Public Safety Technology in the News

Law Enforcement News
ISU Anthropology Department Receives $500k Grant to Develop Forensic Science Techniques for Identifying People Under 25 Years of Age
ISU Headlines, (12/02/2015)
Idaho State University has received a federal grant to develop forensic science techniques to better identify people under 25 years old. The Department of Anthropology will use the $510,409 grant from the National Institute of Justice to develop age and sex estimation techniques for a modern, diverse American population, according to Kyra Stull, ISU assistant professor of anthropology.
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Advances in Technology Help Police, Residents Catch Criminals Together
Tulsa World, Graham Lee Brewer, (11/29/2015), The Oklahoman
Some Oklahoma law enforcement agencies have joined a national database program that allows officers to track crimes and other emergency calls by accessing an online map. Using the database ATACRAIDS, officers can enter information and share it with other agencies. Police departments in Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Edmond, Moore, Norman and Bethany are now participating in the program.
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Marijuana Breathalyzer Test Could Be Coming Soon
CBS News, (12/04/2015), Mary Brophy Marcus
A California company will begin clinical trials next year on a marijuana breathalyzer that can also test for alcohol. The Oakland-based Hound Labs Inc. has been collaborating with scientists at UC Berkeley to develop the technology. The handheld device will be tested for roadside use by law enforcement agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Local Police Now Permitted to Administer Naloxone When Responding to Overdose Calls
The Daily Athenaeum, (12/06/2015), Jake Jarvis
Additional law enforcement officers in West Virginia will be trained to administer naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses. Officers with the West Virginia University Police Department, Morgantown Police Department and the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department will be trained to administer the antidote. Police in Kanawha County became the first in West Virginia to put naloxone to use after the state legislature passed a bill earlier in the year, allowing police, firefighters and friends and family to administer the substance. Prior to that, only paramedics and other licensed medical professionals could administer it.
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Corrections News
Maryland Could Save $247 Million and Cut Prison Population, Reform Panel Is Told
The Baltimore Sun, (12/02/2015), Michael Dresser
Researchers have told a commission reviewing ways to reduce mass incarceration and improve public safety that Maryland could save about $247 million over 10 years and cut its prison population if it adopts reforms under consideration. The Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council was created by the state General Assembly last spring. Research consultants from the Pew Charitable Trusts told the Council that the estimated savings could be transferred to programs to reduce recidivism. The Council is to deliver a report to the state legislature by the end of this year.
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Kansas Lawmakers, Prison Officials Seek Ways to Ease Overcrowding
The Wichita Eagle, (12/05/2015), Amy Renee Leiker
Kansas lawmakers and corrections officials are considering ways to ease overcrowding and slow growth in the state's adult prisons. The Kansas Sentencing Commission expects the state will need an additional 1,325 prison beds for men over the next 10 years. Possible actions could include temporarily housing more inmates in county facilities and local jails, using out-of-state private prisons, adding additional space to existing prisons, continuing to give certain inmates who complete rehabilitation programs more time off their prison sentence, providing people with mental health issues alternatives to incarceration, and expanding a program that gives low-level offenders nonprison options for treating drug and alcohol use.
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