• Update: The FBI caps nearly 90 years of use of biometrics with its Biometric Center of Excellence

    The FBI has been using various forms of biometric identification since its earliest days — from photographs and fingerprints in its first years (and assuming responsibility for managing the U.S. fingerprint collection in 1924), to applying handwriting analysis in the Lindbergh kidnapping case in 1932, to its laboratory’s pioneering work on raising latent finger, palm, and other soft tissue prints from evidence, to today’s development of DNA analysis as a means of genetic fingerprinting

  • Tiny sensor "listens" to gunshots to identify source of fire and type of weapon

    The sensor, developed by a Dutch company, is smaller than the head of a match, made of two 200-nanometer-thick, 10-micrometer-wide platinum strips that are heated to 200 degrees Celsius; the sensor does not truly “listen” to sounds; rather, it senses air particles that flow past the platinum strips and cool them unevenly

  • Toronto police to buy encrypted radios

    The Toronto police will spend CAN$35 million on encrypted radios; new system may shut out public eavesdroppers — by tow-truck drivers, the media, scanning enthusiasts — starting with the June 2010 G20 summit

  • U.S. buys iris scanners for prisons to prevent mistaken release of inmates

    The U.S. government has allocated funds for prisons to purchase iris recognition scanning machines; the purpose is create fool-proof system which would prevent inmates from impersonating other inmates to gain early release

  • Breast implants save California woman's life

    A woman who had breast implants was shot at her work place; the doctor who treated her and a firearm expert with the LAPD say that it was the implant that absorbed the bullet fragments, preventing them from reaching her heart and thus saving her life; the firearms expert adds, though that he would not suggest that breast augmentation is the equivalent of a bulletproof vest

  • Mathematicians suggest ways to deal with criminal hotspots

    Mathematicians suggest that there are two kinds of crime hotspots: “supercritical” and “subcritical”; the mathematicians’ equations indicated that rigorous policing could completely eliminate the subcritical hotspots, but would simply displace the supercritical variety

  • Identical DNA a problem for Georgia police: Which identical twin committed the crime?

    DNA found at the scene of a murder in Georgia pointed to a felon known to the police; when he was arrested, he insisted the crime was committed by his identical twin; the two twins share identical DNA — but fingerprints, and cell phone records, pointed to the second brother, who confessed to the crime

  • Home-made poisons pose risks for first responders

    A 23-year old St. Petersburg, Florida resident committed suicide by filling his car with gas which was a custom-made combination of pesticides and cleaning products; he learned about the deadly concoction from the Internet

  • New technologies unveiled to protect U.K. 75 million mobile phone users from crime

    U.K. e-commerce, or contatcless, mobile transactions, will account for £151 billion by 2013. the U.K. government’s Design Council unveils three solutions aiming to make mobile phones – and, hence, e-commerce – safer

  • Liverpool police use thermal-imaging UAV to track and capture a car thief

    Police in Liverpool used thermal-imaging device housed in a UAV to track down and capture a car thief; the technology allowed the operator to use live images of the suspect’s body heat to guide other officers to the man’s hiding place

  • U.K. police looking for PC crime breathalyser

    U.K. e-crime cops turn to technology to boost frontline forensics; the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) is looking for “digital triage” tools that would give frontline police with little training in digital forensics the ability to search for anything from text in e-mails relating to stolen goods to illegal images

  • Homeland security challenges for the Washington D.C. police, II

    Cathy Lanier, the chief of the Washington, D.C. police, says the one thought that keeps her awake at night is the threat that has not occurred to anyone — the failure of imagination as to what may come next; “What is it that we haven’t thought of that could happen?…That still scares me because I know it is there”

  • Homeland security challenges for the Washington D.C. police, I

    Protecting the U.S. capital on a local level poses unique challenges, but it also offers advantages; the police department must accommodate both traditional local concerns and diverse needs related to the presence of multiple federal government and military organizations; yet, the department also can tap those myriad government agencies for vital resources and information that help it counter or respond to terrorist threats

  • Testing 4G technology for national public safety network

    A 4G mobile telecommunications technology would make a major contribution to the proposed nationwide public safety network on the 700 MHz radio band because it would give emergency responders access to advanced communications technologies and massive data files (video, mapping, and GPS applications, etc.) at faster speeds from anywhere in the country

  • Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, soccer World Cup take extra security measures

    The organizers of three big sporting events – the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, and the soccer World Cup – are taking extra security measures to ensure the safety of participants and spectators; The Winter Olympics’ security budget initially projected at $175 million now tops $900 million, and the force for the games will include more than 15,000 people, a surveillance blimp hovering over Vancouver, and more than 900 surveillance cameras monitoring competition venues and crowd-attracting public areas; at the Super Bowl, nearly everyone entering the stadium will be subjected to a pat-down search; exceptions would be a police officer in uniform, a player in uniform, and the president of the United States