Some 458 officers died in the line of duty, making 2021 the deadliest year since 1930. The vast majority of deaths — 301 — are attributed to COVID-19, followed by firearm and traffic incidents.
Bibb County sheriff’s officials last week unveiled a portable, solar-powered security camera that can, from 25 feet up, scan crowds and zoom in on trouble should it arise at public events.
In a video, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee invited police officers from New York to Los Angeles to join the Tennessee Highway Patrol, saying that "we won't get between you and your doctor."
A six-month investigation of Glynn County police records and court documents by The Current show a persistent lack of accountability among county law enforcement that stretches back a decade.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Speaker of the House David Ralston has unveiled a sweeping $75 million proposal to confront escalating crime, especially in metro Atlanta. The plan includes bonuses for local law enforcement officers and an increase in funding for law enforcement agencies — as well as for an expansion of mental health services. Democratic House members said they’ll work with Ralston on his plan even as they recognize it’s part of a GOP effort to use crime-fighting as a wedge issue in the 2022 election cycle.
Meanwhile, the guessing game over the possibility of a big-name Republican emerging to challenge U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock continues this week, and the effect of COVID on U.S. life expectancy is discussed.
A 2020 Supreme Court decision returned policing and prosecutions to tribal authorities, and the Muscogee Nation's tribal police want to interact differently with the community.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms shocked many by announcing last week she will not be running for reelection. She said that this is coming from a place of strength and not weakness. But her critics have said that what she calls a “COVID Crime Wave” and her handling of the firing of Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe, who shot Rayshard Brooks last summer, made her vulnerable if she had chosen to run. This week on Georgia Today, we look at some issues Bottoms faced during her tenure as mayor with CNN national correspondent Ryan Young.
Stanley Martin wants to rethink Rochester police — a radical new plan to abolish the police gradually. Others also talk about "reimagining" police, though they mean the same word very differently.
The video of George Floyd's death was critical evidence in the murder trial of convicted ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. That video and others are changing trials and police training.
"We want to be partners with the DOJ to bring about meaningful, sustainable and significant reforms," the mayor's letter says. It comes a week after 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant was killed by police.
