NewsWatch: Public Safety

Feds Make it Difficult to Create Bicycle-Friendly Streets
Salt Lake County officials attempted to incorporate a more bicycle-friendly street design in road improvements near the site of a recent bicycle accident. However, because federal stimulus highway funds were being used, changes to the existing roadway configuration required Federal Highway Administration approval. In spite of the Department of Transportation's avowed bicycle-friendly national transportation policy, government bureaucracy prevailed and the requested design changes were rejected. Salt Lake Tribune

NYPD Must Delete "Stop and Frisk" Database
Gov. Paterson  Friday signed into law the controversial stop and frisk legislation that forces the NYPD  to delete the names of people questioned -- but not arrested -- from its electronic database. More than 2.5 million such encounters have been logged into the database since 2004, with police calling it a vital tool in fighting crime.But critics have long contended it's an assault on a generation of minorities. New York Daily News

City's Red-Light Camera Fines Not Enforced
Houston police have notified 79,000 motorists that they cannot renew their vehicle registrations until they pay red-light camera fines and penalties, even though Harris County officials repeatedly have said they will not prevent people from registering their vehicles because of the outstanding citations. Houston Chronicle

Parking Meter Rates Jump During Red Sox Games
Red Sox fans would have to pay more than $20 to park at some Brookline parking meters on game nights under a proposed rate hike being considered by town officials. The proposal is part of a series of parking meter changes Brookline's Transportation Board is considering, including increasing hourly meter rates throughout much of the town, and extending the hours in which motorists must pay to park at a meter in some commercial areas. Boston Globe

Texas Smart Meters OK Says Vendor
After testing thousands of digital meters and reviewing hundreds of thousands of records, Oncor says it has found fewer than 25 defective smart meters. That's 25 out of 1.1 million smart meters that the regulated power line operator has installed in Texas. None of the defective meters were in Oak Cliff, Temple or Killeen -- areas where customers have complained that the meters caused bills to spike. Last winter, customers complained that their electricity bills rose as soon as Oncor installed the new meters. The concerns prompted the Public Utility Commission to hire a consultant to test whether the meters and back-office equipment worked properly.html Dallas Morning News

City Shares Arrest Data with Immigration
Philadelphia's agreement to share preliminary arrest data with federal immigration enforcement agents will be extended for one year, with the critical adjustment that the names of victims and witnesses will no longer be available, Mayor Nutter announced today. He said the compromise -- hammered out by Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, Municipal Court President Judge Marsha Neifeld, District Attorney Seth Williams, and accepted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency known as ICE -- addresses concerns by pro-immigrant groups that the information could expose victims and witnesses to deportation proceedings. Philadelphia Inquirer

Cops in Crosswalks
Since 2004, about 150 pedestrians annually have been killed in New Jersey and 6,000 injured. A new program called "Cops in Crosswalks" aims to catch motorists who fail to stop for pedestrians. The program is being funded by a federal grant awarded to 13 police departments, including those in Collingswood, Medford, and Cherry Hill. Philadelphia Inquirer

Photo: Shannon Henry Creative Commons 2.0 Generic