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.
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.
On Aug. 18 a slow-moving storm system brought remnants of Hurricane Ernesto to Connecticut and New York. Within 12 hours, the region saw two 1,000-year rainfalls just 35 miles apart. Experts say this will likely become more common.
Courts have upheld some bans but struck down others. Some cities and at least one state have considered restricting panhandling in traffic medians due to safety reasons.
After months of searching for a policy, the Durango, Colo., Fire Department was able to find a company that would write an affordable policy to cover the construction of its new firehouse.
As officers’ salaries increased, so did police killings of Black Americans. Job protections from collective bargaining can make some officers less worried about consequences. We need to rethink union contracts.
State Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has issued major changes to how police officers should handle situations involving barricaded individuals after several instances in which people experiencing mental health crises have been shot.
The state’s largest current fire has encompassed nearly all 41,000 acres of the Ishi Wilderness, which hadn’t seen significant fire since 1990. No one from Cal Fire has been able to set foot in the wilderness area since the Park Fire began.
A study found that earthquakes before 2017 in Texas’ Delaware Basin originated at shallow depths that correspond to where wastewater from fracking was disposed. Nearly 2,000 earthquakes hit West Texas in 2021.
Automated external defibrillators are safe and easy for just about anyone to use, and they could save the lives of thousands of cardiac arrest victims every year. Making them available in public spaces is a job for state and local policymakers.
The databases are fraught with problems from due process to privacy rights to racial and ethnic disparities, raising the question of whether they really make cities safer.
Gun rights groups spent a total of $33.2 million in the 2020 election to re-elect Trump; the NRA alone spent more than $16 million. Gun control groups also spent $23.5 million in 2020 to boost Democrats.
The MyShake App is a free tool that delivers alerts to users as soon as ground sensors detect significant shaking in their hometown.
Despite fires and floods, they keep coming in search of affordability and warm winters. But there are strong signs that the stampede is slowing.
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