Category Archives: Expert Commentary

What had been one of the hundreds of violent offenses occurring in the city each week — all competing for the attention of an ever-dwindling police force — was now a homicide, tied to a much-scrutinized clearance rate.  As the detectives moved between the inconspicuous cement compound that housed the bar and the Super Clean Coin Laundry across the street, itContinue reading “Detroit Free Press: Does Detroit’s Project Green Light Really Make the City Safer?”

Eleven businesses along Monroe Street have joined Project Green Light, a program that sends real-time surveillance footage to the Detroit Police Department. The coordinated move, which was made official Tuesday, makes the Greektown district the city’s first “Green Light Corridor.” “Police can watch in real time, business owners can watch it on their own iPadsContinue reading “Detroit Free Press: Detroit’s Greektown district unveils surveillance to boost security”

New Yorkers Don’t Scare Easily…

For Rochester police, the gunfire detection system known as ShotSpotter has been a valuable tool, alerting them to possible shootings and speeding up the police response time. But, more than that, the system — which tries to locate gunfire through audio sensors placed in high-crime areas in the city — has also become part ofContinue reading “Democrat & Chronicle (Part of the USA Today Network): Is shot spotter reliable enough? Critics question human equation behind technology”

Can the Los Angeles Police Department be Trusted with Drones?

Will offering more reward money help Buffalo solve more homicides?

The alert blares from the computer like a ray gun from an old cartoon: WAH-wahwahwahwah. Jonathan, a ShotSpotter analyst, focuses on one of the six monitors in front of him and zooms in on a street-level map of Milwaukee. Next to the map are what look like Christmas trees on their sides–a cluster of greenContinue reading “Time Magazine: Shots Fired”

How much violence does each of New Jersey’s most populous cities see? Here’s a closer look at the State Police Uniform Crime Data for the largest cities in the state based on population. The 2016 data covers crime reported from January through December, 2016. Population figures were taken from the latest census data. Overall, theContinue reading “Star Ledger: What new numbers reveal about violent crime in each of N.J.’s 20 largest cities”

Magic bullet for Allentown? New citywide system would pinpoint gunshots…

Major violent and property crime in the mid-Hudson region has declined 42 percent from 1990 to 2015 despite a growing population, mirroring a national trend. The question is: Do you feel safer? A recent national poll suggests people don’t. The Gallup poll done in October 2016 found that Americans’ direct experience with crime was atContinue reading “Times Herald-Record: Perception vs. reality: People don’t feel safer despite drop in crime”