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Clinton police officers go ‘live’ with body cams starting Monday

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Communities across Iowa, large and small, are investing in video cameras that are worn by all on-duty law officers.

Next week, Clinton police will become the latest department in the state to have its officers go live with body-cams.

Liz McGuire, spokeswoman for Axon — which makes body-cams, recently talked to Clinton residents about how body-cams offer residents and police a sense of security.

“They want to know what happened at the scene and having a camera gives them that ability,” McGuire says, “while at the same time protecting the officer both by being able to record what he experienced in the moment and also by having that camera as a tool on his tool belt as he goes out and interacts with people.”

People sometimes behave differently when they know they’re being recorded and McGuire says if they’re more well-behaved, it’s a win-win.

Clinton Police Chief Kevin Gyrion says he’s wanted body-cams since he took the job.

“It’s safer just from the perception of it,” Gyrion says. “It’s not going to change the officers’ technique or what they do or how they interact but it’s going to make it more visible to the public and it’s going to give us the opportunity to evaluate it periodically and look at it live, how they interact with the public.”

Gyrion says they will treat the public release of any video carefully by following the state’s open records laws.

“Public safety is paramount to everything we do,” Chief Gyrion says, “so it’ll be a case-by-case basis whether we release it or won’t release it. We’re going to follow the law.”

Clinton has allocated funds for the body cameras as part of package with a company that also makes tasers and other law enforcement-related products.

The city council approved spending nearly $200,000 over five years for cameras and tasers. Some officers have used the new body-cams on a trial basis to help insure proper procedures. All officers are to be using the cameras as of Monday.

By Dave Vickers, KROS, Clinton

 

 

Monday call the last straw for senator taking aim at ‘spoofing’

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Annoyed by calls on your cell phone from a familiar-looking number, but it winds up being a telemarketer? State Senator Ken Rozenboom is, too.

“Because I’m in the senate and I’d like to respond to constituents, I tend to answer the phone but increasingly, of course, they’re telemarketing calls,” Rozenboom said during an interview. “This Monday was the last straw for me.”

Rozenboom got a call with a 641 area code and a 295 prefix — indicating it was a call from someone in his hometown of Oskaloosa.

“I answered it, listened the sales spiel on credit cards, disconnected, called the number back immediately,” Rozenboom said. “This nice lady says: ‘Good morning.’ And I’m kind of caught off guard ’cause I didn’t expect an answer and I said: ‘I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m Ken Rozenboom and I just got a telemarketing call from this number.’

“And she said: ‘Oh, I get those all the time. I’m so sick of it!” And then I said: ‘Well, the rest of the story is I’m Senator Ken Rozenboom. I’m actually going to drop a bill in the Iowa Senate today to try to get away from this fraudulent use of people’s phone numbers.”

It’s against the federal “Truth in Caller ID Act” to make such misrepresentations, but the practice is widespread and is now known as spoofing. Rozenboom is sponsoring legislation that makes it a crime to use “false or misleading” numbers when making calls to Iowans. Rozenboom said officials in the Iowa attorney general’s office have told him it could be another legal tool for going after telemarketers preying on — and annoying — Iowans.

“Whether it’ll actually make a difference or not I think is a matter of technology,” Rozenboom said. “I sure hope it does.”

If the bill becomes law, the fine would be $40,000 call. The bill cleared an Iowa Senate subcommittee Thursday.

Rozenberg says as he walked out of that subcommittee meeting, his phone cell phone rang, with another one of those calls.

Legislators consider felony charge for use of credit card skimmers

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Skimmers are attached to legitimate payment systems like this one to try and get your credit card information.

State legislators are exploring the idea of boosting penalties for those caught using devices called “skimmers” to steal credit card information.

Skimmers are illegally installed on ATMs, gas pumps and other places where customers insert a credit or debit card to pay their bill.

Representative Zach Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, says prosecuting this kind of cyber crime is growing more difficult because the thieves are using “blue tooth” technology.

“As soon as they commit the crime, they’re able to erase all the evidence and there’s no traceable way we can track it back to the individual,” Nunn says.

In one instance, Nunn says a sheriff investigating this kind of theft took a skimmer into a police station. Someone showed up outside, downloaded all the credit card information and then wiped the skimmer clean, so there was no evidence left.

Legislators to examine operations of state’s fiber optic network, may sell it

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Linda Upmeyer (file photo)

The Government Oversight Committee in the Iowa House will ask a group of paid state commissioners why they missed the alleged misuse of tax dollars by the now-fired director of the Iowa Communications Network. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake, says it’s a disappointing situation.

“Any commission like the commission that is in place has a fiduciary responsibility and I’m disappointed that somebody wasn’t looking through those budgets…line by line,” Upmeyer says. “…On occasion, you have to do that.”

The Iowa Communications Network is a state-owned system that provides high-speed voice, video and data service for state government, schools and some hospitals. An audit released last week indicated nearly $380,000 was misspent at the network, equipment was delivered to the now-fired director’s home in Marion and he hired people he knew who had no experience for jobs at the network. The five-member commission — each paid between $14,000 and $20,000 a year — will be called to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

“I have no doubt that other commissioners on other boards throughout the state are going to be looking closer at budgets as they move forward,” Upmeyer says. “It certainly is a wake up call for all of them because there is a responsibility when you agree to sit on one of those boards.”

And Upmeyer says selling the Iowa Communications Network is also on the table. The fiber optic lines were buried in the 1990s. Upmeyer says it may be time for the state to get as much as possible from selling the fiber, although she cautions private sector networks are likely newer and faster.

(Reporting by Mark Freie, KLMJ, Hampton; additional reporting by Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson)

Governor says ‘flaws’ in Iowa Communications Network have been addressed

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Governor Kim Reynolds. (file photo)

Governor Kim Reynolds today said “proper action” has been taken over allegations the former head of the Iowa Communications Network was misspending the agency’s money.

Whistleblowers came forward this summer. The network’s executive director was fired January 4. “In July, we had the staff from the ICN contact our office and briefed us on some concerns. Immediately we advised them to get ahold of the auditor’s office and to continue consulting with the (attorney general’s) office,” Reynolds said during her weekly news conference. “Just last week the audit was released and it exposed significant flaws.”

Governor Terry Branstad signed legislation in 1989 to create a state-owned fiber optic network to provide “distance learning” for rural students who could watch live video of teachers in other locations. The Iowa Communications Network now provides high-speed service for state government, schools and the Iowa National Guard as well as hospitals that use it for “tele-medicine” services.

Ric Lombard became the network’s executive director in September of 2014. Auditors discovered equipment purchased with state money was sent to his home in Marion and used for a non-profit Christian ministry he headed. Lombard and his state secretary also billed the state for a trip to Belize where the ministry was headquartered.

Members of the state board paid to oversee the network’s operations say there were unaware of the improper spending and travel. Reynolds told reporters the board fired the individual who was “primarily responsible.”

“We understand where the lack of accountability was in the structure and they’ve identified it and so I think they’ve taken proper action,” Reynold said. “The individual is no longer there and they’re moving forward.”

The former executive director and his secretary were both fired, as was another person the executive director had hired. That person had worked for the Christian ministry, too, and was not qualified for the state post.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has searched the ICN’s offices as well as Lombard’s home with warrants that made reference to first degree theft and felonious misconduct in office.

Central Iowa bus system offers riders free Wi-Fi

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The bus system that serves the Des Moines metro area is now offering passengers use of free Wi-Fi while they ride.

Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) spokesperson Amanda Wanke says they started offering the free Wi-Fi in the New Year after a successful pilot project.

“We did pilot it on two routes over the last year, and we found that every week there were about 1,300 connections. So we found that it was something that riders really did use,” Wanke says. Wanke says they started looking at the possibility of offering the Wi-Fi as they moved to new high-tech fare boxes.

“We are getting new fare boxes this year, thanks in large part to a federal grant,” Wanke says. “Those fare boxes required an internet connection — so we needed to have that internet connection on all of our buses — so this was a way we were able to meet the needs of that project and offer that connection to our customers as well.” Wanke says the new fare boxes have to be connected to be able to use the DART app and other payment options from riders. DART received a $4.2 milion grant to fund the new fare boxes. She says adding in the Wi-Fi connection adds another service to riders.

“Part of the reason a lot of people take the bus is so they don’t have to drive and can do other things,” according to Wanke. “So, having that Wi-Fi connection makes it possible for them to connect to work or social media or other things without having to worry about their data limits.” The “free” Wi-Fi in many places such as airports comes with ads that you have to view as part of the service. Wanke says that’s not the case with the bus Wi-Fi.

“You just have to agree to the terms of service, so there’s no advertising, but you have to agree to the terms,” she says, “and that’s all you have to do and you’ll be connected for the rest of your ride.” Wanke says the buses and other vehicles average around 20 riders, and the bigger buses can have 50 or more, but she says the Wi-Fi should be able to handle everyone.

“And certainly if it is really crowded, and depending on what people are dowloading and streaming, sometimes there might be some slowness related to that,” Wanke explains. “But we are working carefully to monitor how that is going — asking people if they have problems, asking them to give us some feedback to make the service work as well as possible.” Wanke believes DART is the only bus service in the state offering free Wi-Fi.

DART serves 18 cities in and around Polk County. Those include Alleman, Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Elkhart, Granger, Grimes, Johnston, Mitchellville, Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Runnells, Urbandale, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights.

Photos courtesy of DART.

New podcast puts spotlight on Iowa women in tech industry

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The Technology Association of Iowa is launching a first-in-Iowa podcast highlighting women leaders in the high-tech industry.

“Technically Iowa” is a series of interviews hosted by a woman who is already at the forefront of using technology to start a business.

Beth Trejo is CEO and founder of the Sioux City-based social media agency Chatterkick. She says the show’s goal is to develop a network of women techies.

Trejo says, “To connect female thought leaders, entrepreneurs, people in technology across the state, and just tell their story, let other people be inspired, be compelled.”

She says connecting to a community of people who are doing similar work is critical when starting a technology-related business.

“I’m just always fascinated by what people are doing in the state of Iowa, specifically in technology,” Trejo says. “I love visiting with people and hearing their stories and getting their advice.”

Trejo says the podcasts can be downloaded from iTunes by searching for “Technically Iowa.”

Two shows have been produced. A total of six will be posted by the end of January. Trejo says she hopes the conversations don’t end there.

Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio

 

 

Astronaut Peggy Whitson is guest of honor at Celebrate Iowa Gala

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Peggy Whitson.

Record-breaking Iowa astronaut Peggy Whitson will be honored tonight at the Celebrate Iowa Gala at the State Historical Building in Des Moines.

Whitson was born in Mount Ayr and raised on a family farm near Beaconsfield. At age nine, she watched on her parents’ black-and-white TV as the Apollo 11 astronauts walked on the moon, which inspired her to eventually become the first Iowa woman in space.

The 57-year-old holds a string of space-related records for her multiple missions into orbit, but remains humble about her long list of firsts and accomplishments.

“I really feel very privileged and honored to be able to participate in the space program at all,” Whitson says, her voice cracking. “That’s what I’m most proud of.” Whitson was the International Space Station’s first science officer, its first woman commander and she’s the first woman to command the station twice.

In addition to the space endurance record she set earlier this year, Whiston logged more EVAs — or spacewalks — than any other woman. Whitson was named Glamour magazine Female of the year for 2017. She is also the first woman to serve as Chief of the Astronaut Corps. There’s even a Peggy Whitson Science Center at her old school in Mount Ayr.

In an interview with Radio Iowa from the space station in December of 2016, Whitson talked about Christmas in zero gravity. Floating on the football field-sized facility and being able to gaze down at the oceans, clouds and continents rushing past, Whitson said it brought new meaning to the phrase “Peace on Earth.”

“I think the perspective of our planet here is very special and it does provide you with the sense that there are no boundaries, that we’re a planet, we are a people,” Whitson says. “It reinforces the fact that we should be together and at peace.”

Peggy Whitson’s flight suit on display at the State Historical Society.

Whitson has spent more time living and working in space than any other American or any woman worldwide, a total of 665 days over three missions aboard the space station. Her third mission ended in September. She was asked how it felt to be included among other legendary astronauts, like Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard and Sally Ride.

“I’m not sure I’d put myself in that same category,” she says. “But, I do think that having records, breaking records all the time is important for NASA. It shows that we are still progressing, we are still doing new things, and continuing to expand on what we know about space. It gives me pride to be a part of that.”

Whitson is focusing on doing public relations for NASA for the next several weeks but says her future plans are still fluid. “I will be doing PR stuff for another few months and then I’ll find a real job,” she says, laughing. Having been in space longer than any other American, Whitson says NASA scientists gathered a lot of health information about her time in space.

“I had signed up for extra because I’m a life sciences background by my training so I’d signed up for pretty much everything I could,” she says. “While in orbit, they took extra data and they are using me in a longer duration data set.”

At tonight’s sixth annual Celebrate Iowa Gala, guests will hear remarks from Whitson and will see the flight suit she wore into space in 2002, which is on display in the museum’s “Iowa History 101” exhibition.

(TJ Dunphy of KSIB, Creston, contributed to this story)

Some other Radio Iowa Whitson stories:

Peggy Whitson breaks space travel record, gets call from the president

Space mission extended for Iowa astronaut Peggy Whitson

Whitson’s walk in space sets another record

Astronaut Whitson ready for liftoff to space station, new command (AUDIO)

 

Secretary of State seeks support for computer upgrades

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Paul Pate. (file photo)

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says cyber security is a “constant challenge” and it’s “vital” that his office get more state tax dollars in the next budgeting year. Pate says the I-Vote system that handles voter registration data needs attention.

“That’s a system that was built over 15 years ago and obviously elections have changed dramatically since then,” Pate says. “It needs some serious upgrades if we’re going to go forward and we need to look at replacing that system in the coming years.”

Pate is asking the governor and legislators to provide his office with an additional $1.75 million for the budgeting year that begins July 1. He’d spend much of it on upgrades for the voter registration system.

Earlier this year, lawmakers set aside money to replace a different computer system in Pate’s office. It’s the one used by people filing out the online forms to start a new business.

“A new fast track filing system that’s going to provide Iowa’s business community with service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Pate says. “Whether it’s three o’clock on a Friday afternoon or 3 am on Christmas morning, they’ll be able to access it and do business.”

That system should “go live” something this spring. Pate’s office handled the records for more than 20,000 businesses that were launched in Iowa this past year. That’s an all-time high in new business filings. Pate says the number of Iowa businesses being dissolved is declining, too.

The Iowa Secretary of State’s office has an elections division, but it also has a business division that handles documents for non-profits, corporations, partnerships that operate in Iowa.

Part one of eastern Iowa driverless car test involves human pilots

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Mark Lowe.

Driverless cars are being tested on an eastern Iowa interstate, but in phase one of the test the humans inside the vehicles are doing the navigating.

“The Iowa 380 corridor was designated as one of the 10 autonomous vehicle proving grounds in the nation,” says Iowa Department of Transportation director Mark Lowe.

Lowe says the long-term project will help the state be “autonomous vehicle ready.”

“Many people will look at that as being: ‘How are we going to change the road infrastructure?'” Lowe says, “but the way we look at it is: ‘How are we going to be ready for the data that vehicles need to consume in order to be able to function in that environment?'”

Lowe says that means accurate maps and information about the roadway ahead, including hazards, weather conditions and traffic tie-ups. The project’s first phase began a couple of weeks ago. Four-hundred “pilots” are hearing that information broadcast from a hands-free mobile device inside a vehicle.

“That will basically help them see ahead of the horizon or beyond the horizon is the best way to put it,” Lowe says, “so that we’re warning them of the things they need to know to make good driving decisions before they actually get there and they can make better choices and safer choices and then, the next stage of that will be to start to feed that into the vehicle system itself.”

The test is being done on a stretch of Interstate 380 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.  Driverless buses have been tested this year in Paris and Las Vegas. Driverless cars have been tested in congested cities like Boston and Phoenix.