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Public safety

News and Updates

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Sniffing Like a Dog Can Improve Trace Detection of Explosives

December 1, 2016

By mimicking how dogs get their whiffs, government and university researchers have demonstrated that “active sniffing” can improve by more than 10 times the...

Fire and Explosion Investigation Guideline Approved for OSAC Registry

September 20, 2016

The Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science has approved the National Fire Protection Association Guide for Fire and Explosion...

Robotic Exoskeletons: The Standards Gap

September 15, 2016

Robotic exoskeletons are a common sight in science fiction movies—think Ironman, or the power loader that Ellen Ripley used to wrestle her nemesis in Aliens—but...

The box cover for Asteroids for the Atari 7800 gaming system

Digital Forensics Rescues Retro Video Games and Software

September 12, 2016

Starting in the mid-1980s, a young man named Stephen Cabrinety filled his home with video games and software. He piled unopened boxes to the ceilings—everything...

NIST and Navy Tests Suggest Telecom Networks Could Back Up GPS Time Signals

September 8, 2016

Precision time signals sent through the Global Positioning System (GPS) synchronize cellphone calls, time-stamp financial transactions, and support safe travel...

NIST engineer Ben Posthuma demonstrates the use of NIST's Rapidly Deployable Public Safety Research Platform

NIST’s Rolling Wireless Net Helps Improve First-Responder Communications

August 10, 2016

First responders often have trouble communicating with each other in emergencies. They may use different types of radios, or they may be working in rural areas...

Joint OSAC FSSB and NIST Statement on ASTM E2329-14

July 5, 2016

On Jan. 11, 2016, the OSAC Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) voted to elevate ASTM Standard E2329-14 "Standard Practice for Identification of Seized Drugs...

Department of Justice and National Institute of Standards and Technology Name Two Experts as New Members of National Commission on Forensic Science

June 16, 2016

DOJ Contact: Office of Public Affairs, 202-514-2007 WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Commerce's National Institute of...

Portable NIST Kit Can Recover Traces of Chemical Evidence

January 7, 2016

A chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a portable version of his method for recovering trace chemicals such as...

R&D by NIST and Partners Yields New Standard for Safer Ambulances

September 22, 2015

Thanks to a newly updated standard for ambulance design based on research and development by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and two...

Who, What, WHEN: Determining the Age of Fingerprints

August 24, 2015

Watch the imprint of a tire track in soft mud, and it will slowly blur, the ridges of the pattern gradually flowing into the valleys. Researchers at the...

OSAC Opens Public Comment Period for Five Existing Standards for Potential Inclusion on the OSAC Registry of Approved Standards

August 13, 2015

Forensic science service providers need access to a uniform set of standards that support scientifically sound and statistically valid test results, laboratory...

OSAC Opens Public Comment Period for Five Existing Standards for Potential Inclusion on the OSAC Registry of Approved Standards

August 13, 2015

Forensic science service providers need access to a uniform set of standards that support scientifically sound and statistically valid test results, laboratory...

U.S. Departments of Justice and Commerce Name Six Experts as New Members of National Commission on Forensic Science

August 6, 2015

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced six...

NIST and NTIA Seek Industry Partners for Public Safety Communications Test Bed

July 14, 2015

The Commerce Department's Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program is signing up a new round of industry collaborators for the test bed used to...

Research Roadmap Traces the Path to 'Smart' Fire Fighting

June 18, 2015

When responding to the more than 1.2 million blazes reported annually, the nation's firefighters usually start with a dangerous disadvantage: They often lack...

International Symposium on Forensic Science Error Management Announces Brandon Mayfield and Steven Wax as Keynote Speakers

June 9, 2015

#NISTForensics We are pleased to introduce our two keynote speakers for the first-ever International Symposium on Forensic Science Error Management, an event...