In a move to help increase law enforcement accountability, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is releasing $7.65 million in a competitive microgrant grant solicitation that will fund body-worn cameras (BWCs) to any law enforcement department with 50 or fewer full-time sworn personnel, rural agencies, and Federally-recognized Tribal agencies.
Penn State University Police and Public Safety (UPPS) announced that it has adopted the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), a dedicated nationwide broadband network for public safety organizations.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a solicitation for collaboration efforts on the design, implementation, and operation of a nationwide geographic information system (GIS) data store as a means to create and adopt technical and operational requirements for a national interconnected 911 landscape.
A University of Southern California (USC) research institute is establishing the first public database for police officer firings and resignations through the creation of a national registry to track police conduct.
The unprecedented events of 2020 caused increased public records requests for COVID-19 data and information about crisis planning and processes. The types of requests are becoming more complex for health departments, law enforcement, and public safety agencies. Additionally, the rush to remote work during the pandemic led to inaccessible, non-digitized records, increasing the time to release.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that it will allow state, local, territorial, and tribal task force officers to use body-worn cameras on Federal task forces nationwide.
The Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) is offering up $10 million in funding to research how COVID-19 spreads on public transit.
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced today that he has appointed Tip Osterthaler as chair of the FirstNet Authority Board.
The latest COVID-19 relief legislation being prepared by House Democrats – the HEROES Act – proposes $90 billion in funding for the Department of Education to help K-12 and colleges adjust to distance learning.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to play out with no firm end-date in sight, its impact on major events has been felt widely and the status of future events grows only more uncertain.
