• 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

  • New Jersey's detention center expansion underway

    With the growing number of deportations of illegal aliens from the United States, federal officials expect demand for space to rise within coming years; Newark county officials are awaiting approval by federal authorities to upgrade and expand the Essex County Correctional Facility, significantly increasing its detainee capacity. The county’s proposal would provide a less punitive setting for detainees along with improved medical care, amenities, and federal oversight

  • More than eighty handguns smuggled on passenger flights to U.K.

    An American man successfully smuggled more than eighty handguns aboard passenger flights to the United Kingdom; the man was only apprehended after British investigators tipped off American officials; the suspect transported as many as twenty handguns by breaking them up and placing them in his checked baggage; at one point TSA officials discovered multiple firearms in his bags, confronted him, and allowed him to board the plane with the weapons; U.S. authorities arrested him as he tried to smuggle sixteen handguns on another flight; it is estimated that he took more than a dozen flights in this manner

  • Mexican drug cartels use catapult to launch drug packages across border

    Mexican drug smugglers have tried different methods to smuggle drugs into the United States — double-walled cargo containers, light planes, semi-submersibles, human mules, tunnels, and more; now, there is a new method: U.S. National Guard troops operating a remote video surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station in Arizona observed several people preparing a catapult and launching packages over the International Border fence last Friday evening; Mexican troops dispatched to the scene found a 3-yard tall catapult stationed about twenty yards from the U.S. border on a flatbed towed by a sports utility vehicle; the catapult was capable of launching 4.4 pounds of marijuana at a time

  • U.S. fears cops being targeted as 11 cops shot in 24 hours

    U.S. Authorities are worried a recent wave of police officer shootings may not be a coincidence; in just twenty-four hours, at least eleven cops were shot around the country; “It’s not a fluke,” Richard Roberts, a spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations, said; “There’s a perception among officers in the field that there’s a war on cops going on”; according to National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, an organization that tracks police casualties, there have already been as many officer deaths in January 2011 as there were in January of last year; the organization reported that officer deaths were up 43 percent in 2010 compared to 2009

  • Domestic use of drones make privacy advocates anxious

    The age of Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) UAV is coming; for now, use of these types of drones for high-risk law enforcement purposes is rare, although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to implement new rules that would allow the routine flying of these drones across the United States by 2013; equipped with high-resolution, infrared and thermal-imaging cameras, these drones could provide police with the accurate monitoring of all types of civilian areas and topographies; privacy advocates worry