Criminal Justice Technology in the News

Law Enforcement News  Columbia Police and Fire Stage Large Active-Shooter Simulation Missourian, (03/01/2018), Luke Brodarick The police and fire departments in Columbia, Mo., recently held an active-shooter training exercise on the campus of Stephens College. More than 200 Columbia servicemen and women participated in the training, which was meant to simulate an active shooter situation involving a gunman and multiple civilian casualties. Link to Article Local Law Enforcement Get Defibrillators Westfield Free Press-Courier, (03/01/2018), Natalie Kennedy The Tioga County Law Enforcement Association in Pennsylvania has issued 26 automatic external defibrillators to local law enforcement agencies that lacked one. Now, every law enforcement agency in the county has a working AED in the vehicle. An AED is a lightweight, portable device that delivers an electric shock through the chest to the heart. Link to Article Baltimore to Nearly Double Size of Speed and Red Light Camera System The Baltimore Sun, (03/02/2018), Luke Broadwater Baltimore is expanding the city's speed and red light camera system, nearly doubling the size of the program. Department of Transportation officials said in a statement that they were adding 44 cameras across Baltimore to an existing fleet of 56, bringing the total number of traffic cameras to 100. The additions will include 19 speed cameras, 19 red light cameras and six cameras designed to catch large trucks traveling on roads where they are not allowed. Link to Article They Died Near the Border. Art Students Hope to Bring Them Back. New York Times, (03/02/2018), Patricia Leigh Brown Students in a workshop in forensic facial reconstruction at the New York Academy of Art learn to fuse science, art and anthropology to use skulls to reconstruct individuals' facial features. Taught by a forensic artist with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the class seeks to help law enforcement identify individuals found dead in the desert near the U.S.-Mexico border. Link to Article Text-to-911 Service Is Introduced in Delaware, First Success Comes Before It Was Announced First State Update, (03/05/2018) During the testing phase of Delaware's new Text-to-911 service, a text came in related to a domestic violence incident, giving the system a success story even before its official launch. Text-to-911 targets individuals with hearing difficulties and others who are in a situation where speaking aloud could draw increased danger. Link to Article Corrections News New Fence Patrols by Volunteer Guard Unit Hopes to Curb Cellphones in S.C. Prisons The Post and Courier, (02/27/2018), Andrew Brown South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed an executive order allowing volunteers from the S.C. State Guard to patrol the fences outside state prisons to thwart efforts to smuggle contraband onto prison property. The volunteers will be able to man watch towers, walk fence lines and drive the perimeters of the state's high-security prisons. In the past, cellphones, drugs and tools have been tossed over fences. The State Guard is not the National Guard. It is a volunteer organization controlled by the governor that's most often called on to respond to natural or man-made disasters. Link to Article Corrections Rankings: Measuring the Efficiency of State Prison Systems U.S. News & World Report, (03/01/2018) Using data from McKinsey & Company, this article looks at state corrections rankings for incarceration rate, juvenile incarceration, racial equality in jailing, three-year recidivism rate and sexual violence in prisons. In recent years, state funding for correctional facilities, parole, juvenile and other programs has increased at triple the rate of increase for public education. New Hampshire leads state rankings, followed by Maine and Hawaii. Link to Article Coffee Creek Inmates Help Sustain Endangered Butterflies Wilsonville Spokesman, (02/21/2018), Corey Buchanan A group of inmates at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility are engaged in yearlong project to help save the endangered Taylor's checkerspot butterfly. The women say the program, which takes place in collaboration with the Oregon Zoo and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, gives them a sense of purpose in addition to teaching them laboratory skills. Link to Article At an Atlanta Jail, Inmates Aren't Allowed to Receive Letters With Postage Stamps — and It's a Security Measure the Guards Can't Afford to Ignore Business Insider, (02/26/2018), Mark Abadi Inmates at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail may receive only postcards with metered postage, with all mail sent in envelopes or adhesive stamps confiscated by staff. Inmates had been receiving strips of the drug Suboxolone in the adhesive under stamps, and drugs can be smuggled in the glue or the inside of envelopes as well. Link to Article Electronic Monitoring Pioneer Wants Less Punishment, More Reward Wisconsin Watch.org, (03/04/2018), Riley Vetterkind Twin brothers Robert and Kirkland Gable developed the first electronic monitoring system, used in Massachusetts in the 1960s to track at-risk teenagers and probationers. Robert Gable, who envisioned electronic monitoring as a tool to reward good behavior, says it has instead become a way to permanently punish sex offenders. He would prefer to see smartphones used to provide rehabilitation incentives. Link to Article Wisconsin Doubles GPS Monitoring Despite Five Years of Malfunctions, Unnecessary Jailings LaCrosse Tribune, (03/04/2018), Riley Vetterkind This article, part of a series produced by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, says the cost of Wisconsin's GPS monitoring program has nearly doubled in the five years since the Center produced its first report on the flaws in the system. As of January 2018, Wisconsin monitored 1,258 offenders at an annual cost of about $9.7 million, and inefficiencies and inaccuracies remain. Link to Article GPS Monitoring Technology Helped Nab Robber Accused in String of Crimes, Police Say             Channel 3000.com, (03/06/2018), Tabatha Wethall A Wisconsin man has been charged in a series of bank robberies in Dane County. Information from a GPS monitoring device he was wearing due to an unrelated charge placed him in the vicinity of the eight recent robberies. Link to Article Stop the Cycle: Three Factors That Contribute to Recidivism in Arkansas THV11, (02/28/2018), Winnie Wright In Arkansas, recently incarcerated individuals have a 52 percent chance of re-offending within three years of release. This series looks at "the wheel of recidivism,” with the "spokes” representing needs that should be met in order to help ex-offenders reintegrate into society. In Part One, it looks at lack of housing, lack of jobs and lack of transportation. Link to Article