Criminal Justice Technology in the News

Law Enforcement News

New Bullying Hotline Fully Deployed Throughout Nevada
Fox 11, (08/06/2018)
With the start of the new school year, every school in Nevada will be connected to the SafeVoice Communications Center 24/7. Students can use the SafeVoice tool to report bullying issues via the Internet, a toll-free telephone number or through a smartphone app.
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Ohio School Districts Permit Police to Aerially Survey Schools for Public Safety
The Drive, (08/07/2018), Marco Margaritoff
In order to improve the quality of their safety plans, the Lorain and Avon school districts have opted to allow the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to use drone technology to collect aerial images of school buildings. BCI's fleet of six drones are mainly used to document crime scenes and on search and rescue missions, but the bureau has offered services to the state's schools as an option to use in re-assessing safety plans.
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South Dakota Officials Unveil New School Safety Tip Program
The Tribune, (08/09/2018), Associated Press
South Dakota has expanded an existing anonymous tip-texting program to include a school safety element. Project Stand Up launched in 2017 to allow state residents to submit anonymous dips about illegal drug use.
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Midland Police First to Complete One Mind Certification
Midland Daily News, (08/13/2018), Kelly Dame
The police department in Midland, Mich., has become the first in the state to complete One Mind, which seeks to improve police response to individuals with mental illness. Participating departments pledge to work with community mental health, provide officers with training in mental health first aid and crisis intervention and develop policies on how to deal with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The program was started by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
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Volusia County Officers Get Instruction in Animal Cruelty Cases
Dayton Beach News-Journal, (08/12/2018), Nikki Ross
Officers at the Daytona Beach Police Department recently participated in training from the American Animal Cruelty Investigations School, a traveling training program that includes 15 courses on animal cruelty investigations. The course aims to improve officer safety and increase professionalism, as well as encourage high-quality, thorough investigations.
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Corrections News

Musician Performing at Prisons to Help Combat Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Recidivism Rates
WRGB Albany, (08/06/2018), Anne McCloy
Solo musical performer Matt Butler, a recovering addict with five years of sobriety behind him, has toured 50 prisons and developed a huge fan base that relates to his songs of addiction and recovery. Butler uses his musical performances to encourage inmates to continue on a path to recovery.
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Jails, Prisons Slowly Loosen Resistance to Addiction Meds
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, (08/07/2018), Philip Marcelo for the Associated Press
Prisons and jails throughout the nation are slowly losing their resistance to drug-assisted treatment for addiction to opioids and other substances among the inmate population. Approximately 300 of the nation's 5,100-plus facilities presently offer some form of addiction medication to select inmates, including about 290 that offer a monthly injection of naltrexone to inmates shortly before they're released. Another 30 or so facilities offer two other federally approved medications, methadone and buprenorphine.
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Oregon Jail Combating Contraband With Body Scanner
CorrectionsOne, (08/12/2018), Hannah Boufford for the Oregonian
Several county jails in Oregon have added body scanners in the past year. Administrators are finding that although there is an initial expenditure in buying the devices, the savings costs in terms of decreased officer overtime, fewer legal proceedings and improved inmate health can far outweigh the monetary expense.
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