Law Enforcement

Despite what we see on TV and in movies, analyzing and matching latent prints is a difficult business and still the province of experts. But now scientists from NIST and Michigan State University are using algorithms and machine learning as a way to automate the process and make it more efficient.

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.

Lotus and Lamborghini police cars aren't exactly patrolling every city block, but they've become regular enough that they no longer shock. But the latest police supercar has come as a surprise. The world's first Mono police car puts a single officer inside BAC's open-air, track-focused roadster.

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.

The Grappler​ is a nasty little device that mounts to the front of police pursuit cars and stops a car chase right in its tracks, safely and securely. It shoots out a net that grabs onto the target's rear wheel, wraps around it and completely drags the axle to a stop while destroying the tire.

BulletSafe is becoming a bigger player in the casual bulletproof clothing market.​ In December 2014, it launched a Kickstarter for what it calls the "world's first bulletproof baseball cap." Just over a year later, it's turning its attention to a bulletproof T-shirt.

A new technique developed at Australia's CSIRO not only reveals fingerprints in cases when dusting won't, but makes them glow under UV light, enabling high resolution images to be easily captured for analysis.

Bulletproof vests are great if you get shot, but what happens if you get shot on a boat and fall overboard or have to dive into choppy waters to escape a fire? Well, hopefully you're wearing the Flotation Armor Torso System (FATS) from BCB Marine.

You know you're having a bad day when you wish you had a bulletproof laptop bag – as in proof against actual bullets. One such example of versatile urban luggage is the Savior Multi-Threat Shield (MTS) laptop bag, which unfolds in seconds into a shield that can stop a .44 Magnum round.