinegames or funnygames. Some websites such as runescape do not require anything to play on them apart from signing up; there is no fee unless you want a membership package. World of war craft is an online gaming website where you have to buy a CD ROM and pay a monthly subscription to play. Another reason online gaming has become so popular is that you can now use a games console to plat online with your friends or from random people on the other side of the world. Games consoles use streaming to allow the user to play online.

Films- stream

Streaming allows you to watch films without having to wait until you have finished downloading the film. All the user needs it’s a connection to the internet and to have access to the website that the film is being streamed on. LoveFilm and Netflix are two companies that stream videos to the comfort of your own computer or laptop.

TV online

Iplayer, 4OD or 4 on demand and ITVplayer are all website that allow you to stream TV programmes that you may have missed over the last couple of days. This are websites owned by the TV services and they only stream TV programmes, Films or Audio clips that have been broadcasted one their TV channels. On BBC Iplayer and ITV Player the programmes are only available on the website for a limited about of time, the most often time period is that the programme on the website is available for 7 days after it was broadcasted on TV. 4OD or 4 on demand have recently made a more permanent database and now you can watch programmes that has been on the channel for network even if the programme you want to watch was televised years ago, obviously not every programme can be uploaded onto the website for every one to watch but the 4OD website changes on a daily bases to help keep everyone happy. 4OD has also started to rent films for a small amount of money. This means you can watch a film for a small amount of money without having to go and rent a DVD.

E-reader

An E-reader allows you to download books from the internet and save them onto your E-reader. An E-reader can hold thousands and thousands of books. E-readers allows the users to be able to read wherever they want to without having to carry a book around, that would take up a lot of space, instead they can just carry their E-reader which is thin, small and light ideal for everyday use. The most common and popular E-reader is the Kindle. E-readers have had positive and negative effects on independent book stores. For example they have lost out on sales because people will be downloading E-books instead of going to the store and this will have an effect on the book store. On the other hand the independent book store could start selling E-books on their website this would allow a wider range of the public to access their products and become customers of that store.

You Tube

You Tube is becoming a website that some people use on a daily bases. You Tube allows people to take videos of anything that interests them or of anything they want that abides by the terms and conditions of You Tube. On You Tube you can listen to new music and catch up on the latest TV or just watch your friends do silly stunts.

Facebook

On Facebook you can play games with your friends challenge them to battle you and socialise. This is a quick and easy method of entertainment that you can play with your friends. Some games allow you to get to know your friends better but others are just there for entertainment purposes and are completely made up.

Banking online

Banking online

Online banking is becoming a fast and efficient way of banking. It saves time and money, people don’t have to pay petrol fees to go to the bank or take the time to go to the bank all they need is their computer and their bank account details.

ATM

Automated Teller Machine or more commonly known as an ATM is a computerized telecommunications device that allows a customer or a client of a financial institution to perform financial transactions without the need for a cashier, human clerk or bank teller. This allows quick and easy bank payments and withdrawals to be made. Every person that belongs to a bank and who has a credit, debit or smart card is given a unique pin number that belongs to them and only them. This lets them to access their bank accounts and to manage their money to suit them.

Online statements

A bank statement tells you on each individual account what you have paid into your account i.e. your salary, cashed checks or money from another account and what you pay out doesn’t matter if it’s by checks, credit cards or ATMs. An online statement means that you get an email from your bank telling you all of your account activity once a month or you can also go online and check your bank statement whenever you want all you have to do is log onto your banks website and sign into your personal account with your own personal username and password. Other ways to get your bank statements is by post once a month.

Transfers online

With online banking you can transfer money from one account to another without having to go down to the bank. All you need is to log onto your bank accounts website then sign into your account from there you can transfer money from your account to another account all you need to know is your account number and the other accounts details. These details include the account holders name account number and the sort code for that back account. If you are only transferring money from your own account to another account that you own then you only need to know your account numbers.

Standing order

A standing order is something that is paid automatically ever week or month i.e. gas bills or water bills. This takes the money out of your account at a set date every time it’s due. This allows you to be more relaxed about paying bills because if the moneys in your account then you don’t have to go through all the hassle to write out a check and send it via post to the company or go hand it into the bank, the account holder doesn’t have to worry about paying it by a set time period, all they have to worry about is getting the money in their account for the payment date.

Direct debit

Direct debit is very similar to a standing order except with a direct debit the amount that a company can take out of your account can change without you notifying the bank that you belong to but with a standing order you have to notify the bank to a change in the amount of payment otherwise the bank will just carry on paying the company the same amount of money.

Information

·         Locations

With online banking some banks have websites that provide a search engine to look up where the nearest branch is from you. You can do this by typing in your postcode. This saves time and gives the customers of that bank a quick, easy and efficient way of finding their local bank account.

·         Email alerts

 With online banking your bank can send you Email alerts to give you information about your account activity or just about new account types and information within the bank. You can get your bank statement emailed to you on a set date each month.

Security

Security is a major concern when it comes to online banking. Most web browsers will show a padlock icon or turn the web address bar green when the website is secure and has the right certificate to show that it is a safe website. Online Security is a major issue because the customers have to trust that that website is safe if they are going to use it to handle their money.

Key cards

Smart phones

You can now use your smart phones to send money from one account to another just by using a mobile phone this is called Barclays ‘ping it’ all you need is a smart phone and the Barclays ‘ping It’ app. This allows you to instantly change money whenever where ever. This is a major step forward in online banking. All you have to do to be able to use this service is have an account with Barleys and then download the ‘ping-it’ app.

Disadvantages

·         You can’t withdraw money from your computer, at least not yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future you could in fact do that but for now you still have to go down to your local bank or ATM.

·          De- skilling is when you have no need of people with certain skills because they can be replaced due to technology. This is happening more and more to an increase in technology, companies just don’t need to pay for someone to do a job when they can buy a machine to do it.  

·         Some people think that online banking is heightening Impersonality.  This means that there is no face to face interaction. Some people like talking to a person for some of them going to the bank is a nice way of getting some social interaction.

E government

E government

E government is all about the government exchanging information and services from the government to the public, businesses or other departments of the government. E government allows the government to process look into and respond to any questions the public may have, this allows the government to improve the public understanding of information and/ or services.

Information

GOV.UK

The main website that allows people to find out information in the UK is https://www.gov.uk/ also known as directgov. This is a website that allows the public to report situations, look up information, to learn about problems or incidents, to learn about services provided by the government and legal requirements.

On the GOV.UK homepage the main links are:

·         Driving, transport and travel

·         Businesses and self employed

·         Education and learning

·         Housing and local services

·         Money and tax

·         Disabled people

·         Benefits

·         Employing people

·         Working, jobs and pensions

·         Crime, justice and the law

·         Birth, deaths, marriages and care

·         Citizenship and life in the UK

On the GOV.UK website these links are the most active:

• Job centre Plus job search
• Log in to student finance
• Passport fees
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Council Tax bands
• Running a limited company
• Driving theory test
• Car tax rates
• Get a car tax disc
• VAT rates

I think that this website is very useful because it gives information about lots of subjects that we use in everyday life but we don’t always fully understand those subjects. This website gives us a quick and easy method of finding out information and gives us a way to report complaints about certain areas or items. It gives information that benefits all ages and not just to people above 21, for example it provides information and help for students, first time drivers and first time employment. It helps students with financial issues when going to university and also helps when students are looking to apply to university. GOV.UK gives you information about pensions which can be a great help for when you want to plan your life after employment.

Another website that is similar to this is the government gateway. I don’t think this is as good as GOV.UK because you have to sign up to government gateway to use it but you don’t have to sign up to GOV.Uk. When you sign up to the government gateway you can choose to sign up as an individual, organisation or agent, this helps the user to get the most out of that website and it helps them to get the best suited information for them.

LAW

In E government Law has a big impact. Lots of people want to find out about what they should do in certain circumstances and the government make sure that they can get information about the law. E government gives information about: court, prisons and probations, reporting crimes and getting compensation, young people and the law and your rights and the law. This helps people who have been a victim to a crime tell the government so action can taken to prevent it from happening again. It gives information on what the public’s rights are and what people should do if the find themselves dealing with illegal circumstances.

Law in E government is a really important thing. The metropolitan police service has its own website this allows the public to report crimes quickly and easily. This website allows the public to find out what is happening in the local areas. The website gives you safety precautions and walkthrough in the event that a crime takes place and it helps you to learn what to do. This website also gives in depth information about current crimes and how they are trying to prevent them.

Participation

Online tax

 E government has allowed the public to pay taxes online. This is very helpful because this is a 24 hour service and you don’t have to wait for an office to open or book an appointment or anything all you need is a computer and the right website and you can pay your taxes online. Taxpayers are given the opportunity to pay online in a quick and easy way just by using the internet.

Vehicle licensing

The government now have the opportunity to provide help when it comes to driving now that they can use the internet. The government is now providing help for people who want to learn how to drive, who want to take their driving test or who want to renew their car tax/ tax disc. Everyone must show that they own a tax disc which allows them to drive the vehicle. If you want to renew your tax disc then you have to be the registered owner of the car and you are registered with the DVLA. To be able to renew your tax disc your car insurance has to be valid and also vehicle has to pass an MOT check. This is to make sure that the vehicle in question is safe for the driver or any passengers and most of all the public.

E-petitions

E-petitions can be created easily and without any hard work. They allow you to give your opinion to the world and if more than 100,000 people sign you E-petition then it will be considered for debate in the House of Commons. This gives the public an easy way to have their own say about what goes on in their government and makes the government here what the public have to say. You can make an e-petition at any time you like and about anything that you think will help improve the life of the public.

NHS direct

The NHS stands for The National Health Service is another important part of E government. The NHS is there to make sure that the public are healthy and safe. The NHS have their own website which allows the public to look up symptoms, services, help lines and health checkers. This is very helpful for the public because if they can find out what might be wrong with them before they see a doctor they can save a great deal of time. The website also shows you were your local doctors or general hospital is and when they are open and when visitors are allowed to visit. This is a really helpful website because it can be accessed 24 hours a day 7 days a week and is able to provide the public with information that will help them in their everyday life.

Local government

Greg Clark- Tunbridge Wells Local MP

Greg Clark was born in 1967 in Middlesbrough. He studied Economics at Cambridge University. Greg Clark was Director of Policy for the Conservative Party in March 2001. This was before being elected to Parliament for Tunbridge Wells in 2005. In May 2010, Greg was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government. In September 2012, Greg was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

He has been elected for the following:

·         MP for Tunbridge Wells, May 2005 onwards.

·         Member of Public Accounts Committee, 2005-2006

·         Shadow Minister for Charities, Social Enterprise and Volunteering, 2006-2008

·         Shadow Minister for Teesside, 2006-2010

·         Shadow Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, 2008-2010

·         Minister of State, Communities and Local Government, 2010-2012

·         Minister for Cities, 2011

·         Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 2012

You can now follow your local MP on twitter and receive updates about what is going on in your local government on a daily basis. Your local MP will also ‘tweet’ useful information whenever there is important information that the public needs to know.

Reporting problems to your local council online

There are a lot of different website that the government have created so that the public can have the option to complain about problems that have occurred in your local area. This gives you the option to contact your local government or if you don’t want to do that then it gives you the advice on how to handle the problem. Such as calling the police, email someone in your local government, booking an appointment or going to see a specialist about that particular problem. You can leave comments on certain websites that give a direct line to your local government.

Advantages of E-Government

 I think that the main advantage of E government is that it can quickly and easily give information to the public.

Also the government doesn’t have to employ so many people so the government can save money and spend it on more important areas to help the public.

Disadvantages of E-Government

With so many departments of the government using online services a fault could bring down the whole organisation.

This could lead to a higher rate of unemployment because the government will not have to employ as many people to manage the ongoing businesses and departments of the governments.

E-commerce

E-commerce

E-commerce is becoming a big hit in today’s way of life. People are using the internet to shop online more and more. This is has both positive and negative effects for both the customer and the business.

One of the main things that help a business when they are trying to get more customers from the web is the businesses web presence.

-          Adverts: advertisement can really help to attract people to the business and it also helps to make people aware of the business. Advertisement can come in many forms and now via the internet that variety has become a lot wider. Some company’s use a virtual banner on a website to redirect you to their own website or even just to make you aware that they are there. Advertisement is becoming a rapidly evolving advantage to online businesses and offline business.

-          Online catalogue: can be a great advantage or a great mistake. An online catalogue allows a company to catalogue all their products and display them on their website. If the catalogue is easy to use and is user friendly then the customer would automatically start to like this website or company. The company could achieve this by creating a search engine and sorting them out into alphabetical order. If a company’s online catalogue is unorganised and messy then it would takes ages for a customer to find what they were looking for this would make the customer dislike the website and the company.

-          Transactional website: a transactional website is an online shop. This it a company’s main source for advertisement because they directly own the website and can advertise anything they want on it. A transactional website is highly likely to have an online catalogue so that the company can display what products they have in stock and how many of that item in stock. Transactional websites include a whole range of websites from banking to gambling or shopping to donating, any website that you can buy/ sell products or services on is classified as a transactional website.

-          Brick vs. click: brick vs. click is an abbreviation. The click means online shopping and the brick means the actual shop made out of bricks and not pixels. There is a constant on going fight between brick and click both are fighting for control but it is still considered that everyday shopping beats online shopping by a long shot. Bricks and clicks is where an online shop also has an actual shop this is usually when a big company e.g. Tesco’s or HMV, have enough money to fund both shops.

What advantages or disadvantages are there to the customers and the business on an online website?

·         Advantages for customer

-          Easier to search: if a customer is specifically looking for one item, all he/she has to do on an online is type in the product he/she is looking for in a search engine and then click on the right product he/she wants. This is a much easier and time efficient method than walking around a shop looking for just one item.

-          Wider choice: on an online website the stock of any product is not limited to what they have in that specific building like a shop is but an online website can store products in warehouses all over the country and dispatch them when a customer purchases that product.

-          Saves time: an online website saves time because you don’t have to take time to walk or drive down to the shops all you need to do is sit down grab your laptop and go online and you can even get your shopping delivered straight to your door.

-          Saves money: also you can save money on your petrol because you do have to leave the comfort of your own living room all you need is a computer and that’s your weekly shop done.

-          Preferences: some websites will remember what you have bought previously and recommend certain items that you might like they achieve this by looking at other people who have bought the same items to you and see what else they bought and then show you what they think you might like.

-          Reviews/ comments/ recommendations of both the product and of the shop: one off the best things about online shopping in my personal opinion is that other customers who have bought a product can comment on what they think about the quality of the product and give you an accurate idea of the positive and negative features of that particular product.

·         Advantages for business

-          Target advertising: a business can specifically advertise a certain product or feature on the website because they own the website they can advertise what they want and they usually advertise products or big events that the business will benefit from.

-          Wider customer base: an online website can help increase how many customers shop at that business. The web can be accessed by almost anyone all over the world; this makes a lot more people available to become customers of that particular business, whereas high street shops are limited to a particular area and certain customers.

-          Fewer workers: the business can employ fewer workers because they don’t need to higher certain people for certain jobs that you would need to do in a shop e.g. checkout, isle maintenance. This saves the company money because they don’t have to pay the workers.

-           Less rent: the company would not have to pay rent on the shop each month/year all they would have to do is buy a warehouse and keep their stock there.

-          Storage space: the business would have a lot more storage space for their products.

-          Increase in customer satisfaction: the business could directly improve customer satisfaction by creating a comments page so that they can find out what problems customers are having and try to fix them.

·         Disadvantages to the customer

-          You can’t try the goods: the customers cannot test the goods and see if they are damaged or if it’s the right size i.e. clothes might not fit the customer or food might have gone bad.

-          Waiting for delivery: the customer may be given a time to stay in so that they can collect the delivery or if they urgently need the products and the delivery might be delayed.

-          Items are harder to return/ more effort: it takes more effort to return an online product because you have to post it back to a certain place and also the cost to post it back might be expensive. Another thing is that is takes a lot of time to return an online product whereas all you have to do is take back a product to the shop you bought it from with the receipt.

-          Cost of shipping: in some cases the company makes you have to pay for shipping/ delivery charges.

-          Fraud: if a customers credit card is stolen then the thief can commit online credit card fraud and charge the customer for buying the products which they never actually own.

-          Security- https://: the customer might not know if the website is reliable and is safe to use. If a website has ‘https://’ the s means that the website is safe and can be trusted on some internet browsers the URL at the top of the screen changes colour to green.

·         Disadvantages to the business

-          Bad comments/ feedback: previous customers could leave negative feed back on a certain product that would discourage other customers. These comments could include faulty or broken products, late delivery or if it was food related ‘gone off’ or ‘mouldy’.

-          Security: some customer might try and hack their system and steal certain products or steal the money from the online transactions.