Government Technology
1 February 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Scope of Response: National
Portland, Oregon, United States
To tackle the backlog of untested sexual assault kits, police agencies in Portland, Oregon collaborated with the Portland Bureau of Technology Services to create a tracking system for the kits, leading to a decrease in untested kits and ensuring that data was able to be analyzed and shared quickly when necessary. The Sexual Assault Management System, known as SAMS, is now being scaled to cities across America.
http://www.cleveland.com/rape-kits/index.ssf/2013/08/reinvestigating_rape_old_evide.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker#incart_big-photo
Leila Atassi
Rachel Dissell
Cleveland.com (The Plain Dealer)
10 August 2013
Text / 800-1500 Words
In Cleveland, as in much of the United States, rape remains muffled by stigma and cloaked with such secrecy that discussions about it often are relegated to courtrooms. Activists are now campaigning for more widespread testing of rape kits to actively tackle the problem.
http://blog.ted.com/crisis-text-line-nears-2-million-messages-answered?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Kate Torgovnick May
TED Blog
6 May 2014
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Crisis Text Line is a counseling system via text—a comfortable medium for teens. It allows counselors to ask for backup and collects data for research.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/24/gang-violence-decline_n_6656840.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ann Brenoff
The Huffington Post
24 February 2015
Text / 800-1500 Words
In the past, Los Angeles was a dangerous city fraught with gang wars. Lately, though, LA has become a safer city due to six changes enforced by the police cracking down on public violence and gangs.
http://www.wnyc.org/story/freelance-nation-greatest-economic-transformation-human-history?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Manoush Zomorodi
WNYC
16 October 2013
Radio / Over 15 Minutes
The 2008 recession’s job losses spurred a development of a Do-It-Yourself economy. With the advent of Uber, Etsy, Airbnb, and others, the marketplace has become full of micro-entrepreneurs who thrive with independent web-assisted businesses.
http://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/ideas-we-should-steal-gay-and-lesbian-liaison-police-unit?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Emma Eisenberg
The Philadelphia Citizen
1 August 2015
Text / 800-1500 Words
Crimes against LGBT citizens have gone underreported in many U.S. cities. Washington DC’s Gay and Lesbian Liason Unit has employed and trained LGBT officers to represent community members that they protect and serve. After the establishment of the GLLU, the number of reported crimes has increased, demonstrating the comfort and trust that the community has with law enforcement.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/houstons-solution-to-mental-health-system-problems-offers-a-case-study-for-milwaukee-b9928490z1-210715811.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Meg Kissinger
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
8 June 2013
Text / 1500-3000 Words
In Houston, TX, many individuals with mental illnesses cycled in and out of emergency care while arrested or incarcerated. Houston’s police department has decreased the number of incarcerated who have mental illness by opening a division to mental health called the Chronic Consumer Stabilization Unit. Now Milwaukee seeks to replicate Houston’s results.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/chronic-crisis-how-can-milwaukee-countys-broken-mental-health-system-be-fixed-229974841.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Meg Kissinger
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
5 November 2013
Text / Under 800 Words
Milwaukee County’s mental health system put more resources in expensive emergency care rather than invest in programs that offer continual care. As a result, Milwaukee County identifies nine solutions from other cities that have had success in repairing mental health systems. Solutions include the ending of reliance on emergency care, expand community support programs, change laws, and supportive housing.
http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/policing-police-how-cincinnati-police-community-relations?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
John Hockenberry
The Takeaway
25 June 2014
Podcast / 5-15 Minutes
After a policeman shot and killed a teenage African American, a community in Cincinnati blamed law enforcement for racial profiling and riots expanded throughout the city. With the help of the Department of Justice as a mediator, Cincinnati made policy changes. The city now has an African American Police Association that brings police officers in communication with representatives of communities.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/how-cities-are-searching-for-solutions-among-massive-mounds-of-data/article23131733?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
John Lorinc
The Globe and Mail
20 February 2015
Text / 1500-3000 Words
New York City suffered from fires that erupted in overcrowded, run-down apartments. Then the city sleuthed through residential records and found that landlords who foreclosed let their properties fall apart and ignored safety-code violations. Greater Toronto wants to expand upon New York City’s method by using transportation surveys, census data and computer data to build transit lines.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/how-conservative-tough-on-crime-utah-reined-in-police-milita?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Buzzfeed
1 September 2014
Text / 800-1500 Words
The militarization of police forces in cases such as Ferguson, Missouri’s riots has led the state of Utah to question what can be done to prevent such an overuse of force from happening. Utah expanded upon a law passed by Democratic legislature in Maryland, which Utah’s ACLU reworked with some libertarians, to require the police to provide data about SWAT team usage. Utah’s success demonstrates that demilitarization bills passed with bipartisan support are not impossible.
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