Maggie Clark, Stateline

January 9, 2014

NSA Controversies Spur States into Action

States don’t have the power to halt the National Security Agency's activities, but state lawmakers already are proposing limits on how local law enforcement officers can access data.

December 3, 2013

Delivery by Drone Must Clear State Hurdles

Integrating drones into the national airspace will generate at least 70,000 engineering, manufacturing and piloting jobs within the first three years of FAA approval, but privacy and other objections must be handled.

November 20, 2013

License Plate Readers Spark Privacy, Public Safety Debate

Police have used cameras that read the license plates on passing cars to locate missing people in California, murderers in Georgia and hit-and-run drivers in Missouri.

October 21, 2013

Should Drug Testing Labs Be Liable For Faulty Results?

Dissenting judges worried about opening up the courts to suits against lab companies from any probationers or employees who want to dispute the results of their mandatory drug tests.

October 15, 2013

Red Light Cameras Generate Revenue, Controversy

Red light cameras nab drivers and bring in revenue, but do they make roads any safer?

August 21, 2013

Privacy Takes Back Seat to Jobs in Drone Debate

States are vying for the chance to be one of six FAA test sites to integrate drones into the national airspace.

August 2, 2013

How Big Is The DNA Backlog?

State and local crime labs received almost $700 million in grants to reduce DNA testing backlogs, but how many cases did they actually clear?

July 29, 2013

States Take the Wheel on Driverless Cars

In this year's sessions, nine more states debated driverless car legislation, and Michigan seems poised to act, joining California, Nevada, Florida and the District of Columbia.

May 2, 2013

Boston Bombings Show Future Use for Police Drones

While many approve of drone use to pursue known suspects, debate over their use for continuous surveillance at public events like the Boston Marathon rages on.

April 19, 2013

Drone Limits Become Law

Legislation that would limit police drone use is still active in 29 state legislatures.

April 19, 2013

Security Cameras May Be Key to Finding Boston Bomber

Since 9/11, law enforcement agencies have used federal grants to buy surveillance cameras for areas across the country plagued by crime or potentially targeted for terrorism.

April 2, 2013

Sequester Cuts at Justice Department Threaten Local Drug Investigations

Byrne grants, which states may use to pay for law enforcement, courts, crime prevention programs, corrections and substance abuse treatment, will be cut by at least 5 percent this year and by an additional 5 percent in each of the next nine years.

February 27, 2013

Supreme Court Considers Link between DNA and Privacy Rights

“Your purpose (for taking DNA from arrestees) is to find bad guys, and that’s good, but sometimes the Fourth Amendment gets in the way.”

February 22, 2013

States Seek Legal Limits on Domestic Drones

Ready or not, the drones are coming home, and concern over them spans the political spectrum.

January 23, 2013

Issue To Watch: Gun Regulation

While all eyes are on gun restrictions, at least six states have proposed easing those restrictions, and two states have already backed off gun legislation.

November 27, 2012

D.C. Crime Lab: An Experiment in Forensic Science (Second of Two Parts)

Firearms analysts keep a "reference library" of bullets to match bullets recovered from crime scenes.

November 26, 2012

Forensic Science Falls Short of Public Image

"CSI effect" creates ideal expectations in an imperfect world.

November 2, 2012

Do Police Need Search Warrants for Drug-Sniffing Dogs?

Twenty-eight states and the federal government argue that police should not need a warrant when using dogs to sniff for drugs outside a home or vehicle. Justices, however seem to disagree.

October 15, 2012

Law Enforcement Predicts Dire Impact from Automatic Cuts

“The drug and meth problem are at epidemic levels and resources to combat the scourge are diminishing.”

September 4, 2012

Can Digital Recordings Save Money for Courts?

Tensions persist between manual and electronic documentation of proceedings.

May 1, 2012

Drug Database Dilemma

Balancing patient privacy rights and law enforcement’s access to prescription drug databases proves a difficult task.

September 26, 2011

Troy Davis Case Prompts Second Look at Eyewitness Identification Rules

Since 1989, 273 people have been exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing. In about 75 percent of the exonerations ... faulty eyewitness testimony was a determining piece of evidence.

September 23, 2011

Juvenile Crime Drop Prompts New Look at Policies

All other youths will be treated at the county level, which saves the state money.