NewsWatch: Public Safety -- Mayor Calls on Feds to Reform Police

Brooksville Looks at New Red-Light Camera Vendor
Brooksville, Fla., City Council members on Monday will consider a contract with a new vendor for red-light cameras, one that spells out how the city and the company will share revenues that have been drastically cut by a new state law. Under the proposed deal with Miami-based Sensys America, the company will get a maximum of $4,500 each month from every camera it installs, said City Manager Jennene Norman-Vacha. St. Petersburg Times

New Orleans Mayor Calls on Feds to Reform Police
The scandal-plagued New Orleans Police Department, whose already suspect reputation was left as battered as the city it was charged to protect after Hurricane Katrina. In the five years since the storm, the department's standing has only worsened. Eager for a turnaround, the newly elected mayor did something nearly unthinkable for a person in his position: He called in the feds. "I have inherited a police force that has been described by many as one of the worst police departments in the country," Mayor Mitch Landrieu wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this spring.  Washington Post

New Fast, Reliable Method to Detect Gravesoil
Nothing against bloodhounds, but finding bodies buried by someone who wanted them to stay undiscovered can be difficult. However a new technique developed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), can reliably detect biochemical changes in a decomposing cadaver. Typically, cadaver-sniffing dogs or ground penetrating radar are used to detect clandestine gravesites. But these methods are not always useful in all scenarios, such as if a body is buried under concrete. The NIST instrument is a modification of a technique developed at the lab to sense minute levels of difficult-to-detect chemical compounds. NIST

Sheriff's Office Web Posting Results in Arrests
The Pasco County, Fla., Sheriff's Office website advertised something new -- surveillance photos of wanted criminals -- and Danielle Freeman was curious. According to a sheriff's spokesman, she said this: "What kind of idiots are caught on camera when they commit a crime?" As Freeman browsed the Caught on Camera section, which debuted in April, she saw a faded, blurry photo taken from a store's security camera. She recognized the suspects: It was her. St. Petersburg Times