Justice and Public Safety

The Hampden County Assistant District Attorney's Office is training high schoolers to give presentations about online safety at elementary and middle schools across Western Massachusetts.

Residents in Lewisville and across Denton County are being warned about a surge in scam calls from people posing as police officers and claiming those on the other end of the call missed jury duty.

As of Feb. 1, school districts across Louisiana are legally required to have at least one camera in each special education classroom. Parents can request footage if they believe their child was abused or neglected.

Corrections officers spend a disproportionate amount of time on administrative tasks rather than helping prisoners in ways that improve outcomes. AI is one tool to help, but it must be implemented thoughtfully.

A new safety app at UTC includes a panic button, ride requests, location sharing and remote monitoring. The university is also planning to implement panic alarms on walls and computers.

The White House is expected to give the New York Police Department the authority to ground unauthorized drones around major events. The department also plans to roll out a new 311 dispatch system.

The county's Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management upgraded its computer-aided dispatching system to one that is cloud-based and can work more easily with neighboring agencies.

The new technology, which the police department in Norwalk, Conn., recently launched, “makes things a whole lot easier,” its Chief James Walsh said. The software is an upgrade to officer cameras.

The Woodland City Council renewed a $300,000 contract with Flock Safety for automatic license plate readers this week, despite concerns from residents about privacy and data security.

As part of a 10-county pilot, the local government fully implemented the technology Jan. 29. Its GPS, GIS and improved cellphone technology offer additional accuracy during emergencies.

The county Board of Commissioners has delayed a decision on whether to renew contracts for 30 surveillance cameras. Residents have voiced their objections and a commissioner has shared his concern.

School-zone speed cameras in Richmond, Va., which are only online while children arrive or leave from school, produced just over 100,000 violations in their first year of use.

The town of Vernon recently became the latest of several local governments in Connecticut to put enforcement cameras on school buses, hoping to curb moving violations around the vehicles when students are present.

The company provides maps and other AI-driven solutions to help local government agencies with transportation, transit, natural disaster response and traffic safety efforts. The new funding comes from a single investor.

Automatic license plate reader technology gathers data and images for use by government agencies for law enforcement, and this bill prevents that data from being used by immigration authorities.

The Circuit Court initiative is a trial in replacing an entirely manual process. So far, the sheriff’s office and about 40 municipalities are on board and 20 more are expected by the end of March.

The deal will bring together AI-powered transcription technology with a suite of court solutions from Tyler Technologies, one of the largest gov tech providers in the market, matching data to case files in near real time.

Lawmakers and leaders of California’s mental health crisis centers hoped that by 2026 the state would have a more robust system to address the growing need for behavioral health services. But delays have frustrated stakeholders.