public safety

Withheld: The potentially life-saving map that most can’t see

First responders, law enforcement and some health care professionals can access ODMAP—if they know about it. Most policy makers and members of the public cannot.

  • By Madelyn Beck, Wyofile

Engagement, access, equity drive city’s evolution

Waterloo, Iowa, has 12 smart city projects lined up based on four pillars: e-government, sustainability, transportation and public safety.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Optimization model delivers faster emergency response

Researchers used historical traffic data to develop a model that calculates the most efficient routes for police and medical personnel traveling from dispatch locations to vehicle accident sites.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

How digital twins can enrich emergency response

With their advanced simulation and predictive analytics capabilities, digital twins can give responders a common operating picture with real-time, integrated information.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

In the face of extreme floods, rural Kentucky lacked forecasting and broadband

As severe weather events increase, so does danger to rural communities. Plans are in place to address the urban observation bias in national weather prediction, but the other piece—reliable broadband—could still be years away for places like Eastern Kentucky.

  • By Anya Slepyan and Claire Carlson, The Daily Yonder

DOT awards $94 million for innovative transportation tech

The Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation Grants Program made 59 awards for demonstration projects leveraging automation, connected vehicles, sensors and drones as well as smart grid and intelligent traffic signal technologies.

  • By Susan Miller

Assistive AI can revolutionize public safety collaboration

Cloud-based collaboration supported by artificial intelligence can generate the insights that help multiple agencies operate efficiently across routine and major incidents.

  • By Kalyn Sims

Justice launches $8M smart policing grant program

State, local, tribal and campus law enforcement agencies can apply for funds to develop, implement and test new technologies that support community violence intervention and promote information sharing and data transparency.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

VR trains responders for mass casualty events

Conducting a disaster response training program can be costly and time-consuming, but a virtual reality simulation can train multiple employees at once and provide performance assessments.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

New tool to help cities make the case for public safety funding

The Black-led coalition behind the online tool is also launching an effort to reduce gun homicides in 12 cities by 20% over the next five years. Its inaugural cohort includes Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Indianapolis and Newark.

  • By Molly Bolan

Public safety data officer wants to break silos, make data more transparent

Better use of data can help the business community work with the city to reduce crime, according to the Greater Baltimore Committee’s new public safety data officer.

  • By Chris Teale

Machine learning maps location of lead pipes

An open-source map will help communities find and remove pipes faster.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

How AI helps one city spot damaged rooftops

The Baltimore Department of Housing and Community Department is using a mix of artificial intelligence, GIS-based flyover imagery and building code enforcement data to automatically detect at-risk buildings.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Smart street pilots aim to curb parking violations

Chicago plans to use cameras to enforce parking rules, boost safety for pedestrians and cyclists and streamline operations in commercial loading zones.

  • By Susan Miller
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Tech keeps city’s fleet vehicles within speed limits

Active intelligent speed assistance technology has kept drivers from speeding and cut hard braking by more than a third, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.

  • By Chris Teale

States should follow feds in Chinese tech bans

With a recent report citing at least 1,600 state and local agencies still buying IT and communications equipment from China, one researcher advised they follow federal guidance more closely.

  • By Chris Teale

Flood forecasts in real-time with block-by-block data could save lives – a new machine learning method makes it possible

A sophisticated flood model can be used to train local flood hazard models that can pinpoint conditions street by street using real-time storm forecasts.

  • By Valeriy Ivanov, The Conversation

NIST cooks up modified yeast for responder biothreat training

The yeast reference material has qualities similar to harmful biological agents, enabling first responders to practice detecting biothreats.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Portable gunshot detector senses firearms’ sound and flash

The system uses the sound and flash of the fired gun to identify and validate each shot, reducing response times and false positives.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Young men have higher risk of gun death in some US cities than in war

In some U.S. ZIP codes, young men are more at risk of firearm-related injuries than military individuals deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, a study finds.

  • By Corrie Pikul, Futurity

Statistical model predicts daily high tide flooding

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a new model that can predict daily high tide flooding months in advance.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson