Justice and Public Safety

The City Council will consider reversing a policy banning encryption of police channels. Critics argue doing so would deprive the public of a tool to monitor crime and hold officers accountable.

The Ohio city’s new police headquarters is due to open in the second half of 2026. The firm overseeing somewhat concurrent station renovations is using an AI-powered procurement tool to streamline ordering of supplies.

Through the new Vulnerability Disclosure Program, state officials invite ethical hackers and residents to help identify and report online vulnerabilities. The initiative covers a range of agencies and partners.

Officials are no longer using cameras that read license plates, while they seek a court ruling on whether images recorded are public record. The city’s seven such cameras were disabled in June.

Flagstaff is deciding on whether the police department should continue to use Flock Safety’s automated license plate cameras — a common but controversial technology used nationwide.

Community members and lawmakers are calling for a review of the Omnilert AI monitoring system at Baltimore County Public Schools after it mistook a student's bag of chips for a firearm.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department has purchased 4,641 body-worn cameras for deputies to wear in the facilities, which have seen a spike in inmate deaths this year.

Mayor Mike Johnston’s office is extending Denver’s contract with Flock Safety — a company that operates AI-powered license plate readers throughout the city — for five months without any additional cost.

Police officials at three departments said they weren’t aware a federal agency accessed their databases until they were notified last week by researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins hope to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities each year by using large language models to process, understand and learn from massive amounts of data.

Digital safety isn’t just compliance — it’s design philosophy, according to industry leaders from MagicSchool AI, Kahoot! and AI for Equity at the EdTech Week conference in New York City.

SafeTraffic Copilot, created by engineers at Johns Hopkins University, uses large language models to analyze huge amounts of data and predict how changes to streets, signs or lights could affect collision frequency.

As technology has increasingly affected nearly every part of daily life, the Scranton Police Department has kept up, using tools to facilitate training, improve public safety and hasten communication.

Police Chief Michael Lombardo said Trumbull residents have complained about speeding getting out of hand in town, which spurred the department to find new ways to get it under control.

The department deployed the devices 1,371 times from May 2024 through Aug. 31, an analysis shows. Three neighborhoods saw them overhead most often; most were aloft 10 to 20 minutes at a time.

Newburgh Heights reported collecting the money from fines generated by two traffic cameras, during a roughly yearlong period that ended in July. Cleveland is considering bringing the devices back.

Metro Atlanta’s biggest 911 dispatch centers are spending millions to switch their networks from copper wire to digital, enabling new features such as video feeds and precise location capabilities.

The Town Council has approved an ordinance regulating how police can use tech including license plate readers, surveillance and traffic enforcement cameras, and drones. It took effect Sept. 24.