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Public safety

Law enforcement

News and Updates

Two men participating in a tech demo at 5x5 Chicago

Technology Demonstrations at 5x5

Do you have an innovative, cutting-edge, or emerging technology that has the potential to advance public safety communications? NIST Public Safety

Blog Posts

A researcher wearing a mask, safety glasses and gloves sits at a desk, looking at electronic devices and writing on a clipboard.

Research-Based Practices Can Help Forensic Scientists Do Their Best Work

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Four men are protected by a net structure as they look away from the camera toward a drone flying in a large high-ceilinged room with street signs on the walls.

Drones in Disaster Zones: How Advanced 3D Mapping Technology Can Help First Responders Save Lives

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Briana Capistran wears safety glasses as she poses smiling in the lab with computers and other equipment in the background.

Speeding Up the Wheels of Justice: How NIST Resources Can Help Crime Labs Work Faster

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Events

Projects and Programs

Breathalyzer

Standards Development to Ensure Reliable Breath Analysis in the Field

Ongoing
Numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been identified in human breath. These compounds can be produced by the body or by organisms in the body (e.g., bacteria or viruses) and provide a non-invasive window into human health. Inexpensive point-of-care devices are being developed to diagnose

Forensic Chemistry

Ongoing
Drug Analysis - Opioids and Emerging Threats This program primarily seeks to support the needs of the > 400 publicly funded state, local, and tribal forensic laboratories in the United States. The increased complexity of the analysis needed to keep pace with these emerging threats has resulted in
Photo of broken laminated windshield glass

Glass Evidence Analysis

Ongoing
Quantitative XRF Glass Database Recent research efforts in the forensic trace field have focused on the development of databases to assign a significance to forensic evidence (i.e., to report the strength of an association or exclusion). In the forensic analysis of glass using µ-XRF, samples are

Training for Screeners and Lab Staff

Ongoing
Advances in primary screening technologies (x-ray, CT, AIT) have allowed the detection and discrimination of bulk quantities of potentially dangerous compounds on people or in bags. However, a secondary screening method - typically based on trace detection - is still required for correct

Publications

Field-Deployable Devices

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

Tools and Instruments

Reference Ballistic Chronograph Figure 1

Reference Ballistic Chronograph

The NIST-developed reference ballistic chronograph (RBC) provides repeatable measurements of the speed of a bullet that will impact a test article, such as
X-ray backscatter systems

X-ray Backscatter Systems

X-ray backscatter systems are used for the screening of personnel for hidden weapons and other contraband. Unlike conventional radiographic x-ray systems
Smiths Detection_6046si

Cabinet x-ray system

The Smiths Detection 6046si cabinet x-ray system was designed for security screening of bags, parcels and other objects of similar size. The system runs at 160
Large Aperture Scanner

Large Aperture Scanner

The Large Aperture Scanner (LAS) scans a radar transceiver over a 5 meter by 20 meter aperture. Image reconstruction techniques enable a three-dimensional