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Clip-on camera helps Mississippi police
The small police force at Walls, Mississippi, has technology on its side: a $60 clip-on camera, the size of a pack of gum, which the officer attaches to the front pocket of his or her uniform; the cameras hold a small memory card, capable of recording hours of evidence; the cameras have never been challenged in court
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Butte County police lobbies for armored vehicle
For the second year in a row local law enforcement officials in Butte County, California are rallying to obtain grant money to help purchase an armored vehicle; if money from 2011 DHS grants is allocated to Butte County by the state, officials say it would be used to purchase an armored vehicle for the Butte County Sherriff’s Office and Chico
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FAA studies general aviation airports
There are 368 primary airports in the United States — and 2,950 nonprimary, or general aviation, airports; the FAA is now studying the roles and functions of these general aviation airports; general aviation airports provide a variety of functions, ranging from access for emergency medical services, disaster relief, aerial firefighting, law enforcement, and border control to agricultural functions, flight training, charter passenger and time-sensitive air cargo services, among others
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Key milestone for compact high-power laser
Enemy surface-to-air threats to U.S. manned and unmanned aircraft have become increasingly sophisticated, creating a need for rapid and effective response; one solution for countering these threats is high-powered lasers, which harness the speed and power of light to counter multiple — and rapidly approaching — threats; to be useful in combat, however, these lasers need to be lighter and require less space than current state-of-the-art for use on many of today’s air assets; DARPA is working to develop this compact laser
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New Haven, Connecticut police begin installing security cameras
New Haven police plan to install twenty-one surveillance cameras in the city’s hot spots for crime. The cameras will give officers a 360 degree view of an area’s streets and sidewalks; police hope that the cameras will help reduce New Haven’s rising violent crime rate; in the first half of 2011, more than eighteen people have been killed
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Austin fights to keep federal money to battle cartels
With federal lawmakers struggling to reduce spending and cut the deficit, Austin, Texas, could lose as much as $2 million in federal grant money that it uses to combat Mexican drug cartels; on Tuesday, Austin police chief Art Acevedo and Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas) urged lawmakers not to cut their funding citing the fact that the city is a dangerous hub for drug cartels
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Concrete-breaching rescue tool available via GSA schedule
Raytheon’s Controlled Impact Rescue Tool (CIRT) is a portable unit designed to aid fire departments, local and federal rescue agencies, and the military services; the tool sends pulverizing shock waves that enable rescuers to breach concrete structures faster than with existing techniques such as drilling, chipping or sawing; GSA has just added CIRT to the GSA schedule
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U.S. spends $90 billion on border security, drugs keep pouring in
A recent study found the United States has spent an estimated $90 billion over the past decade to secure the U.S - Mexico border with mixed results;annual border spending had tripled over the last decade; the increased spending has helped curb illegal immigration, but for Mexican drug cartels business is booming and they are smuggling more drugs than ever into the United States
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SWAT Team in Washington acquires heavily armored vehicle
The Tri-City Regional SWAT Team in Tacoma, Washington recently received a major boost to its arsenal of crime fighting tools;thanks to DHS grants, the Tri-City Regional Swat Team was able to purchase the BearCat, a $292,000 armored personnel carrier; the vehicle is heavily armored and is capable of stopping .30-caliber ammunition
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Wireless fingerprint readers help police fight crime
Using a new wireless device, police across the country are now able to quickly and accurately identify a suspect in the field; using RapID, a small handheld unit, officers can read a suspect’s fingerprint and check it against a database for any matches; if any matches are found the device will pull up the person’s real name, date of birth, gender, and race, making it more difficult for criminals to use a false identity
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More borders, cheaper conflict steadily increase number of wars
New research shows that the frequency of wars between states increased steadily from 1870 to 2001 by 2 percent a year on average; the research argues that conflict is being fed by economic growth and the proliferation of new borders
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DHS urges greater vigilance for Independence Day, but no threats
As Americans across the United States prepare to celebrate the nation’s birth on 4 July, DHS is urging law enforcement agencies and individuals to remain vigilant; in its latest Security Awareness bulletin, DHS is careful to note that there is no “specific or credible information” that al Qaeda is planning an attack, but did say that al Qaeda had aspired to execute attacks on the symbolic holiday
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Sector Report for Tuesday, 28 June 2011: Law Enforcement Technology
This report contains the following stories.
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Documents reveal drug cartels' secret weapons, techniques
The recent attack on Arizona’s Department of Public Safety by LulzSec has revealed that law enforcement officials in the Southwest are battling drug cartels that use a variety of sleek gadgets and hidden weapons; the sensitive documents published by LulzSec show that smugglers have become increasingly clever using a variety of methods to sneak drugs past border officials; the cartels have hollowed out cell phones to plant 180,000 volt stun guns or a .22 caliber pistol
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New radar gun spots tailgaters
Tailgating has long been a dangerous practice causing many fatal highway accidents, yet law enforcement agencies have struggled to effectively enforce the law as they lacked the proper equipment to document and prosecute violators;without definitive proof, cases involving tailgating were difficult to win in court, but a Colorado based company may have sold this problem; Laser Technology Inc. (LTI) has developed a device it calls Distance Between Cars (DBC)
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More headlines
The long view
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
“The Federal Government Is Gone”: Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States
As President Donald Trump guts the main federal office dedicated to preventing terrorism, states say they’re left to take the lead in spotlighting threats. Some state efforts are robust, others are fledgling, and yet other states are still formalizing strategies for addressing extremism. With the federal government largely retreating from focusing on extremist dangers, prevention advocates say the threat of violent extremism is likely to increase.
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
Autonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled
“The United States has a strong policy on autonomy in weapon systems that simultaneously enables their development and deployment and ensures they could be used in an effective manner, meaning the systems work as intended, with the same minimal risk of accidents or errors that all weapon systems have,” Michael Horowitz writes.
Ukraine Drone Strikes on Russian Airbase Reveal Any Country Is Vulnerable to the Same Kind of Attack
Air defense systems are built on the assumption that threats come from above and from beyond national borders. But Ukraine’s coordinated drone strike on 1 June on five airbases deep inside Russian territory exposed what happens when states are attacked from below and from within. In low-level airspace, visibility drops, responsibility fragments, and detection tools lose their edge. Drones arrive unannounced, response times lag, coordination breaks.
Shots to the Dome—Why We Can’t Model US Missile Defense on Israel’s “Iron Dome”
Starting an arms race where the costs are stacked against you at a time when debt-to-GDP is approaching an all-time high seems reckless. All in all, the idea behind Golden Dome is still quite undercooked.