Meg O'Connor Meg O'Connor Meg O’Connor was a senior reporter for The Appeal. She covers police, prisons, and prosecutors. She previously worked for Phoenix New Times and Miami New Times, where her work drew national scrutiny to local police departments and led to the firing of five officers who had committed egregious misconduct. In Miami, she wrote a series of articles showing Miami police had failed to adhere to a new law allowing officers to hand out tickets in lieu of arrest for minor marijuana possession. The series led Miami’s police chief to begin a civil citation program and won the Florida Press Association’s Claudia Ross Memorial Award for investigative reporting, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s David Carr Award for investigative reporting, and the Florida Press Club’s Lucy Morgan Award for in-depth reporting.
Austin Uses Money From Police Budget to Fund Substance Use Care The city will use $1 million in funds diverted from its police budget to expand substance use treatments and harm reduction services for low-income people in Austin and Travis County. Meg O'Connor Apr 07, 2021
Tishaura Jones Wins St. Louis Mayoral Race Jones’s election is the latest in a string of progressive victories in the region. Meg O'Connor Apr 06, 2021
This Anti-Violence Strategy May Be Coming to St. Louis, but Activists See Red Flags Both mayoral candidates in tomorrow’s election favor an approach called focused deterrence. Some advocates caution it could reinforce punitive policing. Meg O'Connor Apr 05, 2021
Cara Spencer Is Running To Lead St. Louis Through A Time Of Crisis And Opportunity The mayoral candidate said she wants to drive down violent crime, stimulate economic growth and development, and reinvest in the city’s struggling schools and neighborhoods. Meg O'Connor Apr 02, 2021
What The St. Louis Mayoral Candidates Would Do To Close The City’s Notorious Workhouse Jail Tishaura Jones wants to decriminalize offenses and transfer people out of the Workhouse. Cara Spencer wants to end the contract to house federal detainees. Meg O'Connor Mar 26, 2021
Arizona Man Faces Decades In Prison After Not Returning a Rental Car on Time Brian Stepter, a 61-year-old Black man, has struggled with substance use for decades. Now, prosecutors are leveraging his record against him—and forbidding references to racial justice, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Stepter’s potential sentence, or his health problems at his trial. Meg O'Connor Mar 25, 2021
Phoenix Wants To Shift Crisis Response Away From Police—While Also Increasing The Police Budget The trial budget includes a proposal to expand a crisis response program under the fire department, but also includes a $3.7 million increase to the Phoenix Police Department’s $745 million budget. Meg O'Connor Mar 19, 2021
The St. Louis Mayoral Race Reflects a Progressive Shift In Local Politics Two progressive candidates will move on to the general election, while Lewis Reed, a figure in St. Louis’s Democratic party establishment since 1999, couldn’t carry a single ward. Meg O'Connor Mar 16, 2021
California Governor Commutes Sentence of Abuse Survivor, Grants Clemency to Several Others Advocates have been urging Governor Gavin Newsom to make greater use of his clemency power, especially for older prisoners who are more vulnerable to COVID-19. Meg O'Connor, Joshua Vaughn Mar 12, 2021
A Florida Lawmaker Introduced Legislation to Remove Traffic Enforcement From Police Cities across the country have begun exploring traffic enforcement without police. This bill proposes doing so statewide. Meg O'Connor Mar 05, 2021
Rochester Police Tackle and Pepper-Spray Woman With 3-Year-Old Child It is the latest incident of violence from a police department already under fire for pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl and fatally injuring Daniel Prude. Meg O'Connor
Tishaura Jones and Cara Spencer Win St. Louis Mayoral Primary The two candidates will move on to the April 6 general election after securing the most votes under the city’s new approval voting system. Meg O'Connor Mar 02, 2021
The Future of Housing in St. Louis Hinges on the Mayoral Race Whether the city will do more to keep people in their homes or simply do more of the same depends on who voters elect as the next mayor. Meg O'Connor Mar 01, 2021
Policing and Public Safety at Odds in St. Louis Mayoral Race Instead of expanding the "arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate model," advocates want the next mayor to address the root causes of violence. Meg O'Connor Feb 26, 2021
Tishaura Jones Wants to Change St. Louis Jones says her experience transforming the treasurer’s office will make her an effective mayor. Voters will let candidates know what they think next week. Meg O'Connor Feb 25, 2021
No Criminal Charges for Cops Involved in Daniel Prude’s Death New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced today that a grand jury voted not to indict any police officers on charges related to the death of Daniel Prude. Meg O'Connor Feb 23, 2021
This Election Could Decide St. Louis’s Future The four candidates vying to replace the mayor are each promising to build a better St. Louis, and in a little over a week, voters will decide which visions they endorse. Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2021
Police Violence Puts the Heat on Rochester Mayor as She Seeks a Third Term Months after footage emerged of officers fatally suffocating Daniel Prude, police were caught on video pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl. Advocates say the incident highlights the shortcomings of Mayor Lovely Warren’s crisis response team. Meg O'Connor Feb 16, 2021
Austin To Buy Second Hotel That Will Become Permanent Supportive Housing The city will use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the people who will live at the hotel. Meg O'Connor Feb 04, 2021
State Lawmakers Are Pushing New Bills To Reduce Reliance On Police So far in 2021, lawmakers in several states have introduced at least 12 bills to shrink the footprint of policing. Meg O'Connor Feb 02, 2021
Austin Will Use Money Cut From Police Budget To Establish Supportive Housing The City Council voted to buy one hotel and use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the homeless people who will live there. Meg O'Connor Jan 27, 2021
Austin May Use Money Cut From Police Budget To Establish Permanent Supportive Housing The City Council will decide whether to buy two hotels and use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the homeless people who will live there. Meg O'Connor Jan 26, 2021
Members of Congress Call on Biden to Commute Everyone on Federal Death Row More than 35 members of Congress signed a letter asking Biden to commute the sentences of the remaining 50 people on federal death row. Meg O'Connor Jan 22, 2021
Republican Lawmakers Are Using the Capitol Riot to Fuel Anti-BLM Backlash Some lawmakers are citing the violence in Washington as a reason to pass laws that criminalize protesting, but far-right extremists aren’t the target. Meg O'Connor Jan 19, 2021
They Took Umbrellas to a Black Lives Matter Protest. The D.A. Hit Them with Gang Charges Police and prosecutors routinely treat white domestic terrorists with kid gloves, but use the full force of the law against protesters calling for an end to police violence against Black people. Meg O'Connor Jan 14, 2021
What Traffic Enforcement Without Police Could Look Like Because traffic stops all too often escalate into deadly incidents, calls have grown to disentangle traffic enforcement from police—and a measure to do so has already passed in Berkeley, California. Meg O'Connor Jan 13, 2021
The Pandemic Hasn’t Stopped Landlords From Evicting Tenants—And It’s About To Get Much Worse Landlords have continued forcing renters out of their homes, despite a patchwork of protections from federal and local governments. Now, with the CDC moratorium set to expire on Dec. 31, millions of Americans could be evicted. Meg O'Connor Dec 18, 2020
D.C. May Give People Convicted As Young Adults A Chance At Resentencing The D.C. Council is set to vote on a bill aimed at giving people who committed serious crimes before their 25th birthday an opportunity to petition a judge for resentencing. Meg O'Connor Dec 14, 2020
Against CDC Guidance, Denver Displaces Hundreds Of Homeless People Amid COVID-19 Spike Cities across the country have continued to displace and criminalize homelessness during the pandemic, though the CDC cautions clearing encampments can heighten the potential for the spread of COVID-19. Meg O'Connor Dec 02, 2020
Police Funding Is a Pivotal Issue in Two Austin City Council Runoffs Incumbents Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter have been targeted by conservative challengers because of the council’s votes to cut police funding and repeal a ban on public camping. Meg O'Connor Dec 01, 2020
Some Texas Elections Suggest Voters Aren’t Afraid of Defunding Police None of the Austin City Council members who voted to cut police funding lost their elections, but a police union vice president who fearmongered about the defund movement did. Meg O'Connor Nov 20, 2020
In a Blow to the Progressive Prosecutor Movement, Allister Adel Wins the Maricopa County Attorney Race Voters decided to keep Adel in charge of the third-largest prosecuting agency in the country. She is recovering from emergency surgery for bleeding in her brain. Meg O'Connor Nov 11, 2020
Lorenzo Sanchez Wants to Provide Healthcare to Uninsured Texans Sanchez is running for one of the state House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip. Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2020
Texas House Candidate Celina Montoya Is Running To Expand Medicaid and Fund Public Education She is running for a historically Republican-controlled seat, and if she wins, it could help turn the state House blue. Meg O'Connor Oct 30, 2020
Democratic Candidate Brandy Chambers Wants to Help Turn the Texas House Blue If Chambers can unseat the Republican incumbent in her district, she said she’ll prioritize expanding Medicaid, improving public education funding, and lowering property taxes. Meg O'Connor Oct 29, 2020
What Raquel Terán Wants To Accomplish If Democrats Take The Arizona State Legislature The state representative wants to pass paid family leave, repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe vs. Wade abortion ban, and increase access to the ballot through automatic voter registration and same-day registration. Meg O'Connor
As Arizona Politics Shift, Martín Quezada Hopes This Term Is His Most Significant Quezada has supported progressive policies since starting out in the state legislature in 2012. He’s now running for his final term, which could be his most important, given the state’s changing power dynamics. Meg O'Connor Oct 27, 2020
How One Race Could Change Police Accountability in Arizona Incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel is backed by police unions and has declined to charge officers in high-profile killings. Challenger Julie Gunnigle says she wants to create an independent unit to review police use-of-force cases. Meg O'Connor Oct 23, 2020
If Arizona Legalizes Weed, Top Prosecutors Would Be Key To Clearing Past Convictions One candidate for Maricopa County attorney says she’ll make clearing past marijuana convictions ‘universal and automatic’ if elected. The other has not said she would do anything to support expunging criminal records. Meg O'Connor Oct 21, 2020
Abortion Could Be Criminalized in Arizona if Roe v. Wade Gets Overturned The state’s pre-Roe abortion ban includes mandatory prison time for people who provide or obtain abortions. Candidates for top prosecutor in Maricopa County differ on whether they would prosecute such cases. Meg O'Connor Oct 15, 2020
Democrats Could Break the Republican Trifecta in Arizona The party needs to win two state House seats and three state Senate seats in next month’s election to flip the chambers. Here are the candidates running in hotly contested races. Meg O'Connor Oct 13, 2020
Maricopa County’s Top Prosecutor Releases Misleading Attack Ad Allister Adel paints herself as a reformer, but her record shows otherwise. Meg O'Connor Oct 05, 2020
A Police Union Vice President Hopes Fear Of The Defund Movement Will Propel Him To The Texas House Republicans could lose their grip on the state House this November, and their control over the 2021 redistricting process hangs in the balance. Justin Berry and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who endorsed him, are hoping to win an important seat back from the Democrats by scaring voters. Meg O'Connor Oct 01, 2020
How One Election Might Strike a Blow to Mass Incarceration in Arizona In Maricopa County, years of harsh charging and sentencing policies have sent state incarceration rates soaring. Now that legacy is in question in November's prosecutor election. Meg O'Connor Sep 22, 2020
Arizona Man Faces 8 Years in Prison For Not Returning Rental Car on Time Brian Stepter, a 61-year-old with chronic respiratory problems, has struggled with substance use for decades. Police and prosecutors sought the harshest sentence possible after he failed to return the car. Meg O'Connor Sep 16, 2020
His Brother Called For Help After He Was Acting Strangely. Police Knelt On Him Until He Was Brain Dead. Body camera video shows that Daniel Prude was complying with police when they knelt on his back and pushed his face to the ground for so long that he stopped breathing. Meg O'Connor Sep 02, 2020
Austin Cuts Its Police Budget by About A Third The City Council passed a budget that cut nearly $150 million from the Austin Police Department. Millions will be reinvested in services like violence prevention and supportive housing. Meg O'Connor Aug 13, 2020
Austin May Cut Police Budget by Nearly $150 Million The City Council will pass a budget this week that could cut nearly $150 million in funding from the Austin Police Department. The proposal appears to have majority support. Meg O'Connor Aug 12, 2020
In Arizona, a County Attorney Candidate’s Past Seems To Contradict Her Pro-Reform Stance Julie Gunnigle, who is running in Maricopa County, says she supports alternatives to incarceration. But a decade ago in Illinois, she prosecuted a woman for recording phone calls and helped put her in jail for 18 months. Meg O'Connor Aug 03, 2020
Pima County Candidates Battle Over Whether the Prosecutor’s Office Needs an Outsider to Achieve Reform In this Arizona county with over one million residents, two career prosecutors are facing off against a former public defender in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary, which will decide the election. Meg O'Connor Jul 30, 2020
Maricopa County Moved Homeless People to Sweltering Parking Lots in Response to COVID-19 Hundreds were forced from an encampment to fenced-in, asphalt parking lots with no shade in Phoenix’s triple-digit summer heat. At least three people have died. Meg O'Connor Jul 24, 2020
Democrats Running for Prosecutor Want to Break With Maricopa County’s Punitive Past All three candidates said they would commit to reducing the Arizona prison population if elected, though their visions of the role of the county attorney’s office diverge. Meg O'Connor Jul 09, 2020
51 Years In Prison For A Car Crash Prosecutors wanted to make an example of Justin Dixon, who has been in an Arizona prison for 14 years, with 37 ahead of him. Now, as COVID-19 spreads in the facility where he’s being held, his family is desperate for him to be released. Meg O'Connor Jun 25, 2020
How the Phoenix Police Department Spends Its $745 Million Budget The city wants to give the force an additional $24 million. But the department is still failing to solve crimes, and officers have shot 212 people between 2011 and 2018, killing about half. Meg O'Connor Jun 17, 2020
On The Day Of George Floyd’s Death, An Arizona State Trooper Killed A Man In Phoenix Dion Johnson’s family wants answers about the last moments of his life. Meg O'Connor Jun 05, 2020
She Turned Her Life Around After A String Of DUIs. Now She Might Be Sent Back To Prison Amid A Coronavirus Outbreak The Maricopa County Attorney's Office waited four years to charge Danielle Sutherland for one of the DUIs. After serving time for the others, she received treatment for her substance use issues and pursued a degree. Meg O'Connor May 29, 2020
Honolulu Police Keep Putting Homeless People in Jail The city is flouting CDC guidance by continuing to dismantle homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it does not have nearly enough shelter space. Meg O'Connor May 28, 2020
Cleaning Supplies Are So Scarce At This Arizona Prison, Detainees Are Using Shampoo And Menstrual Pads, Lawsuit Says The plaintiffs want an independent expert to assess whether the facility has implemented social distancing measures, testing procedures, and hygiene practices adequate enough to reasonably protect detainees from contracting COVID-19 while in custody. Meg O'Connor May 12, 2020
A Veteran Was Sent to Jail for Stealing Masks to Give to Homeless People Peter Lucas was jailed overnight at a time when prosecutors across the country are actively working to reduce the number of people behind bars to stem the spread of COVID-19. Meg O'Connor Apr 16, 2020
Internal Affairs Investigators Raid NYPD’s Special Victims Division for Third Time Logbooks were seized as part of an inquiry into misconduct allegations against high-ranking officers in the division that investigates sex crimes. Meg O'Connor Jan 09, 2020
Manhattan D.A. Suggests He Nudged The Governor To Fix A Loophole In New York Rape Law. It’s A Bit More Complicated. Cyrus Vance says he sent Governor Cuomo a letter about the issue in April 2018; Cuomo's office says it never got it. In the intervening months, critics say Vance's messaging on the issue discouraged survivors of rape from coming forward. Meg O'Connor Dec 23, 2019
People Behind the Girls Do Porn Website Were Just Charged With Sex Trafficking. But Complaints Were Filed About Them Years Ago. At least three women made police reports about Girls Do Porn in 2015, but recruiters continued to exploit women until the FBI stepped in last month. Meg O'Connor Nov 04, 2019
Police Chief Sued Over Handling of Violent Rape Case A federal lawsuit claims that Asheville, North Carolina's interim chief, Robert C. White, prevented a rape victim from filing a complaint against an officer when he led the Louisville, Kentucky, department. Meg O'Connor Oct 16, 2019
New Lawsuit Claims a Sacramento Deputy Unlawfully Arrested Activist Who Protested Clearing Of Homeless Encampment Advocates and homeless people are suing Sacramento County over its treatment of homeless—and the city responded by filing a lawsuit against seven men for being a ‘public nuisance.‘ Meg O'Connor Sep 04, 2019
‘It Was Almost Worse Than The Incident Itself’ New NYPD data show that in 2018 the department closed nearly 500 rape cases due to an alleged lack of participation from victims and had a declining clearance rate for rape, raising questions over its handling of sexual assault. Meg O'Connor Apr 23, 2019
Florida Woman Faced 10 Years For ‘Meth’ That Was ‘Just a Rock’ A scandal of falsified drug arrests is spreading at a Florida sheriff’s office that has also spent more than $1.33 million settling excessive force lawsuits and is at the center of the increasingly troubled Robert Kraft case. Meg O'Connor Mar 26, 2019
Miami Police Arrest Thousands of Homeless But Leave Rapes, Robberies Unsolved In 2017, over 2,000 homeless people were arrested on charges including drinking in public and panhandling. That same year, roughly 1,400 people were arrested in Miami-Dade County for rape, murder, and robbery. Meg O'Connor Mar 18, 2019
Inside ‘The Stop-And-Frisk Capital of America’ Claims including sexual assault of a woman with mental illness to lying in reports haunt the Miami Gardens police; payouts in federal lawsuits have cost the city's taxpayers at least $3.5 million. Meg O'Connor Feb 21, 2019
Is The NYPD’s Special Victims Division Prematurely Closing Sexual Assault Cases? Advocates say victims are being pressured to sign ‘withdrawal’ forms to quickly close investigations and protect the department from legal liability. Meg O'Connor Dec 17, 2018
