Justice & Public Safety
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The City Council signed off on directing roughly $360,000 in state funds to the police department. Of that, more than $43,000 is earmarked for software that will let police “obtain and retain” digital evidence. -
County commissioners will consider spending more than $3.2 million over 10 years to replace body-worn and in-car sheriff’s office cameras. Software, data storage and accessories would be included.
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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.
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The San Diego Police Department will host a series of meetings to share information about body-worn cameras — the second piece of technology to be evaluated under the city's new surveillance ordinance.
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is increasingly using drones to get real-time data from the heart of hurricanes. The technology allows greater access to the dangerous and destructive weather events.
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Gov. Jay Inslee is calling for more speed cameras across the state to combat the rise in fatal traffic collisions. Data shows a lack of progress in the state plan to eliminate fatal and serious injury collisions by 2030.
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A comprehensive ban on holding phones while driving takes effect Friday across Michigan, meaning actions that were previously allowed in vehicles under state law will now be illegal and potentially bring $100 fines.
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The grandmother of a Lexington, Ky., homicide victim alleges the case could have already been solved if not for low-quality surveillance cameras at a community center near the scene of the deadly shooting.
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The city is looking to implement a system that would allow callers to select the type of emergency they are reporting. Callers currently spend an average of one minute on hold when calling 911.
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The city has signed a 10-year, $39 million contract with Axon Enterprises for the latest models of body cameras, in-vehicle cameras and Tasers as they become available.
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Residents and businesses often call 911 to report cyber crimes, yet officers in smaller jurisdictions aren’t always prepared to identify cyber incidents, collect digital evidence or identify the relevant laws involved.
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The cameras are relatively cheap, with the best costing almost $2,000, but storage costs add up. There are requirements to have redundancy and in addition, rules require some of the data to be stored for 100 years.
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A proposed network of public and private cameras, tied into the department's computer-aided dispatch system, would allow a valuable crime-fighting tool and near-immediate access to live video across the city, officials say.
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Money for the cameras is coming from a $978,450 grant from the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, and what form the system will ultimately take is not currently set in stone.
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A five-year contract for body-worn and dash cameras, along with updated Taser equipment, has been approved for the Clark County Sheriff's Office. The equipment is expected to be in place by early fall.
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Barton County Communications Director Dena Popp is almost giddy when she boasts about the host of new tools available to 911 dispatchers, which better enable them to help first responders get to callers in need.
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Law enforcement and city officials in Norfolk see these advanced capabilities as a boon to public safety, but residents and state lawmakers alike have voiced privacy concerns about the amount of data the cameras capture.
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Officials in the California city are being asked to take another look at the ordinance creating the Privacy and Technology Commission amid fears the group lacks enough authority to guide technology purchases.
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Quad Cities police officials and the top prosecutors from the region say that body cameras are crucial to protecting officers, investigating cases and keeping cops accountable to the public.
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The Walla Walla Police Department's new body-worn cameras are now in circulation for all commissioned officers. The cameras, supplied by Axon, were officially deployed earlier this week.
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A project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has developed a drone equipped with GPS, an infrared camera and 400 tiny “fireballs” that can be used to ignite prescribed burns from a safe distance.
