Justice and Public Safety

A Dallas Police employee accidentally deleted 22 TBs of case files when trying to migrate data between servers. Officials say they’re now working to recover what they can and prevent future issues.

In an effort to avoid shooting or tazing people who just need to be restrained, 15 law enforcement departments in Colorado are either using or testing a lassoing device called the BolaWrap.

After announcing its plan to scan users' devices for photos that qualify as child sexual abuse material, Apple is coaching employees on how to respond to customers who complain about a perceived privacy violation.

Since 2017, the Vallejo Police Department has utilized drones for a variety of public safety missions. Now, the agency will expand its drone program, with an emphasis on public outreach and transparency.

An infrastructure bill provision that calls for cameras or sensors inside our cars to constantly monitor our eyes, head bobs and more does stand to bolster safety while at the same time raising privacy concerns.

Departments in Twin Falls County, Idaho, are not able to operate normally because of a cyber attack. Because of the local court system’s current lack of activity, 275 hearings have been pushed to a later date.

Nearly 100 tag reader cameras have been operating in Lake County over the past few weeks, but the company that installed them did not get permission from the government agencies that own the land where they were placed.

The acquisition brings together a publicly traded company that gathers data with a startup that turns that data into intelligence — which, as it showed in Las Vegas, could be used to prevent collisions.

Apple said it will scan devices for photos uploaded to the cloud that would qualify as child pornography. This decision raises questions about the company's previous commitment to user privacy.

Chris Carr, attorney general of Georgia, has sided with a large coalition of attorneys general across the country. The group wants the Federal Communications Commission to take quicker action on illegal robocalls.

Police are scrolling through social media feeds in search of crime and in order to check up on potential suspects, all of which is raising new concerns about surveillance in an increasingly online world.

The results of a federal investigation say Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s lack of sufficient software needlessly delayed its response to a February 2019 fire sparked by a fiber-optic contractor who struck a gas pipeline.

Advocacy groups say they received five New York City Police Department contracts that were significantly redacted. These documents seem to violate a law that requires the NYPD to be transparent about surveillance tech.

The Winnebago County, Ill., Sheriff’s Department wants a new fleet of SUVs that are fully loaded and packing a lot of heat, heat as in Fahrenheit temperatures hot enough to kill COVID-19 on contact.

Thanks to a judge’s permission, Hartford County authorities wiretapped a suspect’s Facebook audio calls in 2020 for a drug trafficking case. A handful of similar wiretaps have occurred in Maryland since 2018.

ITsimple’s newest product aims to provide what amounts to a mobile safe space for residents and law enforcement to interact. The launch of the tools comes amid recent hurdles for many community policing efforts.

Last month, a dozen prisoners at the state penitentiary in Bismark, N.D., began taking tech training classes as part of a new program. The program is funded by a $250,000 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act grant.

A panel of judges outlined some of the benefits and drawbacks of handling court hearings through video technology Thursday as state lawmakers pondered how they should make remote hearings part of standard court practice.