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The Beat<\/strong><\/p>\n Taser\u2019s body cameras\u2014razorblades in a free lunch?<\/em><\/p>\n Axon (formerly Taser)\u2014is offering free \u2018Axon Body 2\u2019 cameras<\/a> to every sworn law enforcement officer in the US. It\u2019s a big bet on the future of body cameras<\/a>, touted as a means to foster<\/a> police integrity and accountability. Axon cites recent work<\/a> by the Pew Research Center as its catalyst\u201493% of the public and 66% of the police force supported<\/a> the cameras.<\/p>\n But as per usual, there\u2019s no free lunch. The offer is in fact a free year-long trial and if departments desire to continue, there\u2019ll be US$399 to pay per cam. More crucially, the ongoing data storage costs payable to Axon could run to US$89 per month. This is classic \u2018razor and blades<\/a>\u2019 marketing, and could lead to further financial stress for already-under resourced departments<\/a>. And the problems that have plagued police investigations and criminal trials will still be around: data storage<\/a>, bureaucratic inefficiencies<\/a>, discretionary control over the footage<\/a>, and civil rights concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ice-addicted python cools off<\/em><\/p>\n Shout out to the ice-addled python (\u2018which cannot be named due to legal reasons<\/a>\u2019) being rehabilitated<\/a> at the John Maroney Correctional Complex<\/a> in NSW. A former life in a meth lab took its\u00a0toll on the python, but it\u2019s being cared for in the in-house Wildlife Care Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n CT Scan<\/strong><\/p>\n Terrorist or hipster?<\/em><\/p>\n The relationship between Muslim men and their beards is a tangled one, it seems. The Conversation<\/em> looks at the panic surrounding \u2018Muslim beards\u2019 and the popular perception that \u2018young Arabic-looking men with beards equal terrorists\u2019<\/a>. Perhaps they’re just hipsters? The author discusses her own experience as a Lebanese-Australian with two bearded brothers: \u2018I\u2019m intrigued by the entanglement of the hipster with the bearded jihadi who features with ever-increasing regularity in Western\u00a0media\u2019. And perhaps she\u2019s right to be concerned. In 2016, police in Tajikistan shaved off the beards of almost 13,000 men<\/a> in a bid to stamp out what the authorities deemed \u2018radicalisation\u2019.<\/p>\n Taking a \u2018linkage-based approach\u2019 to combatting terrorism<\/em><\/p>\n The ICCT released an interesting piece on the strategic benefits of using what they term a \u2018linkage-based approach<\/a>\u2019 to combat extremist, Islamist propaganda. Coined by Dr Haroro Ingram<\/a> from the ANU Coral Bell School in 2016<\/a>, this approach offers an \u2018alternative to ideology-centric strategies that rely on essentially counter-proselytisation to undermine the appeal of militant Islamist propaganda\u2019. Check out page 5<\/a> of the most recent report for a useful explanatory diagram!<\/p>\n Responding to terrorism <\/em><\/p>\n The time immediately following a terrorist attack is often chaotic and disorienting. To help mitigate this confusion, Senior Fellow from the Brookings Centre for Middle East Policy, Daniel Byman<\/a> has kindly outlined nine questions policymakers should ask<\/a> themselves after a terrorist incident.<\/p>\n Checkpoint<\/strong><\/p>\n India\u2019s inroads in Arunachal Pradesh <\/em><\/p>\n India\u2019s literally \u2018moving mountains\u2019 <\/a>\u00a0in the Eastern Himalayas to build a 55km road leading to its disputed border with China in Arunachal Pradesh. The road would allow India to quickly deploy troops, supplies and weaponry in the event of armed confrontation and will help strengthen its own border claims. New Delhi is playing catch up to China\u2019s massive infrastructure build-up<\/a> on the other side of the frontier.<\/p>\n Schengen Borders Code <\/em><\/p>\n The Schengen Borders Code<\/a> came into effect last Friday. Under the new piece of legislation, all EU and non-EU citizens are required to undergo \u2018systematic checks against relevant databases\u2019<\/a> or have their documents uploaded into a registry when crossing in and out of the Schengen border. Previously<\/a> only applied to non-EU citizens, the measure is part of an effort to crack down on foreign fighters returning to the EU.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s \u2018militarised beauty pageant\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Donald Trump\u2019s getting more than he bargained for in the \u2018militarised beauty pageant\u2019<\/a> to design his border wall. The submissions<\/a> that\u2019ve come through include nuclear waste-filled moats, \u2018volumetric microwave sensors\u2019, watchtowers, hammocks and musical organ pipes. The most imaginative idea calls for the creation of a new territory along the border called \u2018Otra Nation\u2019<\/a>, co-maintained by the US and Mexico.<\/p>\n First Responder<\/strong><\/p>\n Neighbourhood watch<\/em><\/p>\n Thanks to the tail-end of ex-cyclone Debbie<\/a>, parts of New Zealand\u2019s east coast are experiencing a \u2018once in 500-year\u2019 flood. A state of emergency has been declared in several areas on the North Island, after two days of torrential rain. In Edgecumbe, one of the worst-affected towns, locals challenged council officials<\/a> at a public meeting over why flood barriers weren\u2019t reinforced after major flooding in 2004.<\/p>\n \u2018The earth is ringing\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n The unexpected coupling<\/a> of a geophysicist and a music\/sound designer birthed the SeismoDome<\/a> show. The pair make audible the sounds of earthquakes by manipulating, speeding up, and magnifying vibrations, surface waves and other seismic data. When surface waves are sped up, for example, they \u2018sound like slow chirps\u2019<\/a>, or even whale songs. In addition to being a moving audio-visual experience, the show is educational\u2014teaching audiences about seismology and plate tectonics\u2014and aspirational\u2014hoping that greater understanding of the Earth\u2019s natural hazards will lead to more considered city planning and design.<\/p>\n