Justice and Public Safety

Acting City Manager Eric Batista said he would not move forward with plans to buy a drone for the Worcester Police Department if the proposal was not approved by residents and the City Council.

The North Carolina district is planning an open house to show off a scanner called Evolv Express that can scan 3,600 people an hour for potential weapons, without requiring them to empty their bags.

The city of Boca Raton is letting its police force participate in a statewide facial recognition program, joining hundreds of communities in Florida employing the controversial crime-fighting technology.

U.S. Border Patrol has used additional rescue beacons with added technology, among other tools, to help protect migrants in desolate areas from increasingly hot and dangerous temperatures in arid regions.

Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District is working with Raptor Technologies to evaluate its camera surveillance system and implement new tools to manage visitors and emergency drills.

Wichita, Kan., authorities have a powerful tool that can alert nearly all water customers within minutes that the water may not be safe to drink, but for the second time in eight months, they chose not to use it.

Six large member districts of Chiefs for Change, a national network of education leaders, will work with Safer School Solutions to close security gaps through data-driven ideas and assigned tasks at school campuses.

The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a 2019 state law that allows the state to financially punish cities that cite motorists for speeding and red light violations they catch on tape using automated cameras.

South Park High School in Fairplay, Colo., will install a security system that sends immediate notifications to staff and students, sidestepping 911 and third-party call centers to connect directly with police dispatch.

The new infrastructure, which has been in the planning stages since 2018, would expand the city’s cellular, Wi-Fi, broadband and FirstNet capabilities. Several emergency response agencies could benefit from the expansion.

The Detroit City Council has delayed action on a proposed expansion of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system. The proposed expansion would cost $7.5 million with an additional $1.5 million to renew the existing contract.

In response to several mass shootings, the company announced that it was working on drones armed with Tasers to stop shooters. Now that work is paused after most of the company's ethics board resigned in protest.

The Springfield, Ohio, Police Division will receive more than $300,000 from the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program that will go to purchase dozens of surveillance cameras and other technology.

Wisconsin’s Chippewa Falls Police made the jump to hybrid patrol vehicles late last year and has seen a drastic reduction in spending on fuel. Four of the five squads predominantly driven by officers are now hybrids.

The agency is working with a popular freelancing website to host a competition to work in augmented and virtual reality, Internet of Things sensors and more into modern, virtual command centers for emergency response.

The state's highest court has now remanded a civil lawsuit, centering around whether municipalities have the right to fly a drone over someone's property, back to the state's Court of Appeals.

Flush with millions of federal dollars — mostly from a bill aimed at helping states balance budgets gutted by the coronavirus-induced recession — Baton Rouge law enforcement agencies are shelling out for new technology.

Hamilton is the latest jurisdiction in Butler County, Ohio, to purchase the cameras, recently approving the purchase of 100 cameras at a cost of $365,326, with annual payments of $72,515 over the next five years.