• Record high police fatalities, second year in a row

    For the second year in a row, a record number of law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty; the chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund blamed the recent spate of law enforcement deaths on budget cuts

  • Half of U.S. jails not in national vaccination campaign

    A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that more than half of U.S. jails are not included in the national flu vaccine campaign, despite the fact that jail and prison inmates are at increased risk of catching infectious diseases

  • The reasons for NYC’s dramatic crime decline

    New York City saw more than 80 percent drop in crime from 1990 to 2009; a new says that changes in police tactics, rather than imprisoning more people are trying to win the war on drugs, explain why NYC has become a much safer city

  • Mentalix wins contract to convert Texas fingerprint archive

    Mentalix Inc. was recently awarded a contract by Texas’ Department of Public Safety’s Crime Records Service to scan more than 1.4 million fingerprint cards from its oldest archive

  • Law enforcement fatalities rise sharply for second year in a row

    For the second straight year, law enforcement fatalities in the United States rose with 173 federal, state, and local officers killed in the line of duty during 2011; this represents a 13 percent increase over the 153 officers killed in 2010 and a 42 percent spike when compared to the 122 officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2009

  • Emergency responders prepare for chaotic New Year’s Eve

    Emergency responders across the nation are gearing up for another busy New Year’s; each year the holiday sends overly enthusiastic revelers to the emergency room with alcohol-fueled deaths and injuries, but this New Year’s is expected to be particularly chaotic as it falls on a Saturday, giving party-goers all day to imbibe and a full day to recover

  • Union Pacific not liable for drugs hidden on board trains

    On Monday a federal judge ruled against U.S. border officials, stating that they overstepped their bounds in fining Union Pacific millions of dollars for failing to uncover illegal drugs hidden aboard their rail cars by smugglers

  • Cartels eye Puerto Rico as new cash smuggling route

    Over the past year law enforcement officials in Puerto Rico have seized an increasing amount of smuggled cash, indicating that cartels may be shifting their attention to the island as an alternative route to transport drug money

  • Death of fourteen bomb dogs sparks $1 million lawsuit

    A firm that trains bomb sniffing dogs for law enforcement and military personnel is suing a transportation company for more than $1 million over the deaths of fourteen highly-trained canines bound for Afghanistan

  • DHS helps New Mexico battle local gangs and cartels

    In recent years, DHS has sent more and more federal agents and resources to New Mexico to help local law enforcement officials battle gangs, catch drug dealers, and other criminals; since 2009 DHS has deployed more than sixty agents to New Mexico and formed several joint task forces and multiagency groups

  • Rapid DNA test system nears completion

    Thanks to an additional $40 million in funding, IntegenX is close to creating a real-time DNA analysis system; the company is currently working to complete a rapid DNA test kit that can provide law enforcement officials, government agencies, or forensic laboratories with real-time biometric identification

  • The border fear index: How to measure border security

    Both the administration and its critics rely on the FBI Uniform Crime Reports and on reported by the national media to make their arguments about how secure the U.S.-Mexican border is, and how to make it more secure; Lee Maril contends that the FBI report and the national media do not offer an accurate picture of the situation along the border because they are not nuanced enough; for example, they ignore the fear instilled in border-area residents by the cartels and the cartels’ collaborators, and they do not collect other relevant human behavior data

  • New technology helps Virginia Tech avoid another massacre

    Last week Virginia Tech officials made all the right decisions after a man killed a campus police officer, showcasing the valuable lessons it had learned following the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre that left thirty-two people dead and twenty-five injured

  • Technology helps Jersey police fight crime in real-time

    In the last decade massive technological breakthroughs have made information more accessible than ever before and law enforcement agencies are increasingly taking advantage of new mobile technology to help fight crime

  • Special kits help protect police K-9s

    To help keep police canines safe while on duty, the Police & Working K-9 Foundation has teamed up with private and public companies to hold “Cover Your K-9,” an innovative series of technology and training seminars