Justice and Public Safety

RapidSOS and Emergency24 are the latest firms to offer real-time data to help first responders with emergencies in nonresidential buildings. Losses from fires in such structures have increased significantly since 2011.

Stolen merchandise cost North Carolina businesses more than $3 billion in 2021, according to the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, and there’s been a steady increase in organized retail theft.

The Aurora City Council will vote Tuesday night on a new five-year, $6.2 million contract for body cameras and Tasers for the police department, as well as accompanying software that would run through 2028.

Bellingham police are seeking a U.S. Justice Department grant to buy bicycles and equipment for a crowd-control unit and software that will allow residents to see crime alerts.

New York City leaders pleaded with social media companies to do something about the deadly trend of subway surfing viral videos. Now the tech companies are removing dangerous videos and publishing the city's PSA content.

The newly adopted city budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year includes millions for a variety of technology projects. These projects include communications systems upgrades, replatforming the MyLA311 system and more.

The Lake County Sheriff's Department appears likely to get the go-ahead to spend a half-million dollars to replace a 15-year-old spotlight and imaging device on one of the sheriff's patrol helicopters.

Rockingham County law enforcement is taking proactive steps to protect officers who handle illegal drugs, while allowing them to quickly identify dangerous substances they encounter.

The gang database “typecast minority youths as gang members without evidence, putting them at risk of false arrest and wrongful deportation,” according to a report by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.

The California Civil Rights Department’s new online interactive guide will help residents understand the Fair Chance Act, which aims to reduce employment barriers for individuals with criminal histories.

Experts say investigators probing the Connecticut State Police traffic ticket scandal should use data from GPS systems in department cruisers to help determine if thousands of suspected tickets were fraudulent.

The combination of data and maps is useful for a lot more than just helping you get from point A to point B. Think natural disasters, global supply chains and climate change.

Arizona launched statewide sexual assault evidence kit tracking software in 2019. But Phoenix, the largest city in the state, has opted out of using it. The agency now faces a new sexual assault evidence backlog.

The city’s finance committee recently recommended a $6.2 million contract that would cover the Aurora Police Department's body-worn cameras, Tasers and accompanying software through 2028.

For campus safety, Philadelphia School District is installing metal detectors, launching surveillance drones, buying a video-management system for its cameras, and enhancing police presence and community patrols.

A newly formed team within North Dakota Information Technology is taking an in-depth look at emergency communications across the state with a focus on interoperability, security and resilience.

The NYPD plans to start piloting drones over certain crime scenes across the five boroughs, in some cases pairing the technology with the department's ongoing ShotSpotter technology.

As a majority of states have moved to adopt sexual assault evidence tracking technology, some are fumbling launch deadlines and others have yet to make any significant progress to upgrade antiquated processes.