Criminal Justice Technology in the News

Law Enforcement News

New Castle County Police Launch Tip and Alert App
Delaware Public Media, (02/14/2019), Sophia Schmidt
The New Castle County Police Department has released a new app to communicate with residents. Police can send alerts, for example, on road closures, and the community can submit tips. The app enables two-way anonymous communication.
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S.A.F.E. Alert System App is Free for NH Parents and Educators
Manchester Ink Link, (02/15/2019)
Schools and parents in New Hampshire now have a free app to improve communication between educators and families in emergencies. The Safety. Alerts. For. Education. (S.A.F.E.) application uses geo-fencing technology via the global positioning system, allowing administrators and law enforcement to instantly alert students and staffers of a threat via their cellphones.
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Michigan State Police Training Dogs to Find Hidden Technology
WNDU, (02/20/2019)
Michigan State Police are training K-9s to find hidden technology such as thumb drives, SD cards and cellphones. The six-week training for the dogs introduces them to electronic chemical odors.
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New High-Tech Tools Working to Help Police Fight Crime in Jacksonville
New4Jax, (02/20/2019), Jim Piggott
Jacksonville's real-time crime center includes connections to 20 surveillance cameras and microphones to help police track crimes. According to Sheriff Mike Williams, by the end of the year, 100 cameras will be in place where the majority of crimes occur.
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DNA, Old-Fashioned Police Work, Leads to Arrest in 1973 Cold Case Murder
The Orange County Register, (02//21/2019), Keith Sharon
DNA recently helped lead to an arrest for the 1973 murder of an 11-year-old girl in Newport Beach, Calif. Using DNA from the crime scene, a company in Virginia created a sketch of what the killer may have looked like, and created another sketch of what the killer may have looked as an elderly man. The DNA was matched with a sample from FamilyTreeDNA.com. An arrest was made in February.
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Oxford Police Lead Regional Effort to Share Drones With Area Police Departments
Telegram & Gazette, (02/23/2019), Brian Lee
The Oxford Police Department in Massachusetts is heading up a regional effort to share drones with police departments that don't have one. Oxford's drone has a 360-degree combination high-definition and thermal camera to capture still photos and video.
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Corrections News

Missouri Prisons and Jails Are One Step Closer to Becoming No-Drone Zones
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (02/18/2019), Jack Suntrup
The Missouri House has given first-round approval to legislation that would ground drones near state correctional facilities. Department of Corrections officials have raised concerns about potential aerial contraband drops. An amendment approved would also ban flights near municipal and county jails, private jails and mental health hospitals. The measure requires a final vote in the House before moving to the Senate for consideration.
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Florida Lawmakers Seek to Move Inmates Closer to Home
The News Service of Florida, (02/15/2019)
Proposals have been filed in the Florida House and Senate that would require the Florida Department of Corrections to move many inmates to prisons closer to their homes. The bills are filed for consideration during the legislative session that starts March 5.
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Pennsylvania Prisons to Stop Copying Inmates' Legal Mail
The Morning Call, (02/22/2019), Steve Esack
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has agreed per a lawsuit settlement to stop intercepting and copying inmates' legal mail as part of its drug surveillance and security plans. The settlement was announced on February 22 by the department and four civil rights groups that had joined an inmate in suing the department over its mail screening policy.
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The Private Prison Experiments: Is There Any Positive in For-Profit Imprisonment?
Salon, (02/25/2019), Lauren-Brooke Eisen
This opinion piece examines use of private prisons in Australia and New Zealand and efforts to better structure prison contracts.
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Corrections Agency Discovers Sentence Calculation Problem
The Associated Press via The Tribune, (02/25/2019)
A software problem has prompted the Washington state Department of Corrections to review up to 3,500 sentences after learning that at least a dozen prison inmates were incarcerated too long or released too early. The Seattle Times reported that the calculation problem involves offenders who served time in prison before being released into community supervision but then violated the terms of their releases and were returned to prison.
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How to Treat Depression in Prison – and Why It Matters
Michigan State University, (02/19/2019)
This discusses research done by Michigan State University that tested the effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy for inmates with major depressive disorder as a strategy to bring affordable treatment into a prison setting.
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