Law Enforcement

  • No acoustic detection system for Indianapolis housing project

    The Indianapolis Housing Authority secured a $100,000 grant and the Department of Public Safety had awarded a contract ShotSpotter in July; the vendor backed out of the contract, the grant expired, and the deal fell apart

  • FBI says facial recognition not ready for prime time

    An FBI expert said that facial recognition does not figure in the FBI’s biometric strategy; he said facial recognition could have been a killer application — but it cannot; “The algorithms just do not exist to deliver the highly reliable verification required. This is even though the FBI has been evaluating facial recognition technology since 1963,” he said

  • New device to "smell" human fear

    City University London’s researchers launch a project aims to develop two sensor systems that can detect the unique chemical signature of the fear pheromone, assessing the stress of an individual and interpreting it in security-critical contexts

  • Guarding the guardians in South Africa

    Criminals in South Africa found a new way to make money: they open security companies; there are two advantages to these ventures: they get paid for their “security” services, and they are able to learn all they need to know, for their own criminal purposes, about the organizations they are supposedly protecting

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  • Dallas cops cite drivers for "not speaking English"

    Is it a crime not to speak English? It is — in Dallas, Texas: half a dozen Dallas cops have given tickets to thirty-eight drivers for having an inadequate command of the English language

  • A-T Solutions acquires anti-terrorism firm

    Trancite software products help with crime and accident scene investigations; other products help with site inspections and surveys; the company also has tools for investigating and analyzing terrorist attacks; this is A-T Solutions’ second acquisition in four months

  • A first: Criminals steal nuclear material, than demand ransom for its return

    Criminals in Argentina steal cesium-137 from a drilling company, then demand $500,000 and threaten “to make this city glow” if they did not get the money

  • U.S. cannot track foreign visitors who overstay their visas

    Last year, 39 million foreign travelers were admitted into the United States on temporary visas; based on the paper stubs, homeland security officials said, they confirmed the departure of 92.5 percent of them; most of the remaining visitors did depart, officials said, but failed to check out because they did not know how to do so; more than 200,000 of them are believed to have overstayed intentionally

  • TSA allows law enforcement personnel to carry fire-arms on board

    TSA has created a secure registration facility which allows state, local, territorial, and tribal Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) to pre-register with the agency — and then fly armed

  • Packing heat may backfire

    New study finds that people who carried guns were 4.5 times as likely to be shot and 4.2 times as likely to get killed compared with unarmed citizens; the authors of the study say it is not clear why this is the case, but suggest that it may be the case that guns give a sense of empowerment that causes carriers to overreact in tense situations, or encourages them to visit neighborhoods they probably should not

  • DHS, FBI worried about home-grown terrorists

    The risk of al-Qaeda has not disappeared, but in a testimony on the Hill, Napolitano and Mueller say that the United States is facing an increased risk from home-grown terrorists and radicalized immigrants

  • Philadelphia schools deploy sex offender screening software

    Adults wishing to enter schools in the Philadelphia area are now screened to make sure they are not sex offenders; the V-Soft solution created by Houston-based Raptor Technologies can also warn administrators or police of problem students, fired employees, and parents in custody disputes

  • Clayton Consultants on kidnapping and ransom

    In many developing countries, kidnapping the family members of rich individuals and then asking for ransom has become a small industry; a specialist offers ideas about what to do to prevent kidnapping — and deal with it when it happens

  • Mafia's new business: sinking nuclear waste at sea

    The Sicilian Mafia had muscled in on the lucrative business of radioactive waste disposal; to increase the profit margin, mafia operatives blow up and sink the ships at sea rather than process the nuclear waste on board

  • California police employs nonlethal weapon used against pirates

    ATC’s long range acoustic device (LRAD) blast sounds at 150 decibels — 50 times the human threshold of pain — to fend off approaching pirates or massing insurgents; California law enforcement is now using the device at local political events