Justice and Public Safety

People in need of police, fire and medical attention can now share live video of their situations with dispatchers and first responders. Motorola Solutions and RapidSOS will help promote the tool to their own customers.

City Council members got an online tour of the new public-facing webpage, created as a reliable way to disseminate public safety information, earlier this week. It’s the latest update to an existing system.

The Kennewick police are getting several technology upgrades, including new taser weapons, virtual reality training, the AI-powered body cameras, enhanced records management and more.

The city’s police chief reviewed its contract with the vendor providing the cameras and will brief the Common Council, as officials contemplate placing more devices. The city, not the vendor, owns the data collected.

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.