Public Safety
Covering topics such as corrections, criminal justice, emergency management, gun control and police/fire/EMS.
The causes of these alarming gaps in equitable access to emergency care are complex. Fixing the problem won’t come from patchwork efforts or temporary fixes.
The Legislative Emergency Board approved the funding last week. Spending on wildfires this year has reached $250 million, which is more than double the amount budgeted for the response.
By the time federal crime rate statistics are published, they're already out of date. A new online resource provides a month-to-month view of crime rates.
Last week, Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed the Aldermen’s unanimous vote to keep the gunshot detection technology, saying the system doesn’t work well enough to justify its costs. Some residents are worried that without it, police response time will lag.
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.
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