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.
During the pandemic, sparse crowds on transit systems gave way to uncivil behavior and crime. Today, debates are breaking out around the best policy to fix the problem while figuring out the role of law enforcement.
America has plenty of genuine heroes, people who have put everything on the line for our freedom and safety. Those who did no more than stand up to a defeated president’s lies don’t qualify.
There are just 450 postal police officers left in the U.S. That’s down 130 in the past three years, just half as many as in 2008, and one-sixth the number who patrolled the mail system in the 1970s.
Several cities across the state are considering pilot scooter programs. Ensuring the safe use of micromobile vehicles requires analysis of driver behaviors, road infrastructure and local regulation.
Western states are in the forefront of bringing technology to bear to expunge the records of long-ago convictions and provide new economic opportunity for millions of Americans.
Election officials are working in an unprecedented climate of antagonism, with threats on the increase. A nonpartisan group of election and law enforcement officials have joined forces to give them resources and support.
The City Council Finance Committee voted to increase the speeding ticket threshold for automated speed cameras to 10 miles per hour above the limit. Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls the move “unconscionable.”
It seemed we were on a path to genuine progress after the death of George Floyd, but those efforts have faded. There are things we can do to get back on track.
While the state has always been an open-carry state, the new law now allows gun owners to carry a firearm without undergoing gun safety training required for a permit. Critics worry the new law will risk public safety.
The state Supreme Court ruled that a person’s race should be taken into consideration when determining the legality of police seizures. The Court also changed the rules for excluding a potential juror based on race.
Mayor Jim Kenney’s proposal has a broad definition of anti violence and would include initiatives to push for police and prison reform and would restore spending to agencies that saw cuts in the pandemic. Some say it’s not enough.
Deaths and injuries from motor vehicle accidents were once rampant. Research showed how to decrease the number of fatal crashes and it worked. Patrick Carter believes we can achieve similar results with guns.
A study has found that within the first three years of its being enacted, the state’s “red flag” law kept guns away from at least 58 people who threatened to commit mass shootings. The state had the seventh lowest firearm death rate in 2020.
As natural disasters grow more severe across the country, local governments are increasingly using predictive analytics to understand where and when an emergency will impact their communities.
A proponent of data and performance analytics, the three-term mayor is equally invested in compassionate government.
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