• Gait biometrics shows promise

    A new biometric technology may soon join retinal scans, voice recognition, and fingerprints as a means to identify individuals: gait pattern biometrics; a method of identifying individuals by the way they walk, saunter, swagger, or sashay has achieved accuracy of about 90 percent in early trials

  • Taser-related fatalities raise safety concerns

    As police across the United States increasingly turn to Taser guns as a non-lethal weapon, the device’s safety has come under scrutiny following several recent deaths involving Tasers; last week the Fayetteville police department in North Carolina recalled all of its Taser M26 units following the death of a fifty-six year old political activist who died after being stunned by police

  • NYPD works with suburban police to stop terrorism

    In the ten years since 9/11, the New York City police department (NYPD) has worked to forge closer ties with local police departments in an effort to stop terrorist attacks; “The idea is to add rings of security,” explained chief inspector John Hodges of the Westchester County police; “What’s changed since 9/11 is New York City has learned that people who might want to bring something into New York City will have to infiltrate from somewhere outside,” he said

  • Terrahawk showcases its mobile surveillance vehicle

    This Thursday Terrahawk, LLC will show off its Mobile Utility Surveillance Tower (MUST) to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate along with their staffs; with MUST, law enforcement agencies can quickly set up a mobile surveillance tower for emergency response, crowd control, or general surveillance

  • Courts uphold rights of citizens to record police in action

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, in a unanimous decision that many see as a victory for the First Amendment, has recently upheld the right of an attorney to sue police after the police arrested him for using his cell phone to make an audio and video recording of officers conducting an arrest on Boston Common in the fall 2007

  • Thermal imaging allows ATM theft from a distance

    ATMs’ PINs can be stolen using thermal imaging cameras; when ATM customers press down keys to enter their personal code number, they leave behind residual heat from their fingertips; thermal imaging cameras can catch these numbers

  • Facebook could mean the end of undercover ops

    Law enforcement officials have begun using Facebook to identify criminals and gather information about their habits, but the technology has the potential to be a double edged sword; an undercover officer could successfully infiltrate a gang only to have their cover blown after their photo is recognized and their Facebook profile carefully scrutinized

  • Unusual smuggling tunnel found near California-Mexico border

    Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) continued to gather evidence following the discovery of an incomplete pipeline-style smuggling tunnel last Thursday afternoon; the tunnel originated beneath the floor of a vacant Mexican supermarket

  • Vumii unveils new thermal imaging cameras

    Vumii, a firm that specializes in developing surveillance cameras, recently announced the addition of four new thermal imaging camera lines, expanding on its existing line of LED and laser-illuminated cameras

  • Identifying bad guys in a crowd

    New CCTV technology aims to do two things: for post-incident forensic analysis the system retraces a person’s steps after they have left a site; and for real-time analysis the system alerts security to immediate or imminent threats; researchers say the technology will also address privacy concerns: if a computer could automatically detect and preserve footage “of interest,” the images of the rest of the people captured by CCTVs can be safely deleted, minimizing the invasion to privacy

  • San Antonio’s "Piracy King" pleads guilty

    Police in San Antonio recently put an end to the “Piracy King’s” reign; last Thursday, Ernest Christopher Smith, nicknamed the piracy king by local law enforcement officials because of the large number of fake DVDs he sold at local flea markets, pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods.

  • Union Pacific settles drug fines, invests $50M in border security

    Railroad giant Union Pacific Corp. agreed last week to invest $50 million to help protect the U.S.-Mexico border and to improve supply chain security; the announcement comes as the settlement of an ongoing dispute between the railroad company and U.S. border officials over nearly $500 million in fines

  • Detroit police to stop responding to unverified burglar alarms

    As of Monday, 22 August, the Detroit police department will no longer respond to burglar alarms unless security companies can verify the need for an officer; the policy is aimed at reducing the number of false alarms and allowing officers more time to focus on critical duties; more than 98 percent of all burglar alarms are false alarms; critics of the new policy fear that it will exacerbate safety conditions in a city already plagued by crime and slow police response times

  • Combating tech-fueled flash mobs a new problem for police

    With the help of cell phones and social networking sites, spontaneous swarms of youths have rushed into convenience stores or assaulted bystanders in a rash of “flash mobs” across the United States; law enforcement officials are struggling to find a way to effectively combat this new phenomenon which does not impede on privacy rights

  • New FBI app helps parents and police find missing children

    The FBI has released its first mobile application aimed at helping parents locate their children when they go missing the Child ID app allows parents to electronically store photos and other vital information so that they will be able to provide law enforcement with critical details in a timely fashion if their child goes missing