Public Safety
Covering topics such as corrections, criminal justice, emergency management, gun control and police/fire/EMS.
President Donald Trump’s push to eliminate a federal disaster preparedness program threatens a fund used by state health systems from Republican-led Texas to the Democratic stronghold of California.
The emergency declaration would kick off a “public education” campaign about road safety for drivers and pedestrians and would jumpstart the implementation of “quick-build” safety projects.
The Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit began in 2018 and put behavioral health practitioners with police officers to assist with mental health and/or chemical dependency calls. The city plans to launch a new program next year.
An economist is making the case for such a correlation, and it carries a ring of plausibility.
Gov. Jeff Landry praised the state’s investment in coastal protection projects, such as levee infrastructure, as one reason why the Category 2 storm spared most of Louisiana from major destruction.
The bill states that Baltimore “shall be entitled to recover for economic loss” from the bridge collapse which stalled the city’s port activity, reallocated emergency services and impacted local workers. But some legal experts are skeptical.
We know what works to prevent tragedies like the recent one at a Georgia high school. Effective gun policies could save thousands of lives.
The City Council approved a three-year, $336,362 contract with a gunshot detection program, which alerts police when it picks up the sound of a potential gunshot. Gunshot detection systems have long sparked questions of accuracy, expense and efficacy.
Rainfall patterns are changing. What can local leaders do to curb the growing risks?
License plate flippers are commonly used at auto shows to allow drivers to switch between custom or decorative plates. But now drivers are using them to evade detection and cities and states across the nation are enacting laws to prohibit their use.
Across California there have been concerted efforts to ban or restrict cellphone use in schools to limit distractions from learning. But given the most recent school shooting, some are questioning the safety risk of such bans.
Fines and fees are common throughout the criminal justice system, but they can strain the finances of families already experiencing instability and widen income and racial disparities.
Designating them by law would go a long way toward addressing the many issues these critical services face. They have evolved over decades to encompass a multitude of responsibilities.
In 2020 and 2022, annual spending on the issue didn’t exceed $7 million and between 2013 and 2017, Philly spent an average of $9 million annually to settle police misconduct cases. But misconduct spending has since skyrocketed.
Sales of e-bikes in the U.S. grew more than 280 percent from 2019 to 2022. However, from 2017 to 2022, there have also been 233 deaths associated with e-bikes, e-scooters and hoverboards.
2020 made police reform “sexy” on a policy level, leading to a significant increase in civilian oversight boards around the country. However, in the years following, many of these boards are still trying to find their footing.
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