Justice and Public Safety

Some broadband providers are exploiting the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, says the Federal Communications Commission. Such providers may be targeted for legal action as investigation continues.

The department is looking for an increase in its budget for 2022 to include more money for technology for its newly created real-time data center and to add three more officers to bring the department's total to 310.

The Ohio House of Representatives voted in favor of the Ohio Computer Crimes Act, which, among other things, will allow for faster prosecution of cyber criminals by removing the need to calculate damages to victims.

Thus far, Pacific Gas and Electric Company has installed 46 AI-equipped cameras in areas of California that are at high risk of wildfires. The technology is supposed to help the company detect smoke before fires spread.

The new team is the Anne Arundel County, Md., state attorney's office's new "Body Worn Camera Unit" tasked with processing video recorded by the police that will later be presented in court.

Yesterday, Mississippi announced two new types of digital identification. The first is an app that allows Mississippians to use a digital driver's license. The second is a digital certificate of COVID-19 vaccination.

As companies need to free up transmission frequencies for 5G networks, their 3G networks will be shut down. Major 3G networks will be phased out at different points in 2022 depending on the service provider.

The Federal Trade Commission alone has received thousands of complaints about cryptocurrency fraud schemes. Meanwhile, state legislatures continue to try to regulate the cryptocurrency market.

The latest in a string of acquisitions for the Canadian public safety tech company reflects the push to upgrade emergency dispatch services as well as the hot M&A market for government technology.

Hollywood, Fla., doesn’t outfit officers with body cameras, an accountability issue raised again this week when a teen carjacking suspect died in custody after a police chase to Miami-Dade County.

How virtual will courts be after COVID-19? In Oregon, Multnomah County Circuit Court is the only court with a fully virtual jury selection process. Stakeholders continue to examine the merit of other virtual court ideas.

Lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice mailed a letter to Portland's city attorney and police chief recommending that all uniformed officers wear body cameras. Questions remain about how the cameras would be used.

West Virginia has joined a broad, bipartisan coalition in writing to the Federal Communications Commission in support of its efforts to reduce illegal robocallers' access to legitimate phone numbers.

Local police chiefs shared a number of observations about technology, transparency and the social responsibility of police departments during a webinar hosted by Veritone and Microsoft early last week.

The Aiken Center is partnering with local law enforcement agencies to help combat drug misuse issues in Aiken County, S.C., primarily by using new mapping technology to identify overdose hot spots.

After Gov. Mike Parson condemned a reporter for exposing a data leak on a state website, his administration will pay $800,000 to provide credit monitoring to 620,000 former and current teachers affected by the leak.

The Columbia Police Department and Mayor Steve Benjamin pulled back the curtain Tuesday and offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the city's real-time crime and emergency operations center.

The Detroit Police Department announced new measures Tuesday aimed at clamping down on corruption in vehicle towing, an area at the center of an ongoing federal public corruption investigation.