Justice and Public Safety

DeKalb County, Ga., jailers are preparing to join their counterparts in nearby Fulton and Cobb in tracking the whereabouts and health of their inmates with high-tech wristbands.

The goal is to make it easier for the community to get in touch with the agency, as well as free up the 911 dispatch for emergency response, said Scott Hoffman, the agency's police technologies manager.

A newly established board voted to create an ad hoc committee to gather more research and public comment on a police proposal to install hundreds of smart streetlights and automatic license plate readers.

Baltimore’s use of surveillance and facial recognition technology would face new restrictions under legislation introduced by a city councilman this week.

A Connecticut law requires every police officer and patrol car to be equipped with body and dashboard cams, but there is no mechanism to enforce the mandate and no one is keeping track of compliance.

In a move that could help speed up prosecution of notoriously slow criminal cases, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office will more comprehensively store and track digital evidence.

The City Council has approved the purchase of 38 license plate readers and four gunshot detection devices for the police department. The total cost is $499,300 and will come from the American Rescue Plan Act and Asset Forfeiture Funding.

Emergency service providers in Pennsylvania have pooled their resources in order to provide drone and unmanned services to other agencies upon request. The task force is dispatched as if they are responding with a firetruck.

An automated license plate reader that communicates with a national crime database was instrumental in the arrest of a kidnapper driving a stolen vehicle and the rescue of his victim, according to police.

Documents containing Social Security numbers and other private information for thousands of Missourians are accessible to anyone using the Casenet website, the state's judicial records system, a new report found.

After stopping the use of facial recognition software for more than a year amid civil liberties concerns, the Ohio attorney general’s office is once again using the technology.

After nearly a decade of contentious debate surrounding the use of police body cameras, the Portland, Ore., City Council has approved a policy. Until now, Portland was the nation’s largest municipal police agency without the technology.

Both the Erie and Niagara county jails, as well as other counties in the Western New York region, have contracted with companies that specialize in providing free and paid content to inmates.

Privacy and due-process concerns will always be a potential concern, but when used properly, drones give law enforcement a nimble, low-cost way to serve and protect law-abiding citizens.

As CentralSquare announces its 30th such deal — this one for five public safety agencies in Virginia — a company executive talks about why demand will increase for such tools, and how customer interest is changing.

A series of license plate readers are being installed and brought online near major thoroughfares in what the city calls a deterrent to criminal activity and an investigative tool when crimes are committed.

State lawmakers gave final approval to legislation imposing significant penalties on any person who uses remote tracking devices to keep tabs on someone without their consent.

The New Jersey Supreme Court is hearing a case where the state is arguing that Facebook should give it continuing access to user information to determine whether they're engaging in criminal activity.