Criminal Justice Technology in the News

Law Enforcement News

State Police Drones to Fly Over Central New York
AuburnPub.com, (01/10/2018)
The New York State Police Unmanned Aerial System program plans to provide drones to Troops A, D, F and G. The drones will support disaster response and traffic safety missions; a UAS can conduct a motor vehicle documentation and reconstruction much more quickly than it can be done manually.
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Pilot Making It Easier to Search for Missing Kids With Disabilities Could Go Statewide
WFSU, (01/12/2018), Sascha Cordner
A pilot project that has run successfully in five Florida counties could soon expand statewide. Project Leo, named after an autistic boy named Leo Walker who drowned near his home in 2014, uses GPS tracking devices to track registered users should they ever wander. The pilot program registered several successes, and pending legislation would retain and expand the program.
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Texters Beware: Elk River Police, Sherburne County Sheriff's Office Target Motorists Who Text While Driving
Star News, (01/12/2018), Jake Andersen
The Elk River (Minn.) Police Department recently used two undercover spotter vehicles to conduct a crackdown on motorists who text and drive. The spotters called in officers in law enforcement vehicles to write citations when they spotted drivers violating the state statute. The department adopted the strategy because drivers often put their phones down when they spot a law enforcement vehicle.
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Chief: York City Schools' Body-cam Rollout Going Smoothly
York Dispatch, (01/15/2018), Junior Gonzalez
For the past six months, officers with the York (Pa.) City School District have been wearing body-worn cameras, and the department's chief says the implementation has gone well. The 14 officers wear the cameras at all times, but they only record when activated. The school district has greatly increased the number of stationary surveillance cameras in its buildings in recent years as well with the aim of deterring crime.
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Little Rock Police to Get Crime-Fighting Tool; U.S. to Fund Ballistics Tracer
Arkansas Online, (01/15/2018), Ryan Tarinelli
The Little Rock Police Department will use a $479,342 U.S. Department of Justice grant to purchase cutting-edge technology that reduces the time spent linking shell casings from multiple crime scenes. The technology is part of an effort to develop a new unit that follows the Crime Gun Intelligence Center model, and is spurred by a recent uptick in the number of homicides in the city.
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New High-tech Crime Analysis Center to Open in Goshen
Times Herald-Record, (01/15/2018), Heather Yakin
Orange County will become the latest region to join the New York State crime analysis center program, with the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center set to open in Goshen in March 2018. Regional crime analysis centers provide real-time high-tech database searches, crime trend analysis and social media mining, and include cutting-edge data-sharing technology.
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Ohio Turnpike Donates Radios to Portage Police and Fire
Record-Courier, (01/11/2018)
The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission has donated approximately 250 used MARCS Motorola radios to local fire and police departments who requested them through an application process. MARCS, a 700/800 MHz radio and data network, uses state-of-the-art trunked technology to provide statewide inoperability that also extends in a 10-mile radius outside the state. The commission recently purchased new radios and decided to donate the old ones to help local agencies achieve interoperability more quickly. .
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Houston and Harris County Officers to Receive Millions for Rifle-Resistant Vests
Rare Houston, (01/11/2018), Gerald Hanks
The Harris County Sheriff's and Constable's offices, and the Houston Police Department, will receive some of the largest grants given in a new $23 million program that will help more than 450 Texas jurisdictions purchase ballistic-resistant vests designed to protect against rifle fire. Harris County will receive $3 million and Houston, $4 million, under a new program recently enacted by Gov. Greg Abbott. The tactical vests, designed to protect against rifle fire from weapons such as an AR-15, are heavier than those worn for everyday duty.
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Courts News

Dodge County Emergency Management Conducts Courthouse Shooter Drill
Daily Citizen, (01/16/1959), Terri Pedersen
Personnel from 25 different law enforcement and government agencies participated in a simulated active shooter drill at the Dodge County (Wisc.) Courthouse on Martin Luther King Day. A starter gun was fired on each floor of the courthouse to begin the exercise, although participating officers did not carry live weapons. The exercise was based on the "Run, Hide, Fight" principles, although participants were told to stay indoors because of the extreme cold outside.
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Corrections News

Jury Scam Run From Inside Georgia Prison Using Cellphones
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, (01/12/2018), Rhonda Cook
An ongoing investigation alleges that inmates used contraband cellphones to call residents of Georgia's Gwinnett County and claim that they owed fines for missing jury duty and would be arrested if they did not pay. One inmate at Macon State Prison supposedly made more than 10,000 such calls in the span of a month. Inmates used PayPal to collect the money.
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Bill Making It Illegal for County Jail Inmates to Have Cell Phones Draws Concerns
WFSU News, (01/12/2018), Sascha Cordner
The Florida legislature is considering the possibility of making it illegal for inmates in the state's jails to possess a cell phone. Cell phones are considered contraband in Florida prisons, but jails are run on a local basis, and present policies can differ greatly.
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Netting Going Up at South Carolina Prisons to Prevent Contraband Being Smuggled In
ABC4, (01/14/2018), Angela Brown
The South Carolina Department of Corrections has begun adding netting around several of its facilities, with plans to expand the program in the future. Director Bryan Stirling says that searches by officers and K-9s are not able to stop the flow of contraband into South Carolina correctional institutions, and stronger measures are necessary.
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Number of DUI Charges in Lancaster County Decreased in 2017, DA's Office Says
Fox 43, (01/09/2018), Keith Schweigert
In 2016, Lancaster County, Pa., instituted DUI Central Court, which has a goal of getting at-risk offenders into treatment as soon as possible. This reform, along with increased use of services like Uber and Lyft, additional law enforcement checkpoints and increased public awareness of the dangers of driving while intoxicated, apparently has led to a sharp decrease in the number of DUI incidents in the county.
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Local Legislators Say Fixing Prison System on Top of Agenda
Dothan Eagle, (01/13/2018), Jeremy Wise
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has asked for $30 million more in funding for the state's troubled correctional system in the upcoming budget, with funds going toward hiring more officers and more mental health professionals. In this article, several members of the state legislature weigh in in favor of the proposal.
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