Justice and Public Safety

After roughly 90 minutes of public comment, nearly all in opposition, the Flagstaff City Council voted to end its contract for automated license plate readers. The devices came into use last year.

Gov. Tony Evers has signed legislation authorizing the Wisconsin Department of Justice to award grants for platforms aimed at improving information sharing among law enforcement.

Flock Safety will maintain an existing network of 300 cameras to monitor the city’s busiest streets and local state highways for up to two years during a competitive search for a long-term vendor.

The Bismarck Municipal Court system handled nearly 87,000 new cases from 2020-2024 and saw a 40 percent caseload increase in 2024. Officials are examining what systems might be upgraded to handle the additional burden.

The state legislation would allow the inmates to get remote employment with approved businesses and companies that choose to participate in the yet-unnamed program.

The Town Board approved the installation of the cameras on municipal property at its work session earlier this week, with the number of planned cameras dropping from eight to four.

More than 3,000 of the company’s self-driving taxis have been recalled after reports they passed stopped school buses improperly. A Nov. 17 software update may have led to the inappropriate action.

City officials will explore other hosting options following the breach of the third-party notification service CodeRED. The system went offline after notification went out Nov. 21 of an incident.

When the Eaton Fire broke out in the foothills near Altadena, the Los Angeles County Fire Department did not have access to a satellite-based fire-tracking program regularly used by other agencies.

Police are harnessing the power of technology to help advance old investigations, and they are currently working to digitize all of their cold cases, hoping to be finished some time in early 2026.

High school students enrolled in a criminal justice class used virtual reality training equipment to get firsthand experience practicing de-escalation with police officers.

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.