Law Enforcement

To reduce accidental deaths during civil disturbances, firearms manufacturer FN Herstal has developed a gun that not only fires less-than-lethal elastomer projectiles, it has a digital smart sight that can recognize human heads and refuse to fire at them.

Drones may be seeing more use by police forces, but they're still limited by short flight times, and the need for certified operators. Tech company Axon has set out to address the problem, by leveraging the existing Fotokite tethered drone.

The Epilepsy Foundation is striking back against a campaign by Twitter trolls to flood some hashtags with flashing GIFs designed to trigger seizures in vulnerable individuals. The cyber-attacks follow on from a similar attack on a journalist in 2016.

The Acusensus system can monitor several lanes of traffic at once, auto-detecting drivers using their phones and beginning the prosecution process.

Gearheads love noisy engines, but this enthusiasm is rarely shared by the general public – hence, the UK is trialing new noise camera technology. Just like speed cameras, they'll sit by the roadside watching and listening 24/7 to identify and ticket vehicles that exceed legal noise limits.

​Oregon's Arcimoto has unveiled a new variant of its battery electric three-wheeler that's aimed squarely at emergency, security and law enforcement services. The Rapid Responder is due to be tested at two locations in the US, ahead of production next year.​

2018 is fast becoming the year that facial recognition technology finally hits the mainstream with a constant torrent of stories revealing the growing use of these systems by law enforcement agencies. But some people are now asking if they violate civil liberties.

Three police forces – Devon, Cornwall and Dorset​ – have teamed up to create the UK's first dedicated drone unit that will provide 24/7 support to operational policing across the three counties.

With the prospect of robot police officers hitting our streets, it's worth taking a moment to look at the current state of affairs, where we're headed, and whether it's a good idea to give robots guns.

​A sensor designed for law enforcement can alert an officer's body cameras to start recording automatically when a weapon is drawn. The Axon Signal Sidearm from TASER International is a wireless sensor that attaches to an existing firearm holster and integrates with the company's wearable cameras.

​The ancient art of origami has been inspiring engineers and designers for decades. Now a team at Brigham Young University has used the Japanese folding technique to create a bullet-proof shield that is lightweight and portable, and can stop bullets from 9mm, .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum handguns.

Machine learning algorithms are already aiding police forces around the world, with systems designed to identify crime hotspots with the goal of preventing crimes before they occur. The Dubai Police is the latest to have AI backup, in the form of SIME's new Crime Prediction software.