Results for posts tagged "police" on Gizmodo Australia.
I just arrived in Billund, Denmark, where every single LEGO piece in the world is produced. I got to the Zzzzleep Hotel just now and, to my surprise, I found this sign on the wall outside even while the hotel is not associated with LEGO in any way: "LEGO Security." I guess that in LEGO city even the cops are little LEGO minifigs. Just a sign of what will happen tomorrow:
A man in Singapore (where else) has been banned from owning a camera phone for a year after being caught secretly filming a woman in an airport bathroom. Actually, "secretly" is probably a strong word when you consider that the perp, 19 year old Samuel Ong, simply slid his camera phone under the cubicle door to catch a few shots.
Not surprisingly, the woman caught Ong in the act and reported him to the police. In addition to the mobile phone ban, he will have to complete 60 hours of community service, undergo psychiatric treatment and observe a curfew as part of his sentence. Seems like he is getting off pretty easy, especially by Singaporean standards.[Reuters]
Officers of the NYPD may be forced to carry cameras on their guns, if a Brooklyn senator gets his way. Following a spate of controversial shootings, democrat Eric Adams—a former cop himself—has proposed the addition of a US$700 gadget, insisting that it will improve public confidence in the police force. Before being adopted, however, the city's SWAT teams will take part in a pilot scheme. More details of the idea, which has already been mooted in DC, below.
While hearing a normal police siren coming after you is scary enough for most people, the folks behind The Rumbler want to make it impossible for you to run away due to your pants quickly filling with feces. Essentially, it's a standard police siren that's been roided up with an extra amplifier and two (count 'em!) subwoofers. It works by " creating a lower-pitched sound that should cut through pretty much any traffic din and that can create vibrations that might get the attention of otherwised soundproofed motorists or pedestrians," ensuring that even people listening to Mastadon cranked up with sealed earbuds turn and take notice. [Product Page via Book of Joe]
Every year, Taser demos their latest and greatest in a mock prison riot at an old penitentiary in West Virginia. This year's star is peel-and-stick taser tape, that'll turn any surface into a fully electrified no-no zappy zone. On the practical side, this stuff will be rolling out by the end of the year to instantly upgrade cops' riot shields into serious business, no taser wand-waving necessary, like an instant force field. On the other hand, consumerised taser tape could become the best thing since sliced electric bread: Keep roommates out of your beer fridge! Shocking revenge on your soon-to-be-ex who gave you the herp! [Prime Newswire via Danger Room]
A lawmaker in Washington DC has intro'd a bill to the city council that would require all police service pistols to have mini cameras attached to the barrel, which would start rolling as soon as the gun is pulled out of the holster. The tech is already being tested in Orange County, NY. Ostensibly, it's to prevent bad shootings and prove officers acted in good faith, but really I can only think of how awesome an FPS cam would make Cops, like that one scene in the Doom movie, except with intoxicated perps instead of demons from Hell. If it works in DC, I could see this spreading to other police departments pretty quickly as a way to quell lawsuits and such. [NBC4 via The Register via CG]
It's Friday, so the mass of stupid and regrettable (and maybe criminal) text messages you wished you never sent is about explode exponentially, as it does every weekend. Google, as you know, keeps your embarrassing search history for "AZN Squirrels Pooping on Bananas" or "Iron Man upskirt" for 18 months. But how long do Verizon and AT&T hang on to your shameful SMSes? Thankfully, not long at all. Sprint hangs on to your textual diarrhea the longest, for about two weeks, while AT&T dumps them after 48 hours, according to Slate's Explainer. We hit up Verizon, who said a "couple days, tops." There are a couple catches, though.
You know how in cop shows they seize deviants' computers and bring them back to the lab for some good ol' latex gloved analysis to prove how obviously guilty or sick the suspect is? That's old hat. Microsoft's latest treat for law enforcement is COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor), a USB drive that'll cut through whatever flimsy security miscreants have slapped on their computer in a flash, and then automatically analyse the dirty bits the cops need to bust their arse, from internet activity to stored data, no pwnage skillz or trips to the lab needed. Microsoft's giving the wonder tube to lawmen for free, and 2,000 officers in 15 countries are already using it. But will it work on Macs? [Seattle Times, Thanks M]
Ok, we know bad things can happen when the general public use tasers, but cops tasing a guy and setting him on fire? No... really? Apparently the 31-year-old in question was causing a disturbance in an apartment in Hamilton, Ontario, recently, and three police officers attended. Whatever happened after that, the police ended up firing a taser at him. Unfortunately when the high-voltage device went off some sort of flammable object in his pants waistband caught fire. He sustained burns to his hands and thigh, and had to be taken to hospital. Ouch. Someone at some point must've started saying "Liar! Liar! Pants..." [Danger Room]
A new mobile service called Trapster aims to help motorists avoid speed traps using a networked approach that calls on users to warn each other using their mobile phones. Using simple keystrokes like "pound-1," motorists can report speed traps and red light cameras into the system. The information is fed into a map which will be used to alert drivers with GPS enabled mobile phones of potential threats before they encounter them.
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