Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Appalachian State University
D.C. police will launch a real-time crime center at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters to monitor surveillance cameras around the clock.
Police are entering agreements with federal law enforcement and police from Maryland and Virginia. The agreements involve U.S. Park Police, U.S. Capitol Police and the Secret Service.
The crime center will monitor surveillance cameras 24/7, every day of the year.
Full story: DC launching real-time crime center to monitor surveillance cameras
Despite nearly 30 years of demands for transparency, the DOJ’s law enforcement agencies release little data about whom they shoot, why and when, and they rarely use body cameras…
Full story: Defying presidents and Congress, the ATF, DEA, FBI and U.S. Marshals shroud their shootings in secrecy
Drexel researchers evaluated a 2014 program implemented by Kevin Bethel when he was deputy police commissioner that led to fewer arrests of students in schools.
At the same time, violent crime dropped, contradicting many officers’ claims that a ‘get out of jail free card’ may lead youth to commit more crimes.
Less traffic enforcement by law enforcement may have caused the number of fatal traffic incidents to increase in Austin in recent years, according to an audit released by the city last week.
In addition to looking at Austin, auditors looked at the resources of Dallas, San Antonio and Seattle, and found that each city has seen a reduction in the number of traffic citations over the past few years and an increase in the number of traffic deaths.
These findings come as Austin and the three other cities continue to face staffing shortages in their police departments. Auditors also noted that there were fewer crashes and deaths during the deployment of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers earlier this year.
Full story: Less traffic enforcement could mean more traffic deaths in Austin, city audit finds
The annual U.S. firearm suicide rate in 2022 increased to the highest documented level since at least 1968, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
Full story: Firearm suicides reached “unprecedented” high in 2022, CDC data shows – CBS News
With TPD about 150 officers below authorized strength, Chief Wendell Franklin said he adamantly opposes loosening prerequisites: “I would be pushing lower quality people through, and I just won’t do that.”
Full story: Tulsa police won’t give up quality for quantity, chief says
After a burst of gun violence claimed 13 lives at Columbine High School in 1999, a difficult question confronted a Colorado judge: whether to order the release of autopsies sought by local media under the state’s public records law.
The judge, Jose D.L. Márquez, decided to keep the graphic reports hidden, ruling that the rampage was an “extraordinary event” that lawmakers could not have anticipated when they wrote the law. As evidence, he cited the “unique factor” of the community’s trauma, illustrated by an outpouring of grief and a presidential visit.
A quarter-century after Columbine, then the deadliest mass shooting ever visited on a high school, the reactions highlighted by the judge — including public memorials and visits from politicians — are no longer signs of an extraordinary event. They’re routine grief rites.
But as gun violence has grown more common, state lawmakers have increasingly restricted access to government records documenting its destructive impact, such as photos and videos showing mutilated bodies and audio recordings capturing children’s cries.
Full story: As mass shootings multiplied, the horrific human cost was concealed
More cities across the U.S. are cracking down on homeless tent encampments that have grown more visible and become unsafe…
Full story: Cities crack down on homeless encampments. Advocates say that’s not the answer
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all new vehicles come equipped with technology to make speeding difficult or impossible…
Full story: Should cars have built-in speed limits? Some think it’s time
Many Americans think of school shootings as mass casualty events involving an adolescent with an assault-style weapon. But a new study says that most recent school shootings orchestrated by teenagers do not fit that image — and they are often related to community violence…