Web-based traffic signs seem like the perfect solution for agencies that have speed enforcement problems. With the ability to change the sign’s message online — as well as receive alerts and data from the sign — no longer do supervisors need to send precious units to the signs to perform these functions manually. But in…
Category Archives: 2.0 Technology
5 free resources for high tech crimes investigators
Last week I wrote about the need to become better informed on high tech crimes, the better to help victims of identity theft, cyberstalking, and other complex crimes. Fortunately, free resources exist. TLO Designed for agencies that can’t afford a subscription to Lexis-Nexis’ Accurint or ChoicePoint, TLO is rapidly becoming a strong competitor for both…
Illinois Agency Issues Video Game to Teach Kids
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Ari Herzog, a social media marketer who serves on the Newburyport (Mass.) city council. A longtime Cops 2.0 reader, Ari is a proponent of open government — government agencies using technology to make the public part of what they do. Today’s post is about how one of them is…
Tech for good… and harm
Former Cops 2.0 partner Scott White, who retired from law enforcement last year, has a couple of interesting blog posts up at his blog, Scott’s Morning Brew. They’re about “de-policing,” or a phenomenon in which police are rendered — or rather, render themselves — virtually powerless by their fear of being sued or disciplined or,…
Gov2Social: Agencies’ new one stop shop
Researching social media use by other police departments – but don’t have the time to troll through the Twitter lists or Facebook pages? Check out Gov2Social, the new service from Microsoft’s Bright Side of Government. As Bright Side’s Kristin Bockius writes: First, Gov2Social is a social media directory for state and local governments. Why is…
It’s an encyclopedia! It’s a FAQ! It’s… a wiki?
From the Hawaiian word for “fast,” the wiki is perhaps best exemplified in Wikipedia… but is not limited to the long, sprawling, and not always accurate encyclopedic entries found there. At least one law enforcement agency is using it as a way of both public and internal messaging, in the kind of model that might…