Justice and Public Safety

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.

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.

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.

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.

The state budget allots no money directly for schools to improve safety, leaving local districts to find money in their own budgets for metal detectors, security cameras, radio systems, door locks and other measures.

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.

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.

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.

The North Carolina district is planning an open house to show off a scanner called Evolv Express that can scan 3,600 people an hour for potential weapons, without requiring them to empty their bags.

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.

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.

Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District is working with Raptor Technologies to evaluate its camera surveillance system and implement new tools to manage visitors and emergency drills.

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.

Six large member districts of Chiefs for Change, a national network of education leaders, will work with Safer School Solutions to close security gaps through data-driven ideas and assigned tasks at school campuses.

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.

South Park High School in Fairplay, Colo., will install a security system that sends immediate notifications to staff and students, sidestepping 911 and third-party call centers to connect directly with police dispatch.

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.

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.