• Updated solution allows quick, secure information sharing

    Visual Alert 2 enables law enforcement agencies to get real-time access to police records through Pennsylvania’s Law Enforcement Justice Information System (LEJIS) and other authorized information sharing networks while the department maintains secure control of the information it shares

  • Bolstering police anti-child porn technology

    Microsoft Corp. and NetClean the other day announced a joint effort to combat the sexual exploitation of children by making Microsoft PhotoDNA technology available and accessible to law enforcement agencies worldwide to help enhance child sex abuse investigations

  • Using people with cell phones as surveillance nodes

    Eighty-eight percent of Americans now own a cell phone, forming a massive network that offers scientists a wealth of information and an infinite number of new applications; with the help of these phone users — and their devices’ cameras, audio recorders, and other features — researchers envision endless possibilities for gathering huge amounts of data

  • DHS seeks camera that sees hundreds of kilometers at once

    DHS is interested in adding powerful military technology to its growing arsenal of surveillance equipment; the agency is considering new cameras that will be able to track and monitor several moving objects simultaneously over as much as four square miles

  • Growing unease over illegal cell phone jammers

    For less than $40 nearly anyone can purchase a cell phone jamming device to prevent those nearby from making calls, which has law enforcement agencies uneasy

  • Face and gunshot detecting technology

    Individuals who fire weapons with criminal intent will now have to think twice now that Safety Dynamics Inc. and FaceFirst have decided to join forces

  • Computer spots liars by looking at the way they talk

    Computer scientists are exploring whether machines can read the visual cues of an individual’s conduct to discover whether or not that individual is lying; in a study of forty videotaped conversations, an automated system the researchers developed correctly identified whether interview subjects were lying or telling the truth 82.5 percent of the time

  • The Bruzer – a less lethal, compact 12-gauge

    To augment local police officers’ growing array of non-lethal weapons, Tommy Teach, a military combat veteran, has designed a compact non-lethal 12-guage shotgun

  • LoJack helps recover more than 10,000 stolen cars

    On Tuesday LoJack Corporation, the manufacturers of the eponymous vehicle tracking device, released their latest statistics on vehicle theft

  • Company develops telephone line “fingerprint” detector

    Researchers at Pindrop, a new security company, have developed technology that can read telephone line “fingerprints” to prevent fraud and identify a caller

  • Taser rolls out redesigned wearable cameras

    Last week Taser, the manufacturers of the electric stun guns, unveiled its newly remodeled wearable camera system which is sleeker and more advanced than its predecessor; the Axon Flex, introduced less than a year after the company rolled out its first wearable cameras, represents a significant upgrade

  • Detecting explosives from a distance with laser beams

    Scientists have found a way to detect chemicals over long distances, even if they are enclosed in containers; the scientists tested the system by trying to detect frequently used explosives, such as TNT, ANFO, or RDX from a distance – and the tests were successful

  • Rats trained to detect explosives

    Bomb sniffing dogs could be a thing of the past thanks to explosives seeking rats; unlike dogs, when rats detect sensitive explosives like land mines they rarely set them off as they weigh less than pound

  • London holds massive Olympic security drill

    Last week, in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games, more than 2,500 government officials, local police, and emergency responders participated in a two-day long emergency drill that simulated a terrorist attack on the city’s transportation network

  • Anthrax-decontamination foam used in meth lab cleanup

    The meth cleanup problem in the United States is a big one; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lists thousands of locations where law enforcement agencies have found chemicals or paraphernalia indicating the presence of either clandestine drug laboratories or dumpsites; Sandia’s decontamination foam, originally developed to deal with anthrax, is now also a meth eraser