Justice & Public Safety
-
The local police department recently unveiled a new rooftop drone port at headquarters. The agency fielded approximately 10,000 drone flights in 2025 and expects about twice as many this year. -
While the city has used drones before, Chief Roderick Porter said the two new aerial vehicles the department is getting under a contract with security tech company Flock Safety are more advanced.
-
More than 200 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies use license plate reading technology. The state’s capital city, however, has so far not installed such cameras even as its neighbors have done so.
More Stories
-
Some privacy and security experts have expressed cautious optimism that new private-sector efforts could be potentially useful tools to aid public health contact tracers while protecting privacy.
-
The city is now using automated license plate readers to enforce its parking rules. The readers will collect a photo of vehicle plates and GPS coordinates to better assist city staff with enforcement operations.
-
System administrators discovered Friday that hackers had taken over a portion of the statewide court network and were demanding ransom before control of the system was restored. This is not the first such attack.
-
Modern 911 dispatch centers are relying on new technologies to bridge the information gaps typical of landline telephone calls. Now, dispatchers and first responders are pulling data with new tools to improve public safety.
-
Trials planned this spring must be rescheduled, and most criminal cases investigated since the Tennessee Supreme Court started limiting operations in mid-March are also now part of a growing backlog.
-
The electronic warrants can now be submitted to a judge from a squad car computer, which is more efficient for law enforcement and judges. The pilot program will be evaluated by the court annually.
-
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has announced an agreement with Zoom Video Communications that will provide security protections for more than 200 million users on the platform.
-
While existing surveillance infrastructure does not use facial recognition technology, potential updates to the system could make it possible. Officials are considering a prohibition on the controversial technology.
-
The Southern California city’s leadership has recently given approval to the police department to purchase facial recognition software with the potential to aid them in identifying criminal suspects.
-
Sarasota County, Fla., launched a new alert system to better communicate public health and safety announcements. The system can send alerts via text message, email, smartphone app or landline phone.
-
ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology will soon go live in Springfield, Ill., after the city council voted Tuesday to approve a three-year service agreement with the Newark, Ca.-based company.
-
Residents can now share Ring video footage with the police department and others via the Neighbors by Ring app. This agreement aims to help police gain faster access to the doorbell camera footage.
-
Massachusetts’ highest court is being asked to consider whether police should have been required to obtain a warrant before they installed surveillance cameras that led to the arrest of 13 people.
-
Acquisitions and partnerships seem to be the go-to strategy for major companies to stay competitive in the law-enforcement market, with so many competing to be a one-stop shop with interoperable tools.
-
The new reporting system is for crimes that aren’t currently in progress and don’t have any suspects. Reportable crimes include vandalism, hit-and-runs, identify theft, theft and harassment by communication.
-
The lawsuit filed by a group of 911 dispatchers at about a dozen suburban emergency departments in Illinois to share the location of novel coronavirus patients was blocked by a Cook County judge Friday.
-
University at Buffalo researchers are developing an app called PocketCare+ that they say could help public health officials track and prevent the spread of COVID-19, as well as future infectious disease outbreaks.
-
With public safety officials working to track potential COVID-19 infections with drones capable of taking a person’s temperature from 300 feet in the air, civil liberty groups are warning about the privacy implications.
