Justice and Public Safety

The City Council last week approved the contract with Seattle-based BRINC Drones to provide one drone, a launch platform and software for a new drone-as-a-first responder program.

State police announced on Wednesday the total number of tickets issued for the holiday enforcement period which began Nov. 26 and ran through Sunday, Nov. 30.

The Olympia Police Department has contacted the vendor and requested their deactivation, which is imminent. The move follows community concerns around issues including privacy and immigration enforcement.

Beaufort County School District is installing CEIA OPENGATE weapons detection systems to screen all students and visitors at its high school campuses. They will be manned by armed security guards from an outside firm.

The county is the latest to be impacted by a data breach of the legacy CodeRED alerting platform affecting governments nationwide. There’s “no evidence” user information has been misused, officials said.

The technology has begun responding to 10 types of low-risk, non-emergency calls, including information requests, for Emporia, Kan.; Lyon County; and Emporia State University. Escalations are transferred to humans.

A unanimous vote in the Ohio House progressed a bill to make it illegal to own, with criminal intent, digital devices that have led to a wave of car break-ins across the country in recent years.

The license plate reading cameras, usually mounted on 12-foot poles, have quickly become standard in police departments across the country, including the Dallas Police Department.

In North Carolina and elsewhere, thousands of fliers get special screenings every week because they don’t have a REAL ID or other credential that meets federal standards. They may soon be charged for that.

The city’s police department is purchasing 10 electric vehicles with funding from a voter-approved sales tax hike. It’s believed to be the first such agency in the region to embrace zero-emission cruisers.

Stolen data from the data breach was published online as emergency management and law enforcement officials in jurisdictions across the country took their subscriptions offline.

The purchase of CloudGavel promises to give Tyler more software for electronic warrants — which can improve safety and speed. Tyler and other vendors are counting on public safety for even more growth.

The cameras can track fugitives, monitor suspicious activity and more, but they must be used responsibly and ethically in order to keep us all safer.

The Sheriff’s Office would receive the single largest share of the general fund, at $380 million, or about 42 percent. The remaining portion for public safety would go to the courts and emergency management.

The Northern California city will restrict the extent to which camera footage from police officers’ body-worn cameras can be edited, following an outcry and demands for reform after two officer-involved shootings.

Maintenance costs for outdated technology are prompting university officials to consider alternatives to 32 blue-light emergency callboxes set up around campus, though the university doesn't track call data or repairs.

The city police chief is cautioning residents to be aware that someone is sending fake emails on behalf of the planning director, seeking payments via wire transfer. It is, he said, “a scam.”

The TSA recently published a rule proposal in the Federal Register that would give travelers the ability to pay a fee to get through security checkpoints if they don’t have an acceptable form of ID.