By Doug MacCash
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

NEW ORLEANS — Need a bit of spice in your shrimp po-boy? Reach for the new sauce. Need a bit of spice in your life? Use the hyperlink on the new sauce bottle to use to develop into a New Orleans police officer.

Earlier this yr, the New Orleans Police Department started distributing 500 bottles of Crystal Hot Sauce with customized labels that hyperlink to an internet site the place profession seekers can learn the way to develop into a police officer. The bottles have been distributed to Lil’ Dizzy’s, Mother’s, Domilise’s and New Orleans Hamburger & Seafood Co.

| DOWNLOAD: Governing AI in policing — What regulation enforcement leaders must know

Baumer Foods, the corporate that has produced Crystal for greater than a century, presents customized labels for companies, people celebrating particular occasions and now NOPD.

The NOPD pepper sauce bottles are marked with a diagonal blue sash, adorned with a central white star and the net tackle, joinnopd.org. A QR code on the again of the bottle is framed with the phrases “Get Behind the Badge, Apply Today.”

The key to the idea is that the spicy condiment captures the spirit of what individuals love about residing right here.

“You look at the bottle of hot sauce and you immediately think of New Orleans,” NOPD group engagement officer Sgt. Shannon Brewer stated. “It’s inviting, comfortable, like comfort food.”

The bottles, which debuted throughout Carnival, weren’t simply meant for locals; they had been supposed to seize the curiosity of holiday makers, too. Recruitment officer Sgt. Kurt Eischen defined that savvy vacationers search out locations the place locals dine.

“It’s like that old saying, ‘Eat where the police eat,’” he stated. It’s hoped the new sauce recruitment hyperlink may compel some guests to make town residence.

“It says we’re hiring,” Eischen stated. “We’d like to see more applicants outside of New Orleans.”

Brewer and Eischen stated it was too quickly to inform if the new sauce connection has impressed any purposes.

Hiring has been a difficulty for the NOPD because the pandemic. The whole variety of commissioned officers has lingered at round 900 since 2023, down from over 1,100 earlier than 2020. The division has upped beginning salaries, added enlistment bonuses and contracted with native promoting company Brand Society to assist pepper the ranks with new recruits.

The company hopes to extend its staffing to 1,200.

Videos present Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore wrestling the gun away from the suspect as he tackled him, getting shot within the leg within the course of

April 15, 2026 11:42 AM

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A Washington Township officer on his first solo shift carried out CPR on an unresponsive driver whereas fellow officers delivered a number of AED shocks after a crash

April 16, 2026 12:05 PM

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Broward County leaders will research whether or not shifting hearth rescue away from the Broward Sheriff’s Office may lower your expenses or reshape public security companies

Ex-Costa Mesa officer Robert Jay Josett pleaded responsible to unauthorized pc entry and fraud, annoying and repeated cellphone calls and contempt of courtroom

© 2026 The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. Visit www.nola.com.
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Axon Vision launched to assist acknowledge exercise in reside digicam feeds whereas Axon Assistant expands safe, compliant AI to ship operational knowledge and steady intelligence within the discipline

OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha police on Tuesday shot and killed a lady they are saying slashed a younger boy with a knife exterior of a Walmart after taking him from one other lady inside the shop.

The suspect approached a feminine shopper and a 3-year-old boy, then displayed a big knife she had shoplifted from the shop and “took possession of the child, essentially kidnapping the child,” Deputy Chief Scott Gray stated.

| DOWNLOAD: Governing AI in policing — What legislation enforcement leaders must know

The suspect informed the girl to stroll in entrance of a procuring cart, and he or she adopted with the kid at knifepoint, Gray stated. They proceeded out of the shop and down a driveway the place the 2 girls had “some verbal back and forth” for a number of minutes till officers arrived, Gray stated.

After receiving a 911 name, police arrived exterior the Walmart and gave the suspect instructions, at which level she started “swiping the knife at the child, cutting him across the face,” Gray stated. At least one officer fired on the suspect, and he or she died on the scene.

Body-worn digital camera pictures police launched present the girl elevating a knife over the younger boy sitting in a procuring cart as an officer goals a gun at her.

The youngster was being handled at a hospital for a big laceration throughout the left aspect of his face and to a hand, Gray stated. He is predicted to outlive.

It is unclear what provoked the suspect. Gray stated the 2 girls didn’t know one another. The relationship between the boy and his caretaker wasn’t clear.

Police are reviewing video from the shop. The occasion seems to be an remoted incident, Gray stated. The Walmart was largely empty as police continued their investigation, he stated.

The actions inside the shop wouldn’t essentially have drawn consideration from different customers, he stated.

“They kind of just purposely but casually walk out of the store, so I don’t think anybody was actually looking at them as being a suspect of anything,” Gray stated.

The police taking pictures will probably be investigated by Omaha police with assist from the Nebraska State Patrol and the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office.

Videos present Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore wrestling the gun away from the suspect as he tackled him, getting shot within the leg within the course of

April 15, 2026 11:42 AM

 · 

A Washington Township officer on his first solo shift carried out CPR on an unresponsive driver whereas fellow officers delivered a number of AED shocks after a crash

April 16, 2026 12:05 PM

 · 

Broward County leaders will examine whether or not shifting hearth rescue away from the Broward Sheriff’s Office may get monetary savings or reshape public security providers

Ex-Costa Mesa officer Robert Jay Josett pleaded responsible to unauthorized laptop entry and fraud, annoying and repeated telephone calls and contempt of court docket

Latest rugged laptop computer delivers enhanced efficiency, refined design, new ranges of safety, and energy environment friendly workflows in demanding environments

PRESS RELEASE

CLEVELAND — Collective Data introduced the launch of embedded synthetic intelligence capabilities inside its fleet and asset administration platform on the NAFA 2026 Institute & Expo.

The new enhancements combine AI instantly into present system workflows, positioning intelligence as a core element of each day operations somewhat than a standalone add-on. The capabilities shall be highlighted throughout an Innovations Showcase presentation led by Jason Wonase, CEO of Collective Data, and demonstrated all through the occasion at sales space 379.

The embedded AI instruments are designed to enhance productiveness, speed up operational perception and assist user-driven configuration inside the platform.

“The value of AI depends on the strength of the system behind it,” Wonase mentioned. “Because our platform is configurable at its core, the intelligence we are embedding adapts to each customer’s workflows and delivers insight that is relevant actionable.”

One of the first options being launched is an interactive “Ask Anything” software. The characteristic permits customers to submit natural-language questions and obtain contextual responses based mostly on their operational knowledge. Built on a reusable immediate framework inside the platform, the software delivers structured outputs aligned with every group’s configured knowledge setting.

Demonstrated use circumstances embody:

• AI-generated exercise summaries tailor-made to operational context
• Identification of potential work order comebacks with supporting explanations
• Daily or weekly operational snapshots on demand

Collective Data can also be introducing new AI capabilities designed to simplify doc processing, knowledge import, and upkeep coding accuracy. Users can add a PDF akin to a restore bill or service doc and routinely generate a structured work order. The system interprets the problem description and interprets it into standardized work duties with correctly aligned VMRS codes.

By changing paperwork into correct, constant work and VMRS codes on the level of entry, this new performance improves the reliability of upkeep knowledge. It considerably reduces guide knowledge entry and administrative workload whereas strengthening reporting accuracy, pattern evaluation, and value monitoring.

With extra exact coding from the beginning, organizations achieve clearer visibility into failure patterns, recurring points, labor allocation, and component-level prices. The result’s higher knowledge, stronger reporting, and extra knowledgeable choice making throughout upkeep planning, budgeting, guarantee restoration, and fleet substitute technique.

According to Collective Data, its adaptable schema structure helps the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated outcomes. Because the platform permits speedy configuration and evolution of knowledge buildings, the information feeding AI instruments stays organized and contextual.

Future improvement will give attention to increasing AI-assisted reporting, clever knowledge importing and workflow configurations.

Collective Data will reveal the brand new capabilities throughout its NAFA Innovations Showcase session and all through exhibit hours at sales space 379. Learn extra about our embedded AI capabilities right here: https://collectivedata.com/artificial-intelligence/

About Collective Data

Collective Data is probably the most adaptable asset, fleet, and stock administration platform in the marketplace, purpose-built for public security, authorities, and enterprise organizations. For greater than 25 years, we’ve got helped companies substitute fragmented techniques with a single, totally configurable answer designed to evolve alongside their wants.

Our cohesive, no-code platform empowers organizations to streamline operations, enhance accountability, and achieve full visibility throughout property, fleet, and stock, all inside one centralized system. Built for scalability and long-term flexibility, Collective Data delivers the management, productiveness, and confidence immediately’s companies require to function at their greatest.

This article first appeared at City Journal and is reprinted with permission.

Low-rise denims. Wired headphones. The TV sitcom “Scrubs.” And . . . cops? You would possibly have the ability to really feel the vibe shift: policing is coming again into fashion.

Consider only a few moments, virtually not possible to think about in the course of the fever dream that was 2020, when even “Paw Patrol” got here below hearth for being too “pro-cop.” NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards acquired a standing ovation at a Knicks sport after his brave response to a terrorist assault at Gracie Mansion. Madison Square Garden hosted a free, star-studded “Thank You, NYPD” occasion. And “Homicide: New York” — a documentary sequence that opens with a straight-out-of-central-casting detective who tells viewers, “our job is to make sure you can go home and sleep at night” — ranks in Netflix’s Top Ten within the United States.

Where is that this pro-policing momentum coming from? From what we’ve seen with our personal eyes, for one. Our crime considerations and activism fatigue naturally translate into renewed affection for the individuals who preserve us secure.

In massive cities like New York, it’s not possible to disregard the sense of eroding public security. The common particular person is much less tuned in to CompStat proportion fluctuations than to dysfunction in shared areas: homelessness, unlawful distributors, and different quality-of-life points. These seen indicators have an effect on everybody, each day, from the Upper East Side to East New York.

Polling exhibits that New Yorkers are dissatisfied with public security. In a Manhattan Institute survey from final yr, 55% reported feeling town has turn out to be much less secure since 2020, whereas solely 16% thought circumstances had improved.

A 2025 Citizens Budget Commission survey paints an identical image: solely 34% of New York respondents rated high quality of life as wonderful or good, whereas a mere 42% really feel that their neighborhood is secure. Those sentiments are particularly sturdy amongst residents of the Bronx, solely 43.6% of whom report feeling comfy strolling alone at evening on a neighborhood road. Black New Yorkers gave the bottom scores for public security of their neighborhoods.

Blue cities seem like realizing that “root causes” or “inequity” theories of crime aren’t chopping it with the general public. Instead of “reimagined policing,” they’re beginning to go for extra conventional varieties. Cities like Philadelphia, San Jose and San Francisco are getting their acts collectively, as Keith Humphreys lately noticed.

Leading the cost in opposition to progressive insurance policies are these for whom progressives declare to talk. As Humphreys has chronicled, at a San Francisco Board of Supervisors subcommittee listening to on a movement to pursue extra time-tested insurance policies, “attendees speaking against the motion were mostly white, college-educated service providers or activists affiliated with NGOs, while those supporting it were mainly minorities who lived in the most affected neighborhoods.”

This pushback could also be driving higher backing for regulation enforcement in New York, too. Some cops I spoke with really feel just like the elevated help could also be partly a response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s hospital visits to perpetrators of violence in opposition to police and his dismissal of assaults on officers as simply “kids who got out of hand.”

Or it could be that pro- and anti-police sentiment is available in waves. “Right now, we’re riding a good wave,” one detective instructed me.

Perhaps the obvious clarification is that celebrities, influencers, and even some policymakers are lastly waking as much as what Americans and New Yorkers knew all alongside: help for police and regulation enforcement has all the time been comparatively excessive. When we ignore the Instagram tirades, chanting activists, and viral hashtags, it’s simple to see this actuality. In each 2021 and 2024, two seemingly totally different moments within the cultural dialogue about policing, 74% of all Americans reported confidence of their native police. Among black Americans, confidence rose from 59% to 64% throughout that interval.

Most Americans can see by means of the fog of their social media feeds. It’s not simply that help for cops is cool once more — it in all probability all the time has been.

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