Public Safety
Covering topics such as corrections, criminal justice, emergency management, gun control and police/fire/EMS.
Enhancements and weatherization efforts mean this year’s freezing weather did not overwhelm the state’s electric system. But policymakers face tough decisions as future load projections grow.
Research suggesting the 2020 California wildfires could have erased years of benefits from the state’s climate efforts has attracted international attention. Forest ecologists say it’s not that simple.
The data tool enables law enforcement officers to see “patterns of life,” where and when people work and live, with whom they associate and what places they visit.
In the 1920s, a Studebaker dealer led the successful national effort to give motorists priority and marginalize walking, blaming pedestrians for their own injuries and deaths. We need a radical revision in our conception of city streets.
Millions are serving unjust sentences or struggling with permanent marks on their records. Pardons, expungements and commutations can provide a second chance for an individual, a family and a community.
Gov. Bill Lee announced on Oct. 11 a $100 million “Violent Crime Intervention Fund” from which local law enforcement agencies can apply for grants to improve public safety. Early voting for the Nov. 8 election begins next week.
We've made it far too easy for minor disputes to erupt into deadly violence. Rather than simply throwing more money at police, we need to get serious about mental health treatment, mediation and other approaches that can save lives.
Even though mental illness is just as pervasive in rural communities, crisis response teams have been slow to grow beyond cities partly due to a lack of resources. Unfortunately, there's not a simple solution.
Voters will be asked to make it a "fundamental individual right" to keep and bear arms, and that any restraint on that right is invalid. But firearms remain the primary cause of death in domestic violence homicides.
Unwelcome drones have been cited for distracting pilots with erratic motion, risking collision and delaying help for those in need. The unmanned aerial onlookers have been found to tail the department’s helicopters.
Our prisons don’t have enough staffers to protect inmates or themselves. Better pay, benefits and working conditions are needed, and there are other effective strategies.
While Washington state saw a 16 percent increase in road deaths between 2020 and 2021, Pierce County saw a 34 percent year-to-year jump, alerting officials of the dire need for road safety reform.
More than a dozen states have enacted laws regulating how law enforcement uses it. But federal legislation is needed: A piecemeal approach doesn't keep all citizens safe from misidentification.
The state’s Department of Administration’s Hearings and Appeals Division reports a backlog of 13,842 workers’ compensation cases, caused, in part, by the pandemic. Officials currently have no concrete plans for reform.
Burnout, retirements and uncompetitive salaries have exacerbated a growing scarcity of workers in critical job positions for managing infrastructure, transit and disaster preparedness.
The CEO of PostcardMania, a company based in Clearwater, Fla., has issued an apology to its employees after downplaying the severity of Hurricane Ian and encouraging staff to bring their pets and families to the office and not miss work.
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