Local Government

Baltimore County Police will start using a controversial gunshot detection technology in two southern precincts next week. Opponents have questioned the reliability and accuracy of the technology.

Washoe County, Nev., CIO Behzad Zamanian outlines how public-sector agencies can take what they learned from the rise of the Internet and apply it to artificial intelligence as a tool to deliver better services.

The Affordable Connectivity Program will likely run out of funding in 2024 if no action is taken to sustain it. Experts held a congressional briefing this week to discuss what the end of the program might mean.

Police dispatchers in Atlanta now have access to a cloud-based tool that provides real-time emergency information, offering visual and audio data that includes caller details and precise location information.

The MetroLab Network has announced the release of its new Model Data Governance Policy & Practice Guide for Cities and Counties, aiming to support data governance initiatives at the local level.

The city’s Surveillance Advisory Board is set to review the police department's gunshot detection system, possibly answering the question of how effective it is in reducing officer response times to potential firearm violence.

The Racine City Council voted to accept over $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a solar array at the city's transit facility. The array will be used to power the city's existing fleet of electric buses.

Plus, organizations urge Congress to support legislation for rural communities; a report explores redundancies in federal broadband programs; and much more.

San Diego officials on Tuesday gave themselves another three years to review the city’s many surveillance technologies, an extension that should prevent the tools from being put on pause.

Odessa Mayor Javier Joven is demanding transparency around the investigation into a data breach that stemmed from a former city employee’s account. The account was not disabled after the employee’s termination.

Melissa Kraft, who has led Dallas County’s IT division since September 2020, will take over the city of Frisco’s Technology Services Department. She announced the move in a recent social media post.

The Lafayette Police Department is moving away from the traditional paper citations and shifting to an electronic ticketing model to improve citation management and officer safety, officials say.

The North Texas Innovation Alliance brings together public and private organizations in the region, offering a coordinated approach for technology implementations — such as drones and robotics.

The leading jurisdictions in this year's Digital Counties Survey are redefining the boundaries of tech advancements with their agile adoption of new tools, commitment to digital equity and digitization of critical processes.

City officials are working out how to grant access to digital public records without constituents needing to use the city computers to view the files. More secure workarounds are being considered.

The attack highlights risks around holiday weekend attacks, targeted software supply chains and the growing popularity of data-theft-based extortion. Still, zero-day exploits comprise only a small slice of extortion attacks.

Plus, Houston is hiring a broadband director; more governors issue comments on the federal BEAD funding for high-speed Internet; and U.S. senators are fighting for a broadband strategy.

Officials for the northern California city said they have no evidence of personal information being leaked during the incident, but its website was offline for at least a day as it investigated systems.