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Public safety

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Displaying 1 - 25 of 125

Drug Detection, Analysis, and Monitoring Workshop Report

August 30, 2024
Author(s)
Edward Sisco
This report is a summary of a workshop convened to capture the analytical and data challenges inherent to the detection, identification, and monitoring of illicit drugs in the United States – specifically highlighting current practices, challenges, and

Redundant Ballistic Chronograph Configuration for Body Armor Testing

July 28, 2023
Author(s)
Michael A. Riley, Nicholas G. Paulter Jr., Dwight D. Barry
A new configuration of the light screen pairs used in a redundant ballistic chronograph is described. This configuration complies with current ASTM International and National Institute of Justice requirements for measuring the ballistic performance of body

Field-Deployable Devices

January 1, 2023
Author(s)
Thomas P. Forbes, Raychelle Burks
Reductions in instrument size, weight, and power continue to facilitate the development and application of field-deployable devices for investigative purposes. Portable analytical instrumentation supporting the rapid and reliable identification of two

Effects of Thermal Aging on Molar Mass of Ultra-High Molar Mass Polyethylene Fibers

March 24, 2022
Author(s)
Zois Tsinas, Sara Orski, Viviana Bentley, Lorelis Gonzalez-Lopez, Mohamad Al-Sheikhly, Amanda L. Forster
Ultra-high molar mass polyethylene (UHMMPE) is commonly used for ballistic-resistant body armor applications due to the superior strength of the fibers fabricated from this material combined with its low density. However, polymeric materials are

Temperature-insensitive silicone composites as ballistic witness materials: the impact of water content on the thermophysical properties

July 28, 2021
Author(s)
Ran Tao, Fan Zhang, Huong Giang Nguyen, Philip Bernstein, Amanda L. Forster, Randy Mrozek, Aaron M. Forster
In this work, different formulations of a room-temperature silicone composite backing material (SCBM) composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), fumed silica and corn starch were investigated using different characterization techniques, i.e., differential

Forensic Handwriting Examination and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach

June 1, 2021
Author(s)
Melissa Taylor, Brett Bishop, Ted Burkes, Michael Caligiuri, Bryan Found, Carolyne Bird, Wesley Grose, Lauren Logan, Kenneth Melson, Mara Merlino, Larry Miller, Linton Mohammed, Jonathan Morris, John Paul Osborn, Nikola Osborne, Brent Ostrum, Christopher Saunders, Scott Shappell, H. David Sheets, Sargur Srihari, Reinoud Stoel, Thomas Vastrick, Heather Waltke, Emily Will
For some 6,000 years, humans have made an indelible mark on history through the loops, strokes, and other characters that constitute the written form of language - handwriting. The study of handwriting is also an important part of forensic science. By

Study of bomb technician threat identification task performance on distorted X-ray images

March 24, 2021
Author(s)
Jack Leigh Glover, Praful Gupta, Nicholas G. Paulter Jr., Alan C. Bovik
Portable x-ray imaging systems are routinely used by bomb squads throughout the world to image the contents of suspicious packages and explosive devices. The images are used by bomb technicians to determine whether or not packages contain explosive devices

Linking Theory to Practice: Predicting Ballistic Performance from Mechanical Properties of Aged Body Armor

August 24, 2020
Author(s)
Amanda L. Forster, Dennis D. Leber, Amy E. Engelbrecht-Wiggans, Virginie A. Landais, Allen Chang, Emilien J. Guigues, Guillaume Messin, Michael A. Riley
It has long been a goal of the body armor testing community to establish an individualized, scientific-based protocol for predicting end-of-life of fielded body armor ballistic performance. A major obstacle in achieving this goal is that the test methods

Voices of First RespondersNationwide Public Safety Communication Survey Methodology: Development, Dissemination, and Demographics, Phase 2, Volume 1

March 20, 2020
Author(s)
Kristen Greene, Shanee T. Dawkins, Sandra S. Prettyman, Pamela J. Konkol, Mary F. Theofanos, Kevin C. Mangold, Susanne M. Furman, Michelle P. Steves
With the newly created Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN), the public safety community is in the process of supplementing the use of land mobile radios (LMR) to a technology ecosystem that will include a variety of new communication tools

PSCR 2017 Stakeholder Conference Presentation Materials -- Day 1

October 16, 2018
Author(s)
Jeremy E. Benson, Jeff Johnson, Eric W. Anderson, Carol Politi, TRX Systems, Inc., Anthony Rowe, A Shkel, Chenji Harsha, Nancy French, Murat Yuskel, Benjamin J. Posthuma, Margaret Pinson, Dereck R. Orr
This document is a compilation of the slides presented during Day 3 of the 2017 Public Safety Communications Research Program's (PSCR) Annual Stakeholder Conference. Day 3 topics include PSCR research plans and results for Location-Based Services

PSCR 2017 Stakeholder Conference Presentation Materials -- Day 2

October 16, 2018
Author(s)
Jason D. Kahn, Anthony Trevino, San Antonio Police Dept, Heather M. Evans, Joe Fournier, Canada's Centre for Security Science, David Lund, Public Safety Communication Europe Forum, Gordon Shipley, UK Home Office Emergency Service Mobile Communications Programme, Dereck R. Orr, Jeff Bratcher, Rich Reed, Salim Patel, AT&T Technology Architecture Planning, Ryan Felts, Marc Leh, Mary F. Theofanos, Kristen Greene
This document is a compilation of the slides presented during Day 2 of the 2017 Public Safety Communications Research Program's (PSCR) Annual Stakeholder Conference. Day 2 topics include PSCR research plans and results for Crowdsourcing Open Innovation

PSCR 2017 Stakeholder Conference Presentation Materials -- Day 3

October 16, 2018
Author(s)
Dereck R. Orr, Richard A. Rouil, Jeremy E. Benson, David W. Griffith, Fidel Liberal, Robert Escalle, Sonim Technologies, Richard Lau, Vencore Labs, Paul Sutton, Software Radio Systems LTD, Sumit Roy, Sean Sangodoyin, David A. Howe, Fabio C. Da Silva, Alicia Evangelista, Yet2, Brienne Engel, Yet2, John S. Garofolo
This document is a compilation of the slides presented during Day 3 of the 2017 Public Safety Communications Research Program's (PSCR) Annual Stakeholder Conference. Day 3 topics include PSCR research plans and results for Mission Critical Voice, Indoor

Evaluation of Degradation Models for High Strength p-Aramid Fibres Used in Body Armour

October 1, 2018
Author(s)
Kirk D. Rice, Amy E. Engelbrecht-Wiggans, Emilien J. Guigues, Amanda Forster
To improve the reliability and design of armour, it is imperative to understand the failure modes and the degradation rates of the materials used in armour. Despite the best efforts of manufacturers, some vulnerability of armour materials to ageing due

Estimating Error Rates for Firearm Evidence Identifications in Forensic Science

March 1, 2018
Author(s)
Jun-Feng Song, Theodore V. Vorburger, Wei Chu, James H. Yen, Johannes A. Soons, D Ott, Nien F. Zhang
Estimating error rates for firearm evidence identification is a fundamental challenge in forensic science. This paper describes the recently developed Congruent Matching Cells (CMC) method for image comparisons, its application to firearm identification

NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research Database

December 5, 2016
Author(s)
Xiaoyu Alan Zheng, Johannes A. Soons, Robert M. Thompson
The NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research Database (NBTRD) is an open-access research database of bullet and cartridge case toolmark data. The development of the database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice. The

Long term stability of ultra high molar mass polyethylene fibres

September 19, 2016
Author(s)
Amanda Forster, Aaron Forster, Joannie Chin, Sylvain H. Petit, Kai-Li Kang, Nicholas G. Paulter Jr., Kirk D. Rice, Don Jenket II, Mohamad Al-Sheikhly
Abstract. The performance of ultra-high molar mass polyethylene (UHMMPE) fibres for ballistic protection is predicated on the development of a highly aligned molecular structure that allows the polymer to exhibit a superior strength in the axial direction

Test method for measuring the electrical output of electroshock weapons

July 25, 2016
Author(s)
Nicholas G. Paulter Jr., David M. Jenkins, Norimitsu Ichikawa, Michael Leonesio
Electroshock weapons (ESWs) have become a ubiquitous component of weapons used in the arsenal of domestic law enforcement (LE) agencies and the military around the world. It is a major contributor to the escalation of force policies and procedures of many
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