The region's toughest red-light camera busted drivers 24,000 times last year

One-third to half of those killed by police are disabled, a recent report says. “Our problem isn’t with police,” one mental health advocate says, but both sides say officers need more training.

Many young Latina women live their lives in fear of gang violence. The Montgomery County Street Outreach Network rescues girls in danger and offers services to them in order to help them change their chances of success.

Despite advancements in technology in most sectors of life leading to an increase to access of information about practically anything, little is still known about the ocean and its behavioral patterns. Liquid Robotics – a Silicon Valley-based company – is trying to change that. Engineers here have created the "Wave Glider," which essentially acts as a router within the ocean powered by wave energy and solar panels. This invention can transmit data on tectonic activity that has the potential to predict tsunamis.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a domestic violence court offers funnels perpetrators into programs that offer counseling and other services to address the root causes of their behavior. Its two tracks focus on first-time offenders to short-circuit any escalation into chronic abuse, as well as those with multiple domestic violence charges. Judges work closely with participants to encourage them and call them out when they aren't meeting their obligations, and recidivism rates among those who complete the programs are far lower than those who do not.

U.S. Highway 97 is one of the highest travelled roads through Washington, but it is also one of the most dangerous due to wildlife crossings. Taking note of successful initiatives in other states and countries, Washington is making moves to implement underpasses which will reduce the rate of accidents and cut down on medical and vehicular collision costs.

Long the target of jail-reduction advocates, New York City’s Rikers Island jail released more than one-quarter of its inmates within the first two months of a coronavirus outbreak behind bars. The early releases stemmed from a combination of factors: a strategy to limit the spread of the virus, a result of a new state law limiting the imposition of cash bail, and a significant drop in crime during New York’s social-distancing lockdown. Police complained that large numbers of those released committed new crimes, but decarceration advocates say the releases on the whole were conducted safely.

Since its April 2018 founding in Malaysia, the Be My Protector app has enabled interventions in 120 cases of suspected human trafficking, sparked by anonymous reports that its app enables. In about a third of those cases, which mostly involved migrant workers in South and Southeast Asia, the victims were able to return to their homes, while others were offered counseling. But, like the more than 90 such apps available around the world, Be My Protector has struggled to make a big impact. Many such apps capitalize on a trendy subject without a clear focus on improving conditions and helping victims.

A growing number of governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations are working together with new technology and data to identify fishing vessels that are breaking laws and engaging in human rights violations. Using satellite imagery and tracking signals, for example, a philanthropic company and a nonprofit worked with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to help the Ghanian navy arrest four vessels for illegal fishing practices. Technology by itself won’t stop forced labor and unregulated ships, but it can be helpful for cash-strapped governments looking to increase oversight of their fisheries.

It turns out the old adage of knowing your neighbor really can help make your neighborhood safer. A study of more than 250 cities found that a key factor behind a drop in crime in the last 20 years was the mobilizing of citizens by nonprofit organizations like block clubs. In Milwaukee these “urban guardians” have helped bring communities together and foster safer spaces that also address urban blight.

The elder abuse task force is a specialized unit of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department that provides critical services to older residents and issues abuse-related warrants. Since its founding in 2018, the unit has served nearly 2,000 elderly residents and issued over 275 warrants; now, this abuse-prevention model is being scaled statewide.