To Solve 3 Cold Cases, This Small County Got a DNA Crash Course

Oregon law enforcement agencies partnered with a Virginia laboratory, Parabon NanoLabs, to use genetic genealogy to learn the identities of people whose remains were found long ago but never identified. To give peace of mind to families who never knew for sure of their loved ones' deaths, researchers use DNA samples taken from the human remains to compare to publicly available DNA profiles shared by people using home DNA tests. This can identify a victim's family tree. So far, Parabon has identified six of the 10 people it has tested for Oregon. The state has more than 150 unidentified skeletal remains.

The use of genetic genealogy technology has given law enforcement the opportunity to compare DNA that people have tested personally through companies like 23andMe to DNA collected at crime scenes. Recently being used to help free people from prison who have been wrongfully convicted, the technology gives law enforcement insight as to the family tree the DNA is connected to. While showing potential, it has also raised concerns around genetic data privacy, with many companies now requiring permission from users.

Trans Doe Task Force is a nonprofit project by two professional genetic genealogists that works to solve cold cases involving missing and murdered trans people. Trans people are at greater risk of violence. When their unidentified bodies are found, police are more likely to mishandle or neglect their cases. Using the tactics of genetic genealogy to turn a DNA sample into a link to known family members, and then narrowing the list of possible victims to the right one, TDTF has solved two cases out of 173 it has worked on. It also has worked with police agencies to change hearts and minds.

Mexico City's 11-year-old video surveillance system, one of the most advanced in the world, was a massive investment in public safety: about $660 million to date to cover the city with more than 30,000 cameras and other devices. Like so much else in Mexico's law enforcement apparatus, it has done little to control crime but instead has become a tool of corruption and official impunity. While the cameras have helped keep tourists and elites safer, the vast majority of crimes go unreported and only a tiny number of police investigations benefit from the surveillance system.

In Detroit, Project Greenlight uses video surveillance technology to try to solve and deter street crime. Instead of the police requesting private security video after a crime occurs, businesses pay to install the Greenlight system, which then streams video live to police analysts. The police claim it has lowered crime, but researches have found no evidence that it affects violent crime rates. Critics see the system as a pay-to-play system in which businesses buy better police protection. And they say that the cameras, and the use of facial recognition software, bias enforcement against people of color.

A drone program has helped the small town of Linn find missing people, rescue people in medical distress, and find multiple drowning victims in the town's lake. Police now spend less time conducting searches and have saved lives with their eye in the sky. By carefully developing policies and by practicing transparency, making flight logs public, the town has eased privacy concerns and earned enough community support to pay for the latest drones with donations.

Cobb County, Georgia installed new license plate surveillance technology, loaned to them by the Atlanta-based company, Flock Safety. After installation, the test area saw a dramatic decrease in crime, to which Flock took credit for but experts say the connection could be due to a number of things. Furthermore, while surveillance technology has been correlated with decreased crime, communities have called into question issues of personal privacy versus public safety.

A U.S. company, Flock Safety, has developed a security and surveillance system that allows residents to monitor the color, model, and license plate of every car entering their neighborhood. The system uses car license plate cameras that aren’t monitored by the local police or governments, rather, by residents themselves, to help deter crime. While the system has shown success to the tune of an average of two crimes solved every day, it also raises questions around the problematic nature of surveillance culture, privacy, and profiting off of safety and fear.

The National Park Service has resorted to microchipping hundreds of saguaro. Despite extensive legal protections, the iconic cacti are going missing. Rangers can only read the microchip by scanning a suspect cactus, but they hope this move will serve as an additional deterrent to would-be thieves hoping to cash in on the demand for saguaro among building owners.

Homicide rates fail to account for all the times when a gun is fired in anger, fear or by accident and the bullet simply misses its mark. The more telling number about gun violence might be “shots fired.” And now, thanks to broader adoption of new technologies, it is getting easier to show just how common gun violence is in America.