Justice and Public Safety
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Drones as first responders is a growing program in police departments across the country, and Virginia Beach will soon be the first city in its region to use the technology. -
Drones and aircraft were key in Minnesota's largest manhunt, helping capture an armed and dangerous man without further violence, reflecting a broader trend of law enforcement's growing reliance on aviation technology.
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A new State of the 9-1-1 Industry report examines the barriers governments face as they work toward Next-Generation 911, including aging equipment, lack of funding and difficulty coordinating with other agencies.
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The information technology office in Cass County, Ind., is now working to permanently mount equipment in its courtrooms that will enable virtual court, rather than continuing to use a mobile cart for it.
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Dallas-based AT&T says by the end of this month, all emergency calls made through the wireless carrier will be routed to emergency call centers based on phone GPS data rather than cell tower data.
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The City Council has approved a more than $300,000 contract to replace the Fairfield Police Department's 15-year-old computer-aided dispatch and records management system. The city has selected CentralSquare for the work.
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A $17 million effort to expand smart intersection technology across St. Charles County will give automatic right of way to first responders en route to an emergency. Around 210 of the more than 350 lights have the technology.
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The controversial surveillance camera technology on public streetlights has raised calls for oversight from privacy and civil rights advocates. A City Council vote could change the rules around how the tech is governed.
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The cost for the police body cameras and software to operate them came in at $765,991.49, an expenditure that officials say would have been impossible to make without the American Rescue Plan funding.
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The debate over a plan to buy a drone for the Worcester Police Department has come to an end with a 7 to 3 City Council vote in favor of the purchase. Opponents voiced concern about potential civil liberty implications.
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According to one estimate, thousands of lives are lost each year due to misrouted 911 calls. Now a large dispatch technology provider has introduced new capabilities to avoid those errors using device GPS.
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The new digital evidence management platform was launched in the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office and now contains more than 100,000 digitized pieces of evidence. The digital evidence is often used in criminal trials.
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Acting City Manager Eric Batista said he would not move forward with plans to buy a drone for the Worcester Police Department if the proposal was not approved by residents and the City Council.
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The city of Boca Raton is letting its police force participate in a statewide facial recognition program, joining hundreds of communities in Florida employing the controversial crime-fighting technology.
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U.S. Border Patrol has used additional rescue beacons with added technology, among other tools, to help protect migrants in desolate areas from increasingly hot and dangerous temperatures in arid regions.
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Wichita, Kan., authorities have a powerful tool that can alert nearly all water customers within minutes that the water may not be safe to drink, but for the second time in eight months, they chose not to use it.
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The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a 2019 state law that allows the state to financially punish cities that cite motorists for speeding and red light violations they catch on tape using automated cameras.
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The new infrastructure, which has been in the planning stages since 2018, would expand the city’s cellular, Wi-Fi, broadband and FirstNet capabilities. Several emergency response agencies could benefit from the expansion.
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Hurricane-prone Tamarac, Fla., is a small city that makes the most of limited resources to support public safety. They work with Broward County via an interlocal agreement in which they share 911 services and Sheriff's Office IT.
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The Detroit City Council has delayed action on a proposed expansion of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system. The proposed expansion would cost $7.5 million with an additional $1.5 million to renew the existing contract.
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In response to several mass shootings, the company announced that it was working on drones armed with Tasers to stop shooters. Now that work is paused after most of the company's ethics board resigned in protest.
