• Study shows more non-Muslim terrorists in U.S.

    A new report found that the number of American Muslims involved in terrorist acts dropped by more than half compared to 2009; in 2010 twenty American Muslims were arrested for terrorism, down from 2009’s peak of forty-seven; in 2010 there were more than twenty plots by non-Muslims compared to the ten Muslim Americans arrested for domestic plots; the report supports the argument that fears of domestic radicalization are exaggerated, and was released after the American woman calling herself “Jihad Jane” pled guilty to recruiting terrorists to kill a Swedish cartoonist; Representative Peter King is preparing for domestic radicalization hearings in the House’s Homeland Security committee

  • Arizona lawmaker tries to close gun show loophole

    Arizona state senator Steve Gallardo is introducing a bill to close Arizona’s gun show loophole; currently sellers at gun shows are not required to conduct background checks before selling weapons to individuals; a recent sting operation, led by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, revealed that sellers at a Phoenix gun show sold weapons to under-cover investigators after the investigators declared that they could not pass a background check; federal laws prohibit individuals from selling weapons to people that they suspect could not pass a background check; terrorists and weapons smugglers often exploit this loophole to obtain weapons; the bill is likely to face opposition from pro-gun advocates like Arizona governor Jan Brewer

  • U.K. police to use tasers on unruly rib-pokers

    Last December, some 180 protesters, most aged between 17 and 25, stood in front of the Royal convoy, and some protesters began to kick, hit, and hurl objects at the Royal car; as the Duchess of Cornwall sat in the vehicle, she was poked in the ribs with a stick through a window slit; demonstrators pursued the envoy, chanting “Off with their heads”; to prevent such occurrences in the future, the U.K .Diplomatic Protection Squad will be supplementing their conventional firearms with stun guns

  • Foreign orders for Mass.-built bomb-disposal robots

    Massachusetts-based robot maker received orders for twenty-seven additional bomb-disposal robots from unnamed international customers; the company has delivered bomb-disposal robots to more than twenty-five countries

  • ATF budget cuts hurt efforts to stop illegal guns heading to Mexico

    The proposed budget cuts for the ATF could seriously undermine Project Gunrunner, the Obama administration’s efforts to stem the flow of guns across the border to drug cartels; White House budget office proposed cutting nearly $160 million, or 12.8 percent, from the ATF’s budget; under federal rules, the last personnel hired are the first to be fired, and in the last several years the ATF has primarily focused on hiring for the border initiative; in 2009 alone, ATF agents seized 2,589 firearms and 265,000 rounds of ammunition headed across the border; so far, agents have traced more than 65,000 guns in Mexico back to the United States

  • iPhone app helps police "see" through walls

    Law enforcement officials are using SafetyNet Mobile, a powerful new iPhone app, to fight crime; the app allows police officers to quickly access all emergency dispatch information including maps, warnings, hazard information, and other critical data; to access the emergency dispatch database, the officer simply points the iPhone or iPad’s camera at a location; this technology allows police to “see” behind doors or walls by alerting them to any potential dangers inside; the app installs on any iPhone or iPad; SafetyNet Mobile has been successfully tested by three police departments in California and is currently being rolled out

  • N.C. law enforcement pistols no good

    North Carolina’s Alcohol Law Enforcement agency says 150 new pistols bought for their agents at $1,055 each were so unreliable they got rid of them; the Kimber .45-caliber pistols repeatedly malfunctioned during training exercises, with rounds jamming, sights breaking, and the weapons’ safety buttons sometimes falling off

  • New York cracks down on illegal gun sales

    An undercover operation by New York City investigators at an Arizona gun show highlighted the ease with which people with questionable backgrounds can purchase weapons; investigators were able to purchase several handguns despite clearly stating that they would not be able to pass background checks; federal laws do not require background checks at gun shows, but it is illegal for dealers to sell weapons to individuals who they suspect could not pass a background check due to mental instability or a criminal record; investigators were able to purchase a Glock and large capacity magazines, the same used in the Tucson shooting, without any background checks; terrorists seeking to obtain weapons have been found purchasing weapons from gun shows

  • ATF allowing guns into mexico

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) — the agency tasked with keeping U.S. guns from being smuggled to Mexico — has now come under fire for allegedly allowing firearms to cross the border into Mexico; Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to the ATF stating that his office had “received numerous allegations that the ATF sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers, who then allegedly transported these weapons throughout the Southwest border area and into Mexico”

  • Portland's police bureau reviews taser policies

    The Portland Police department has reviewed the use of taser stun guns by officers, and found that policies and practices could be improved; after examining fifty cases of taser use, the study found that in 80 percent of the cases, the use of a taser gun led to a resolution of the situation

  • Clothes as silent witnesses

    New research seeks to recover fingerprint ridge detail and impressions from fabrics — a technique that has up until now proved difficult; it is the first time in more than thirty years that fingerprints on fabrics have been a major focus for research and the team has already had a number of successes; the technique, known as vacuum metal deposition (VMD), uses gold and zinc to recover the fingerprint

  • Gun dealers lost more than 62,000 guns since 2008

    A recent report found that U.S. gun dealers lost more than 62,000 guns in the past three years; roughly fifty-six guns go missing each day; a gun is “lost” when it leaves a store without a background check or a formal record of sale; the number of missing guns is estimated to be significantly higher as the ATF only inspects about 20 percent of gun shops each year; these guns are highly coveted by criminals as they are virtually untraceable; each year on average, there are roughly 600 ATF inspectors who oversee the 60,000 gun shops across the United States, inspecting each shop on average once every eight years

  • Detecting criminals coming back to the scene of the crime

    Criminals tempted to return to the scene of the crime may want to resist this impulse; Notre Dame University researchers are developing a tool which will reliably identify criminals who may be hanging out at the crime scene after the event; the Questionable Observer Detector (QuOD) can process any available video clips of groups of people present at the scene of event, spanning different times and locations to pick out any person who appears frequently in them

  • A first: biometrics used to sentence criminal

    A judge ruled that biometric facial recognition could be submitted as evidence marking the first time such evidence has been used in a criminal trial; this move surprised many legal and scientific experts as facial recognition technology does not follow basic legal standards required for evidence; the decision may or not become a legal precedent as it was not made by a California appellate or supreme court

  • Handlers' beliefs affect explosive- and drug-sniffing dog performance

    Drug- and explosives-sniffing dog/handler teams’ performance is affected by human handlers’ beliefs, possibly in response to subtle, unintentional handler cues; a new study found that detection-dog/handler teams erroneously “alerted,” or identified a scent, when there was no scent present more than 200 times — particularly when the handler believed that there was scent present