Law Enforcement Technology

Portable Outdoor Gunshot Detection Technology for Law Enforcement
A new portable Gunshot Detection System can provide critical information about outdoor shooting incidents almost instantaneously to first responders.
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New ‘Faraday Cage’ Research Facility to Help Combat Digital Crime
University of Huddersfield installing a new facility named the ‘Faraday Cage’ which will help speed-up the development and testing of new digital forensic processes to help law enforcement meet the huge growth rate in digital crime.
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EFF's Atlas of Surveillance Database Now Documents 10,000+ Police Tech Programs
The EFF has created a searchable and mappable repository of which law enforcement agencies in the U.S. use surveillance technologies such as body-worn cameras, drones, automated license plate readers, and face recognition.
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Software Suite Will Bolster Defenses for Soft Targets
Anyone who has ever gone to a major sporting event or concert, taken public transportation, even visited a farmer’s market on a brisk weekend morning, has likely benefitted from soft-target physical security—and perhaps didn’t even know it. DHS S&T is working developing a suite of decision-support software known as Special Event Planning Tools (SEPT) to help those in charge of securing soft targets.
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U.K. Police Fail to Meet “Legal and Ethical Standards” in Use of Facial Recognition
Researchers devise an audit tool to test whether police use of facial recognition poses a threat to fundamental human rights, and analyze three deployments of the technology by British forces – with all three failing to meet “minimum ethical and legal standards.”
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Better Regulating Drone Use Requires Communication, Not Surveillance
In 2018, Congress gave the DHS and DOJ sweeping new authorities to destroy or commandeer privately-owned drones which pose a “credible threat” to a “covered facility or asset” in the U.S. as well as intercept the data it sends and receives. The definition of “credible threat” was left entirely to the discretion of DOJ and DHS.
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A Drone Wing That Could Learn How to Sense Danger Faster
The small domes that you press on your soda’s to-go cup lid may one day save a winged drone from a nosedive. Patterns of these invertible domes on a drone’s wings would give it a way to remember in microseconds what dangerous conditions feel like and react quickly.
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Meeting Surging Demand for National Security Research
Sandia National Laboratory is embarking on a major expansion of its network of academic partners to meet the surging demand for national security science and engineering. From 2015 to 2021, the Labs’ budget increased more than 50%, from $2.9 billion to $4.5 billion. Over the same period, the Labs increased its workforce by more than 25%, from 11,700 to 15,000. Still, the Lab says that it won’t meet its obligations just by hiring staff.
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Purdue University Launches Institute for National Security
Building on its years of growing engagement and collaboration with the defense, homeland security and intelligence communities, Purdue University is creating the Purdue Institute for National Security, a new interdisciplinary institute.
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Drone Piloting Proficiency Takes Flight with Certification Course
Competent drone piloting is critical when lives are on the line; these devices are used in numerous law enforcement operations including search and rescue and counter IED (improvised explosive device) efforts.
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The Next Generation of Explosives Trace Detection is Here
Launched in fiscal year 2020, NextGen Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) expands the scope of aviation checkpoints technology, resulting in the advancement of technologies that can quickly and accurately collect and analyze samples in a variety of ways, including from direct contact with the subject, non-contact sampling via vapors, and even through barriers.
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DHS Debuts First Fully Electric Law Enforcement Vehicle
DHS became the first federal agency to debut a battery electric vehicle (EV) fitted for performing law enforcement functions. The Ford Mustang Mach-E is the first of a variety of EVs DHS plans to field across its varied law enforcement missions throughout the United States.
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A New Strategy to Speed Up Cold Case Investigations
Solving crimes with forensic genetic genealogy is slow and complicated. A new mathematical analysis could crack cases 10 times faster.
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More Governments Use Spyware to Monitor Their People, Compromising Privacy
The right to privacy is under siege as an increasing number of governments are using spyware to keep tabs on their people. Many governments are using modern digital networked technologies to monitor, control and oppress their populations.
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Identifying and Neutralizing New Explosive Threats
The IED threats from insurgent characterized the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but now the U.S. military is focusing on neutralizing bombs and mines that it could face in future conflicts against more advanced adversaries. DSI October 2022 EOD/IED & Countermine Symposium will highlight current initiatives toward identifying and neutralizing explosive threats to the homeland and critical infrastructure.
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