What Are Massachusetts Public Schools Doing Right? The Atlantic
The Bay State may be tops when it comes to reading and math, but officials aren’t resting on their laurels. Instead, they’re directing resources towards Massachusetts’s achievement gap, which remains stubbornly high. Can a focus on social-emotional learning and childhood trauma bring disadvantaged students up to the same level as their more affluent peers?
Give Directly to the Homeless Through a New Sharing Economy App, Fast Co.Exist
Known as the “City of Goodwill,” Seattle is living up to its moniker. Thanks to one tech entrepreneur and an advocate for the homeless, residents can now use the WeCount app to donate unwanted items (think: blankets, coats, sleeping bags) directly to those most in need. With homelessness an ongoing problem in many urban areas, let’s hope this technology spreads across the country — fast.
What If Mental Health First Aid Were as Widespread as CPR? New York City’s Planning to Do It, Yes! Magazine
Often, law enforcement encounter people suffering from mental illness, yet many haven’t received the education necessary to recognize and provide assistance (instead of arrest). In response, the New York Police Department is joining forces with the National Council for Behavioral Health to provide 250,000 first responders with mental health first aid training. The ultimate goal? To prevent suicide, which currently takes 40,000 lives each year.
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Tag: NYPD
How New York City Police Plan to Use Smart Roofs to Control Gun Violence
As temperatures heat up, New York City police are cracking down on crime with a little help from the rooftops.
The NYPD announced plans to roll out a $1.5 million pilot program which uses rooftop sensors to monitor and determine the exact location of gunshots stretching over 15 square miles of the city, Capital New York reports.
The city has seen a recent uptick in shootings: 562 as of July 6 compared to 514 during the same time period last year. Mayor Bill de Blasio first mentioned the sensor program, created by California-based ShotSpotter Inc., when he ran for office last year.
Police commissioner Bill Bratton, who formerly served on ShotSpotter’s board, called the sensors “extraordinarily effective” at a City Council hearing in May.
“The best systems are those that you can tie in with your camera systems. You not only get recording of the gunshots, but you get the camera activation right away,” he said.
The two-year program includes special strategically placed microphones that use triangulation to detect exact locations of gunshots in real-time. Analysts monitor the microphones around the clock and distinguish the difference between actual gunshots and false positives from other sounds such as fireworks.
“This is the type of new and innovative technology that can be instrumental in aiding efforts to reduce the number of shootings and save lives in communities that have been hot spots of gun violence,” said City Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, who chairs the public safety committee.
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This Is the Police Cruiser of the Future
The New York Police Department’s (NYPD) newest squad car drives on data. The prototype “smart car” that the NYPD has been road-testing for about a year is outfitted with the latest safety and surveillance devices available to the department, including a video camera that can send a live feed of crime scenes back to headquarters; air sensors that detect radiation and other contaminants; and infrared monitors that scan license plate numbers and addresses and check them against a database to identify stolen vehicles or other problems. It’s the police cruiser of the future, and it exists now.
The prototype, which is based in the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn Heights, helps officers connect the intelligence they gather in the field with the data-crunching system at headquarters. The system analyzes incoming data, including video feeds and other raw info, then alerts officers to potential incidents and crimes. The idea is to help get police to crime scenes faster — and better prepared.
The smart car is just one of dozens of initiatives included in NYPD2020, a long-term strategic plan that the department began in 2011 with the help of the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Other projects involve counterterrorism awareness training for traffic cops, new guidelines for recruiting and retaining talent in the force, equipping officers with smartphones that can offer up-to-the-minute crime data, and the completion of a new 30-acre training academy in Queens.
There’s an emphasis on high-tech in NYPD2020, which could be a boon for public safety and the police force. Making use of technology should ideally strengthen police’s impact without exposing them to greater risk.