Security Designed Into a McKinney, TX, Building Protected Occupants (Dallas Morning News) Design that merges “safety, sustainability and humanity” protected the occupants of the McKinney public safety building “when Patrick Gray Sharp fired more than 100 rounds at” the structure on August 17, reports the Morning News. “Secure access points and the arrangement of rooms create a buffer between McKinney law enforcement officials and the public. Windows sit just above eye level to prevent direct attack. They slope to limit ledges for explosive devices. Bulletproof glass protects the lobby, and bullet-resistant liner lies inside the masonry walls. Outside, concrete structures called bollards block cars from smashing through the entrance. Manicured trees make climbing or concealment difficult. Thorny bushes [are] near the building’s sides. Transformers and utilities sit several meters away from the 84,100-square-foot structure.” View article

Canary Software Can Detect Hazardous Water Supply Contaminants The Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department have collaborated in developing Canary water quality software that enhances a water system’s ability to detect intentional or unintentional contamination. It can help detect a wide variety of chemical and biological contaminants, including pesticides, metals, and pathogens. Once contamination is detected quickly, a water utility can issue a “Do not drink” order to prevent customers from ingesting the water. View press release

Southern Command Uses ‘All Partners Access Network’ to Coordinate Disaster Relief (Emergency Management) U.S. Southern Command set up the All Partners Access Network the day after the Haiti earthquake “to help coordinate disaster relief efforts of more than 300 government and nongovernmental organizations,” reports Emergency Management. “Using blogs, wikis, online chat, forums, calendars and file-sharing capabilities, [the network] and information from other tools—such as the open source Sahana disaster management system—connected people in need with those who could provide assistance.” However, the network faced obstacles, too: limited bandwidth and responders who were unaware of the network. An obstacle to its use in the United States is that the network “operates outside the Incident Command System.” View article

FBI Uses Terror-Probe Tactics to Fight Fraud (Wall Street Journal) “Federal Bureau of Investigation officials in New York are increasingly employing tools and techniques used to hunt terrorists”—“the use of human sources, so-called tripwire programs, and internal intelligence reports”—“to take aim at a different kind of criminal: white-collar con artists and inside traders,” reports the Journal. View article

Durham, NC, Uses 3-D to Guide Emergency Response (Emergency Management) The Durham Emergency Communications Center has “started using 3-D technology to observe the locations of residents in trouble,” reports Emergency Management. This month, the center “launched advanced tools that show the exact origins of 911 calls in a 3-D, aerial image. Communications officers can view any property, building, highway or other structure in Durham County from 12 different angles, and obtain measurements and elevation from the imagery. This technology is critical when it comes to [geographic information system] mapping, transportation and community planning. And in the case of Durham, its usefulness includes missions for first responders, who can better assess the scene of an incident.” [View article]

DHS Funds Public Health Extension of Incident Management System The Homeland Security Department has awarded a contract to ElanTech for a public health extension of its Incident Management Decision Support System. The new software tool will bring together all information pertinent to the management of a public health emergency in a single, intuitive, geospatially organized digital dashboard, says ElanTech. [View ElanTech press release]

FBI Video Teaches Use of Surveillance Cameras (Security Management) “The FBI has released a 20-minute video that shows how private sector use of surveillance cameras can aid law enforcement,” reports Security Management. The instructional video, Caught on Camera, shows how to get maximum effect from closed-circuit TV. It is available free on DVD to members of law enforcement; business owners; closed-circuit TV vendors, suppliers, and contractors; and educators. [View article] [View video] [View Focus on Closed-Circuit TV]

CDC Uses Shopper-Card Data to Trace Salmonella (Yahoo! News) “As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time—the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries,” reports the Associated Press. “With permission from the patients, investigators followed the trail of grocery purchases to a Rhode Island company that makes salami, then zeroed in on the pepper used to season the meat. Never before had the CDC successfully mined the mountain of data that supermarket chains compile.” [View article]

Robot Market Expands for Homeland Security and First Responders Technological, logistical, political, and market forces have brought mobile robotics to the point where robots are useful to every arm of the first responder and homeland security services, according to a new report by WinterGreen Research. Growth is coming as border patrols and law enforcement agencies use robots to achieve broader security less expensively. WinterGreen expects the cost of robots to decrease rapidly in the next year, creating a much larger market. Still, it is a challenge for vendors to find applications where robots can be used every day around the clock, such as at airports and border patrol crossing points, where there is continuous need to sniff for explosives. [View press release (32KB PDF)]

Google Maps Help Disaster Relief (Newsweek) Before-and-after satellite photos distributed via Google Maps show “roadways that are now inaccessible and bridges that are uncrossable,” and “this satellite imagery is actually being used in rescue and recovery efforts,” reports Newsweek. Google’s “Lat Long Blog says it ‘received numerous requests from relief organizations and our users to share recent satellite imagery of the country.’ … the vast amount of satellite imagery also represents a huge potential for tracking and understanding urban changes in non-disaster situations.” [View article] [View Google Maps]

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