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Detergent suicides on the rise
The incidence of chemical suicides has been steadily increasing in the United States since its first appearance in 2008; it is believed the statistics are incorrect because of underreporting; most such suicides provide warning of the toxicity of the environment they will be found in, but not all do, making responding to these calls a hazard for all concerned
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Ballistic clipboard protects police from gun fire
Routine traffic stops, warrant calls and first responses have the potential of being some of the most dangerous moments in the field; a standard issue clipboard provides little in the way of reliable protection in the event of gunfire; a new clip board provides multi-hit protection against gun fire
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Highly-trained Indian K-9s join counterterror forces
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has a highly-trained unit in its force unlike any other in the world; police handlers have taught six Labradors to carry explosives in their teeth, sneak into terrorist lairs, plant remote-controlled bombs, hide secret cameras, interpret body language, and understand English and Hindi
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Local police not required to detain illegals for ICE
Internal DHS documents reveal local law enforcement agencies are not required to hold undocumented immigrants when requested by the federal government; a coalition of groups against the controversial Secure Communities program obtained a total of three documents under a Freedom of Information request that clarified the policy of detainers for local law enforcement agencies
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Detroit police push for ShotSpotter
Detroit police chief Ralph Godbee is pushing the city to purchase a $2.6 million automated gun-shot detecting system that he believes will help reduce violent crime; last summer, Detroit was hit by one of its most violent periods in recent history with 254 shootings that left fifty-two people dead in two months
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New York police officers equipped and ready to detect dirty bombs
Law enforcement officials operating in the New York City region are trained and equipped to intercept dirty bomb threats
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New digital steganography detection solutions
Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message, a form of security through obscurity; a Pennsylvania company offers a digital steganography detection solution
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First responders to get a break on car insurance
First responders in Maine could be getting a break on their insurance thanks to a bill making its way through the State House of Representatives; under the proposed bill, insurance companies would not be able to increase the personal insurance rates of emergency responders if they get into a car accident while performing their duties
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Researchers fire 1,000th shot on laboratory railgun
Scientists reached a milestone in the Electromagnetic Railgun program when they fired a laboratory-scale system for the 1,000th time on 31 October, the raygun is a long-range weapon that launches projectiles using electricity instead of chemical propellants
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Sector Report for Wednesday, 1 November 2011: Law Enforcement Technology
This report contains the following stories.
Plus 1 additional story.
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Zombie herd tests Ohio’s emergency response capabilities
On Monday, a horde of ravenous flesh-seeking “zombies” descended upon Wesleyan University and tested the response capabilities of Ohio’s emergency personnel; in the spirit of Halloween, Delaware County recruited 225 volunteers to dress up as zombies and participate in a drill designed to help prepare first responders deal with real situations like hazardous material cleanups
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U.S. Army to deploy “kamikaze” drones
The U.S. Army is getting ready to add a “kamikaze drone” to its arsenal; the new drone is designed to hover quietly in the sky before it dive-bombs directly into a human target
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Mathematicians help LAPD fight gangs
UCLA mathematicians working with the Los Angeles Police Department to analyze crime patterns have designed a mathematical algorithm to identify street gangs involved in unsolved violent crimes
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U.K. police technology allows tracking, controlling cell phones remotely
Civil rights groups in the United Kingdom are up in arms over the revelation that the U.K.’s largest police force, the Metropolitan Police, has acquired the technology to shut down cell phones remotely, intercept communications, and gather data on thousands of users in a targeted area
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Law agencies want YouTube police brutality videos removed
In Google’s latest Transparency Report, the company revealed that there has been a 70 percent increase in requests by law enforcement agencies to remove police brutality videos from YouTube; according to the report, from January to June of 2011 the “number of content removal requests we received increased by 70 percent” compared to the period from July to December of 2010
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More headlines
The long view
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Using Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires
Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
European Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
How Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations
“People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.