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In 2004, Thomas Hargrove, a 61-year-old retired news reporter from Virginia, became aware of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Supplementary Homicide Report (https://ucr.fbi.gov/) and contemplated whether it was possible to teach a computer how to spot serial killers. He spent months trying to develop an algorithm which would identify unsolved cases with enough commonalities to suggest the same murderer. Hargrove eventually founded the Murder Accountability Project (MAP) (http://murderdata.org/), a small nonprofit seeking to make FBI murder data more…

A new smartphone application has law enforcement concerned about sexual predators gaining access to children’s private information. In a matter of minutes, anyone – including sexual predators – can get on the Live.me application and watch videos of people near them and gather information the user provides. From Facebook to Instagram to Twitter, there are now so many different ways people can “go live” on social media. The one big difference with this app is that anyone can watch and…

Recently, the Los Angeles, California, Police Commission adopted a revised use-of-force policy which calls on officers to avoid resorting to deadly force by de-escalating the tension in interactions with the public. The policy has the backing of the union representing the Los Angeles Police Department’s more than 8,000 rank-and-file officers. LAPD officials said that, with the recent focus on de-escalation, and now the adoption of the revised policy and training programs, the focus is on minimizing the number of police shootings…

New toolkit presents practical strategies based on feedback from community members and law enforcement practitioners The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) in partnership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) announced the release of a new toolkit which provides resources to help build relationships of trust between law enforcement agencies and communities of color. Bridging the Trust Gap Between Law Enforcement and Communities of Color Toolkit identifies challenges which often plague law…

Following the tragic shooting of nine African-American churchgoers attending a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in June 2015, law enforcement in Charleston, South Carolina, acted quickly to identify Dylann Roof as the suspect. Using surveillance footage from the church, law enforcement pulled photos of Roof and distributed them throughout the media. Less than 16 hours after the attack, police had arrested the suspect nearly four hours away from Charleston. Police were able to quickly identify and apprehend this dangerous felon,…

Do you want to know why your diet isn’t working…how to survive psychologically as a cop…what clues may signal mental illness in a fellow officer…how to use the right self-talk to improve performance…or answers to a growing list of other health and fitness questions relevant to law enforcement? Now, there’s an app for that, thanks to the creative energy of Force Science instructor Dr. John Azar-Dickens. A practicing clinical psychologist, college professor and sworn police officer, Azar-Dickens recently launched the…

The Information Sharing Environment (ISE) has always been focused on terrorism-related information sharing. With terrorist groups’ ever increasing level of sophistication in their use of the Internet, it is only natural that information sharing play a role in tackling cyberterrorism. The ISE supports professional networks and associations which are building the tools which are needed during a potential terrorist attack and underpins the critical relationship with, and between, groups such as the National Fusion Center Association, the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies and the International Association of…

The Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) recently announced that its report, Deadly Calls and Fatal Encounters, which was produced by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) and funded by the COPS Office, provides analysis of 684 cases involving line of duty deaths over a five year period (2010-2014). The purpose of this report is to identify the situations which present officers the most risk and make recommendations to enhance officer safety. For…

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has released a newly redesigned Body-Worn Camera Toolkit (BWC Toolkit) to the public. The BWC Toolkit was developed to assist law enforcement agencies to implement body-worn camera programs using the best research currently available, with input from both criminal justice and community stakeholders. The BWC Toolkit consolidates and translates the growing body of knowledge about body-worn camera programs and technology. The toolkit is available at https://www.bja.gov/bwc

The U.S. Department of Justice is compiling a catalog of wearable cameras and has begun requesting product information from vendors. In preparation for the publication of a product comparison catalog, the National Institute of Justice has asked suppliers to suggest which wearable camera features should be highlighted in the resource, as well as detail their current offerings. The catalog will also detail data protection and privacy controls features per product and should be available to law enforcement agencies by December…