The classic problems cities face are poverty, traffic, public safety, energy and water. Some are turning to technology in hopes of addressing some of those issues. 

"There is this desperate need for improving living conditions," said Philip Bane, managing director of the Smart Cities Council.

He's part of an organization dedicated to helping cities navigate smart city technologies — a billion dollar global industry.

"Nashville is doing something where they're putting in sensors to measure water flow in all these places it could be dangerous," Bane said. 

Nashville — prone to urban flooding — is installing thousands of sensors for early warning detection.

"How does that flooding affect someone who's disabled, or who's an immigrant and doesn't speak English," Bane asked. "That's the key to being smart. It's not that you collect the data. It's what you do with it."

Homayra Yusufi is a refugee from Afghanistan who is now an advocate, alarmed by a program in San Diego that was paused over privacy concerns. Streetlights were equipped with LED bulbs, cameras and sensors that were capable of monitoring air quality and optimizing traffic and parking. It promised to pay for itself through energy cost savings.

"Our communities have historically been affected by over-surveillance, especially after September 11," Yusufi said. "We had never heard of the lights. They were not only installed — thousands throughout San Diego — but they had also given exclusive access to the police department, which did not have a use policy."

The program was costing taxpayers millions of dollars more than expected. Community groups joined together calling for oversight and transparency about what it does with the data.

San Diego is now developing new policies with input from organizations, privacy advocates and technology experts. Yusufi hopes as interest grow in other cities, privacy is top of mind.

This story was originally published by Amanda Brandeis of Newsy.

A former Ohio police chief is accused of making racist references to a Black officer — and it was caught on video. The officer has filed a discrimination charge, which is the first step toward a lawsuit.

In July, a video went viral of former Sheffield Lake Police Chief Anthony Campo placing a paper with "Ku Klux Klan" written on it on officer Keith Pool's jacket.

Then another video shows Campo putting on a makeshift KKK hat.

At the time, the mayor told local media that the incident was horrible, shocking and unacceptable.

The same day Campo was put on administrative leave, he resigned from the department.

Now, the officer targeted by the racist actions is speaking out, remembering that the chief also called over other officers to see what he did.

"Even when I, we watched it now, I am in disbelief that this has happened," Pool said. "My, my exact words were, 'Are you serious?' And, I just looked at him, and like what else can you say to the chief of police who done something so heinous and so awful.

Officer Pool is now filing a discrimination charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and a petition with the Ohio Supreme Court.

"And, this was not the Chief's first time doing something racist and offensive to me or other employees," Pool said. "It was just the first time he got caught on video."

The petition asks for Campo's record of racial harassment complaints, alleging the chief repeatedly engaged in racial misconduct.

"Our investigation has revealed that Chief Campo referred to Officer Pool as the N-word and said he did not want an N-word working in his department," Ashlie Case Sletvold, Pool's attorney, said.

Officer Pool requested those documents himself, but the city did not provide Campo's misconduct record.

"The city's failure to turn over the public records documenting his misconduct makes me feel like they want to protect the ex-chief Campo," Pool said.

Officer Pool does still work for the department under new Chief Andrew Kory, calling it a healthier environment.

"Working there since the incident and the removal of Chief Campo has been more upbeat," Pool said.

The law firm representing Pool plans to file with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in order to get the right to sue.

The petition it sent to the state supreme court effectively asks the justices to get involved with the case.

Police in Mesa, Arizona, are investigating after a father had to lunge to stop a gun from being pulled on his wife and himself during a business meeting.

The chaotic scene was caught on camera at Chef's Shared Kitchen in Mesa.

Watch the scene unfold in the video above.

Tom Toot, who is the life partner of the owner, but not an employee, was having an exit interview with Solomon Odubhao and his wife Brittney Myers. Toot told them he handled scheduling and operations for the kitchen.

They were being forced from the prep kitchen after being given 30 days notice, they told ABC15. The couple operates a food truck called 'WhachaCookin.'

During the meeting with Toot the conversation became tense. It is not currently known what was being said during the conversation.

"He told us we were contaminating their whole kitchen," Myers said.

"I was like, cool, I’m not going to tolerate no disrespect towards me or my wife," Odubhao said.

"Then he just reached for his gun," said Myers. "I immediately braced myself like, 'Oh my God, we are going to get shot.'"

"I went with my instincts," Odubhao said.

Odubhao leapt at Toot and grabbed hold of the gun before it could be removed. For about 11 minutes, Odubhao held onto the weapon while Myers called the police.

"I kept pleading on the 911 call, 'My husband is not the suspect. He’s African-American. He’s fighting the guy with a gun. His hand is on the weapon, but please whatever you do, do not shoot him,'" Myers said.

Police arrived and instructed both men to put their hands on their head. Toot was tasered.

Toot has been charged with aggravated assault, and is no longer allowed back at the scene.

In a statement sent to ABC15, Michelle Skura, the lawyer representing Toot, said:

"Mr. Toot enjoys the presumption of innocence under the 5th and 14th amendments of the US Constitution. As such the State has the burden of proof and not Mr. Toot to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the crime he is being accused of. Mr. Toot deserves the opportunity to defend himself and to be judged by a court of law and not the court of public opinion.

Candice is a business woman and Tom is disabled veteran, both of them have worked and served alongside people from all walks of life and have never discriminated against anyone regardless of race, sexual orientation or religious preference. Prior to this incident they had never been accused of being racist and are sickened by the allegation."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

A new lawsuit claims the Louisville Metro Police Department is not only withholding possible body-camera footage from the raid at Breonna Taylor's home, but also records that would prove their existence, which police have refuted for months.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Sam Aguiar, one of the attorneys who has been working with Taylor's family since last year's raid in west Louisville.

Aguiar claims in the lawsuit that more body-camera footage may exist from the night Taylor was killed. The lawsuit goes on to claim that several officers involved in the raid were issued a type of body camera that would have come on automatically.

The lawsuit also claims that the police department has not complied with an open records request by attorneys for the information that would show this footage exists.

"Simply put, it would have been difficult for most of the LMPD members with body cameras and who were associated with (Criminal Interdiction Division) events at Breonna's and/or Elliott Ave. on March 12/13, 2020 to not have had their Axon body cameras activated at one point or another," Aguiar writes in the lawsuit.

Aguiar adds that he believes officers who left their body cameras in vehicles or other locations would have also had the devices activated "to an event mode from a buffering mode, so long as the camera was within range of a signal unit."

Aguiar is calling on a judge to order the LMPD to turn over the requested information under the state's open records law.

The Taylor family attorney argues that if the LMPD was able to verify that certain officers' body cameras were specifically assigned to the March raid, he believes there is "reasonable basis to believe that misinformation has been presented to the general public regarding the usage of body cameras by several members of the LMPD CID unit."

It's not the first time Aguiar has made such claims, taking to social media in January to explain why he believes there is more body-camera footage. Since the March 13 raid that ended in the deadly shooting of Taylor, police have maintained that no footage exists from the actual raid at the apartment.

Photos from the scene show that Officer Anthony James had a body camera, but it could not be determined whether it was activated. Police have said that Sgt. John Mattingly and former detectives Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison, did not have body cameras.

In January, Aguiar and the other attorneys working on Taylor's case subpoenaed the videos from the raid on Elliott Avenue in June, months before Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced a decision in the investigation. He said he was told 18 body camera videos didn't exist until the LMPD confirmed that investigators had located them.

The LMPD told Aguiar in a response that the videos were recorded at the separate raid the night Taylor was killed at her home in March. At the time, officials said there were no plans to release the videos because investigators feared they could jeopardize the investigation.

According to the response, the videos are not from the raid at Taylor's home, but from an Elliott Avenue address, likely the home of Jamarcus Glover, Taylor's ex-boyfriend who was a central figure in a drug investigation by the LMPD.

Former LMPD Detective Joshua Jaynes, who was part of LMPD's Place-Based Investigations Unit, was working on the drug case involving Glover, listing his home as a drug house. Jaynes told investigators he believed there were packages related to drug dealing being sent to Taylor's apartment for Glover.

Jaynes was fired for his role in the investigation.

Taylor was killed on March 13 at her apartment. LMPD officers were serving a warrant connected to the larger drug investigation. They had been approved for a no-knock warrant, but both parties agree knocking took place. However, whether they announced themselves is still up for debate.

Police used a battering ram to enter the apartment and were fired upon by her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Three officers returned fire: Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Det. Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison. Mattingly, the first to enter, was shot once in the leg.

Taylor was shot five times and died in the hallway.

LMPD officials have not issued a statement on the lawsuit.

SPRINGDALE, Ohio —

New video shows what it looked like inside Dave & Buster's in Springdale as a large fight exploded.

Families were startled, and employees warned police that a gun and a Taser were involved.

Police said a man was found shot nearby.

WLWT talked with a man who happened to be in the restaurant and arcade celebrating a birthday as it all unfolded and used his phone to record some of it.

A number of employees called 911 for help begging police to hurry.

"I just can't believe that I witnessed that, that that stuff actually happens," Chandler Davis said.

Davis said he captured video of the fight on Monday night inside Dave & Buster's.

He was there for his girlfriend's sister's 21st birthday celebration, but this was no way to mark that milestone.

"I see a bunch of men throwing fists at each other, so I decided to record it and I didn't want to get too close because there was a girl there with a stun gun and she was going around hitting a bunch of guys in the neck with it," Davis said.

The video he captured showed the intensity of it all.

Five employees called 911 asking police to hurry as the fighting only got worse.

"It's like 10, 15 people and they're fighting. They've got Tasers and everything," an employee said during a 911 call.

In the calls, employees tell 911 dispatchers someone has a gun.

Davis saw their reaction in real time as the fight continued inside and eventually moved outside.

"We were sitting there and one of the workers came running back inside and he didn't say he had a gun but he was like, 'Everybody stay in here' and like, 'Stay down,'" he said.

Springdale police found a 37-year-old man shot nearby.

He is expected to be OK.

Police said no one was arrested, but they are making progress.

Meanwhile, Davis isn't sure he will be back.

"Just don't do it in public, if anything. Just don't do it at all at that. Just, especially not in public around kids, because I was right by a family and they had a little kid and they were really, really freaked out," he said.

Springdale police said they have set up a meeting to talk with Dave & Buster's about security and preventing this from happening again.

They were at this arcade earlier this year for fights and shots were fired near a neighboring business, though no one was hit.

Dave & Buster's has not responded to our request for comment.

Anyone with information about this fight should call Springdale Police at 513-346-5760 or Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.

COLUMBUS, Ohio —

At 4:32 p.m. on Tuesday, someone called 911 to report a disturbance on Legion Lane in Columbus.

"We got these... grown girls trying to fight us. Trying to stab us. Trying to put our hands on our grandma. Get here now," the unidentified caller said.

Neighbors said 16-year-old Ma'khia Bryant made that call. Columbus police have yet to identify the caller. Chief Michael Woods said he didn't know if Bryant was the caller.

"We do not know that. Again, that will be (the Bureau of Criminal Investigation) interviewing all the witnesses to determine who made those phone calls," Woods said.

The caller's phone number was redacted in a computer-aided dispatch report obtained by WLWT.

Footage from Officer Nicholas Reardon's body camera paints a picture of what happened once he arrived at 4:44 p.m. — 12 minutes after the 911 call.

As Reardon stepped out of his car, people can be heard yelling. Reardon yells, "Hey."

As he approaches a group of at least seven people, a female is seen falling to the ground during a scuffle with another person. That other person, who was later identified as Bryant, had a knife in her right hand.

Reardon draws his gun as Bryant starts to run at a girl wearing all pink.

At the same time, an unidentified man kicks the girl who is already on the ground.

At that point, Reardon is focused on Bryant who still has the knife in her right hand.

Bryant is seen drawing her hand back and then up, over the girl in pink who is pinned against a car.

That is when Reardon fired his weapon four times.

Bryant fell to the ground and the girl in pink took off running.

After the shooting, the knife can be seen laying on the ground.

Officers performed chest compressions on Bryant while others rushed to separate witnesses.

Bryant died a short time later at an area hospital.

Investigators have not yet identified the girl in pink, the man who kicked the other female or any other witnesses.

"Those are witnesses, so they were referred to (the Bureau of Criminal Investigation). So, (the Bureau of Criminal Investigation) would have that investigation. But again, that's part of their investigation," Woods said.

A spokesperson for Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation said he did not know how long it would take the division to complete its investigation.