A bill reintroduced in the Senate Oct. 24 aims to increase the reach of emergency alert communications on national and state levels by preventing some alert opt-outs on mobile phones, requiring that alerts issued by the White House or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) be run repeatedly by television and radio stations, and exploring how to create a system to offer emergency alerts on audio and video online streaming services.

NetChoice, a business trade group focused on promoting free speech and free enterprise on the internet, launched a public campaign on Oct. 7 to defend law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology, and is taking aim at anti-facial recognition effort in Massachusetts.

FirstNet

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) released its new Roadmap for the future of FirstNet today, a nationwide broadband network dedicated to public safety.

In a move to modernize its police force, the City of Davenport, Iowa has implemented a “more efficient infrastructure for its virtual desktop infrastructure” that has enabled the city to optimize the use of police cars and law enforcement resources, as well as improve the accessibility of police video footage.

FirstNet

The Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) took the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to task in a July 22 report that finds “control weaknesses” in FirstNet’s handling of a $336 million payment it made to its contractor AT&T.

Lafayette Parish Communication District in Louisiana is moving its 911 service to the cloud. With natural disasters in mind, the Parish has purchased a new cloud-based solution to ensure that its 911 service never goes down.

For the second time in as many years, the tornado sirens in Dallas County, Texas have been hacked.

Google

In a cease and desist letter sent Saturday, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) demanded that Google stop sharing the location of Driving While Impaired (DWI) checkpoints on its navigation app, Waze. In the letter, signed by department’s acting deputy commissioner for legal matters, Ann P. Prunty, the NYPD explained that under the city’s Vision Zero initiative its trying to eliminate all traffic fatalities and “paramount to the success of this initiative” is the police enforcing all DWI laws.

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