Santa Clara County Public Safety Digest

The Sunnyvale City Council is slated to award a $3.9 million contract for pedestrian improvements in the Sunnyvale Neighbors of Arbor community, which includes La Linda and the San Miguel neighborhood.

East Side Union High School District Superintendent Glenn Vander Zee has agreed to establish a school safety task force comprised of teachers, administrators, parents, students and board members to identify ways to make campuses safer districtwide.

The San Jose City Council unanimously approved a three-year, $479,000 contract with Chicago-based Benchmark Analytics for its Police Early Intervention Solution system. 

Long-anticipated traffic-calming measures are coming to California Street, with major changes to the thoroughfare that will make it safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers in Mountain View.

An East San Jose convenience store with a controversial history has received a permit to sell alcohol, despite concerns of underage drinking and increasing crime in the area.

The European Union has banned certain additives that are used in American candies and baked goods. California is on the cusp of prohibiting their sale by 2027.

The Palo Alto Police Department has assigned a crossing guard to Escondido Elementary School after a 12-year-old boy was hit by a car, galvanizing parents to advocate for traffic safety around campus.

While other local towns, aiming to reduce crime, have opted to install automatic license plate readers and gunshot detection services, the Menlo Park City Council veered in a different direction.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills, authored by Assembly member Marc Berman, that empower the state DOJ to conduct firearm inspection and that require sellers to provide information about the risks of gun ownership.

A small number of wild birds have tested positive for West Nile virus in Redwood City, Menlo Park and other parts of San Mateo County, prompting authorities to ask the public to report any dead birds they encounter.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has identified nearly 500 “zones” that are ill-prepared to tolerate flooding, earthquakes, heat waves, wildfires, landslides and other natural hazards. California topped all states with 51 total zones, followed by 35 in Texas and 32 in Florida.

The Mountain View City Council voted 6-0 to adopt two firearm safety ordinances that require firearm dealers to obtain a local permit, and bans gun and ammunition sales in homes.

Incidents involving use of the systems, commonly known as drones, in firefighting airspace have led to the temporary suspension of critical aerial firefighting operations a half-dozen times so far this year.

Attila Colar went to prison for lying to the government. After California gave him another contract as a provider in a rehabilitation program, a federal jury convicted him of fraud for using the personal information of Bay Area parolees and others to collect government COVID funds.

After California lost over 4 million acres to fire in 2020, the state funded Task Force Rattlesnake, with National Guardsmen to assist Cal Fire.

The use of artificial intelligence has spread like wildfire into the world of fire prevention in Santa Clara County. County officials are implementing AI sensors to analyze air temperature and particles in the air to locate fires and prevent larger ones from igniting.

San Francisco isn’t going to take last week’s robotaxi decision by the California Public Utilities Commission lying down. Joined by the city's transit authority board, fire department and board of supervisors, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed motions on Wednesday to halt the unrestricted expansion of autonomous vehicles for commercial use.

Councilmember Peter Ortiz is rallying support from colleagues to form an intergovernmental committee to create a timeline for removing the contamination from a fuel spill eight years ago at an abandoned East San Jose building.

Locally elected sheriffs manage California jails and are responsible for the safety of the inmates they hold. Record deaths in San Diego’s jail are shaping a plan for new statewide oversight.

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to make prisons a friendlier place for inmate families. An updated strip-search policy has some worried that families will face intrusive encounters during their visits.

Two recent reports on sexual harassment complaints filed against Cal State employees conclude inconsistent data collection makes it difficult to determine a reliable number.

The Biden administration’s app rule makes it harder for migrants to assert a right to asylum, advocates say. Lawsuits are sparking debate about immigration control, safety.

Huge winter rains and snow are continuing to reduce fire risk, experts say.

After nearly 30 years of efforts to clean up a toxic-chemical plume beneath Palo Alto's Barron Park neighborhood, the state agency overseeing the site reports that the program's goals have largely been met.

Luis Yauri Oyola hopes one day to buy a tractor to start a business in Peru; he estimates that he is six years away from that goal, for which he will have spent more than a decade of his life living thousands of miles away from his family. He is on call 24/7 and doesn’t leave the job site except for necessities.

San Jose’s gun liability insurance requirement—upheld by a federal court judge last week—will make the city safer from the firearm-related violence, proponents say. But nearly eight months after the ordinance went into effect, no residents have been cited.

As part of a new “Safe Streets for All” plan, Palo Alto is preparing to improve dangerous corridors. County data suggests Crescent Drive, Middlefield Road and El Camino Real could get attention.

In the wake of the dismissal of legal challenges against San Jose's new laws for gun owners, pro-gun groups are doubling down on their commitment to roll back these historic efforts.

Mountain View resident Patrice Moore heard a knock on her front door that would change her life. It was the police, who had arrived and would soon place her in an involuntary psychiatric hold.

As nights warm and droughts intensify, past models predicting fire behavior have become unreliable. So California is working with analysts and tapping into new technology to figure out how to attack wildfires. Gleaned from military satellites, drones and infrared mapping, the information is spat out in real time and triaged by a fire behavior analyst.

The number of reported hate crimes increased 22 percent in California in 2021. Following a model from Los Angeles County, state leaders launched a statewide hotline and resources.

Over the last several years San Jose has watched its traffic fatalities in the city increase exponentially. Now city officials are banking on a state bill to move those numbers downward.