One Rochester Cop’s Abuses Reveal A Culture of Police Impunity If Officer Matthew Drake had faced serious discipline for his misconduct, he might not have been on duty the night of Tyshon Jones’s death. Meg O'Connor
How a Troubled Police Department Is Shaping Buffalo’s Mayoral Race Citing years of police brutality and racial disparities in arrests, activists are pushing candidates to embrace reforms ahead of next week’s Democratic primaries. Raina Lipsitz
How Policing Is Shaping the Pittsburgh Mayoral Race Incumbent Bill Peduto’s policing record is under scrutiny after protests last summer. He is facing what may be his most competitive race yet. Joshua Vaughn
After Daunte Wright’s Death, Advocates Press Leaders to Get Police Out of Traffic Enforcement Cities across the country must rethink the role of law enforcement, as police continue to brutalize and kill Black men and women during traffic stops, advocates say. Joshua Vaughn
A California City Is Experiencing An Epidemic of Police Shootings—And Many Of The Victims May Have Been Unarmed The Appeal examined 17 fatal shootings by the Vallejo police over the last decade and found at least six cases where the person shot may have been unarmed. Brian Krans
How George Floyd’s Death Is Pushing Minneapolis to Rethink Public Safety The police killing has accelerated a years-long effort by advocates and lawmakers to shift resources and money away from law enforcement. Joshua Vaughn
New Videos Show Massachusetts Cops Brutalizing George Floyd Protesters Over two nights last year, police in Boston and Worcester used excessive force—including pushing and tackling—while arbitrarily arresting protesters without apparent cause. Eoin Higgins
Years After Freddie Gray’s Death, Baltimore Police Misconduct Persists A new report de-anonymizes hundreds of officers in the city and shows more than 1,800 cops have had complaints filed about them. Brandon Soderberg
Boston Mayor Vetoes Restrictions on Police Force Against Protesters Despite Controversial Body Camera Video ‘It’s an insult to the activism and organizing that defined 2020, and falls far short of the transformational leadership that Boston deserves,’ one City Council member said. Eoin Higgins
Bodycam Video Shows ‘Mob Mentality’ Of Boston Police Who Responded To George Floyd Protests, Lawyer Says Hours of video given exclusively to The Appeal show police officers bragging about attacking protesters and multiple instances of excessive force and the liberal use of pepper spray. Eoin Higgins
The Limitations of Police ‘No Chase’ Policies Two moped riders were left dead or injured after recent police pursuits in Washington, D.C., and Providence, Rhode Island. Ella Fassler
Cori Bush Wins, Heads To Congress Committed To ‘Fighting For The Regular Person’ Bush’s victory in Missouri’s First Congressional District makes her the first Black woman elected to represent Missouri in Congress. Lauren Gill
In a Small Illinois City, A Black Man Died After Officers Shoved A Baton In His Mouth. Black Officers Say They’ve Suffered At The Hands Of The Department, Too. Lawsuits from Joliet Police Department officers are among at least 12 current federal complaints against the agency. The men say their civil rights lawsuits are part of a decades-long history of discrimination. Jerry Iannelli
Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán
After Atlanta Teen Is Injured in a Police Encounter, Lawyers Call for Change The 17-year-old, who his lawyers say was pushed off a fence by a police officer, survived the fall but suffered serious injuries. Joshua Vaughn
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
Cities Must Stop Homeless Sweeps And Instead Provide People With Concrete Opportunities For Housing In order to get real about addressing homelessness in America, we need to get real about how we have demonized, dehumanized, and criminalized the presence of unhoused people in our local community. Paul Boden, Molly Beckhardt, Erin Goodling
After Recent Unrest, Chicago Leaders Are Pointing Fingers In All The Wrong Places In difficult moments like this, we can’t let bad faith attacks set our community back. What our families need are resources and investment, not more police on the streets. Robert Peters
The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck
Santa Cruz County Grand Jury Homelessness Report Calls for Defunding of Police A June report from the county’s independent judicial arm urges local government to reallocate law enforcement resources to social services. Ella Fassler
Seattle Mayor Known As ‘Tear Gas Jenny’ For Police Treatment Of Protesters Has Troubled History As A Federal Prosecutor As U.S. attorney in Seattle, Durkan prosecuted a severely mentally ill man in a terrorism case using an informant convicted of child sex abuse—and claimed to have reformed the same Seattle Police Department that has tear-gassed peaceful protesters for weeks. Jerry Iannelli
Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson
10 Ways To Reduce Our Reliance On Policing And Make Our Communities Safer For Everyone Police should no longer occupy all of our vital support systems in our communities. Alex S. Vitale
How Prison Abolitionists Are Meeting The Moment The COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide protests over police brutality are strengthening the case against mass incarceration, advocates argue. Emily Nonko
Defund The Police. Our Lives Depend On It. Safe and healthy communities start with less police and more investment in community services that work. A’Brianna Morgan
Portland City Council Votes to Cut $15 Million From Police Budget The cuts will defund a controversial gang policing unit and end the city’s policing partnership with TriMet, the regional transit agency. Jay Willis
Atlanta’s Mayor Wants $13 Million More For Police. Four Officers Were Just Fired For Using Excessive Force. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has asked for the budget increase amid ongoing local and national reports of police violence against protesters. Ko Bragg
The Toll That Curfews Have Taken On Homeless Americans The country’s homeless population was already struggling to access services during the pandemic. Kira Lerner
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
Police Departments Have Failed Black And Latinx Communities. It Will Take Deliberate Work To Earn Back Their Trust. The use of excessive force against nonwhite communities and people protesting police brutality is further eroding public confidence in policing. Ellison Berryhill
L.A. Mayor’s Reaction to Protests Proves He’s Unfit to Govern This weekend’s string of errors is just the latest in his career of cruelty. Jonny Coleman
New York Protests Could Finally Push Through Increased Police Transparency Lawmakers are targeting a statute that has been used as a cudgel to bat away almost any inquiries into police misconduct. Chris Gelardi
Too Little Has Changed About American Policing In the Last Few Decades. It’s Time For Something Different. The killing of George Floyd demonstrates that incremental police reforms are insufficient in the absence of a comprehensive plan to transform law enforcement and its stated purpose. David A. Love
For Trump, There Is No Policing Without Violence A president who openly endorses police brutality struggles with a nation rejecting it. Jay Willis
Don’t Let Cops Join Our Protests Cops who turn marches against police violence into parades don’t actually want substantial changes to policing. Derecka Purnell
Mississippi Attorney General Won’t Pursue Case Against White Officer for Killing Black Man Canyon Boykin was charged with manslaughter for shooting and killing Ricky Ball during a traffic stop in 2015. Ko Bragg
Defund the Police Now More training, more equipment, and more officers will not stop police from killing Black people. Justin Brooks
Freddie Gray, Five Years Later On the anniversary of the Baltimore Uprising protests, new evidence in Gray’s death uncovers suppressed witness accounts of police brutality. Justine Barron
In Erie County, Jail Deaths Continue Despite High-Profile Tragedy The death of 27-year-old India Cummings in 2016 garnered national media attention and a renewed push by local activists over conditions of confinement in the New York county’s jails. But the deaths haven’t stopped. Raina Lipsitz
New Lawsuit Alleges Abuse At ‘One Of The Worst’ County Jails In America Officers at the Cuyahoga County Jail in Ohio are accused of pepper-spraying and assaulting a man for merely asking about his release date. Joshua Vaughn
Longtime Louisiana Prisoner Who Maintained Her Innocence Dies Less Than Two Years After Her Release The poor healthcare that Bobbie Jean Johnson received during her more than 40 years in prison contributed to her death, family members say. Roxanna Asgarian
How District Attorney Jackie Lacey Failed Los Angeles On a host of issues—including police shootings, bail reform, marijuana legalization, and the death penalty—critics say Lacey, once seen as a reformer, has sought to preserve the status quo. Jessica Pishko
New York City Voters May Expand Power of Civilian Review Board, Allowing It to Investigate Police Who Lie If passed, Question 2 would also allow the board to force police commissioners to provide more insight into disciplinary decisions. Aaron Morrison
New York Subway Police Make Us Less Safe Recent violent arrests in the city subways should make New Yorkers question the push by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the MTA to hire 500 new transit police. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
San Francisco Police Brutality Claim Puts Pressure on Next D.A. to Hold Cops Accountable Ahead of the city’s district attorney election on Tuesday, the alleged baton beating last month of Dacari Spiers has renewed debate over police accountability. Darwin BondGraham
‘A Green Light For Abuse’: Despite Reforms, California Counties Still Conceal Records On Police Use Of Force A lawsuit in Los Angeles and a motion in Orange County highlight battles to get key information. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
California Court Destroys Files In Historic Police Corruption Case Criminal case files from Oakland’s seminal Riders scandal were among documents shredded by the Alameda County Superior Court in 2015. Ali Winston, Darwin BondGraham
New Lawsuit Focuses On Alleged L.A. County Deputy ‘Gangs’ Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva was elected on the promise of reforming the scandal-plagued sheriff’s department. But eight deputies now accuse Sheriff Villanueva of allowing a violent group, the Banditos, to thrive in his department's ranks. Ali Winston
Amber Guyger Should Not Go To Prison The former Dallas police officer should be held accountable for killing Botham Jean, but sending her to prison does not keep us safe. Elisabeth Epps
A New Mexico Man Accused a Deputy of ‘Gestapo’-like Training. Then He Was Arrested. In Valencia County, a sheriff’s deputy who once faced allegations of excessive force in Albuquerque is accused of assaulting an elderly man. Joshua Vaughn
Pulling Back the Curtain on Boston’s ‘Operation Clean Sweep’ Most coverage of police raids targeting homeless people and substance users parroted official—and fraught—talking points. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Chicago Police Pointed Guns At And Traumatized Children in Botched Raids, Lawsuits Allege Children as young as 4 years old are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result, the complaints say. Lauren Gill
Oakland Police Have Been Systematically Underreporting Use Of Force A new internal audit shows that officers disproportionately strike, tussle with, and draw guns on Black people but then fail to disclose the incidents in their reports. Darwin BondGraham
‘See How Quickly They Behave Once We Put Our Foot Down?’ A federal lawsuit claims that Palo Alto, California, police falsely detained, arrested, and beat a gay Latinx man—then boasted about their brutality. Joshua Vaughn
Caught on Video: A Texas Man’s Fatal Pursuit By Police The family of Ricardo Treviño, an unarmed 21-year-old killed by police last year, says they’ve spent months waiting for answers on why he was shot. Aaron Morrison
For New York’s Police Union, Any Accountability For Eric Garner’s Death Is Too Much Vaidya Gullapalli
Mayors Running for President Take Heat on Police Brutality and Racial Profiling During Debates Current and former mayors were questioned about how they managed their police departments. Aaron Morrison
Stoking Hostility Toward Homeless People Dozens of reports about an indigent man in Bradenton, Florida, showed the cruel excesses of local news’s homelessness coverage. Adam H. Johnson
My Year As A New Orleans Consent Decree Insider The Crescent City is in the final stages of a multimillion-dollar federal police reform process. Here‘s why it and other programs like it fail to achieve real reform. Matthew Nesvet
When Cops Lie, Should Prosecutors Rely Upon Their Testimony At Trial? In California, Texas and Florida, advocates sent letters to district attorneys, demanding that they refuse to work with officers with histories of misconduct. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Media Frame: Stop Quoting Bill Bratton For far too long, the press has leaned on wrong-headed tough-on-crime officials like the former NYPD commissioner when reporting on the criminal legal system. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
An Infamous Louisiana Sheriff Is On His Way Out. Now What? Louis Ackal has said he isn’t seeking re-election. But advocates fear that may not be enough to bring change. Jessica Pishko
‘A Town Without Pity’: Lawsuits Allege Police Cover-up of Sex Abuse by Officers in Maine The accusations span decades and involve two separate Biddeford cops and at least seven alleged victims. Roxanna Asgarian
The Appeal Podcast: Qualified Immunity, A Roadblock to Reform With Appeal contributors Amir H. Ali and Emily Clark of the MacArthur Justice Center Adam H. Johnson
L.A. Prosecutor Touts Her Mental Health Reforms, But Critics Say She’s Making The Crisis Worse Advocates and attorneys say Jackie Lacey’s rhetoric doesn’t match her actions. Raven Rakia
It’s Time to Make Chicago Police Pay For Their Misdeeds—Out Of Their Own Budget Chicago hands out millions in settlements and legal fees for police misconduct. Its newly inaugurated mayor should take a dollar from the department’s budget for every dollar the city spends settling with its victims. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Police In California Are Killing Sleeping People The fatal shooting by Oakland police of an unconscious man as he woke is putting pressure on the California department to rethink its deployment of force. Darwin BondGraham
California Cities Have Shredded Decades of Police Misconduct Records Police union lawsuits delayed many local governments from complying with a new transparency law. In the meantime, some cities have destroyed files. Darwin BondGraham
‘Please Help Me, Sir’ In September, Marcus Smith experienced a mental health crisis and begged Greensboro, North Carolina police for help. Instead, they tied him with restraints. Moments later, his body went lifeless. William C. Anderson
Black Mississippians Say Sheriff’s Office Deputies ‘Terrorize The Community Like A Gang Would’ Attorneys and advocates call for change in Madison County after the deaths of three Black people at its jail and because of what they allege is a system of roadblocks targeting Black residents. Aaron Morrison
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
‘I’m Not Going Anywhere Until They Stop Killing People’ In 2009, Anaheim police shot and killed Theresa Smith’s son. A new California law promises police transparency, but her quest for answers faces a substantial cost. Aaron Morrison
The Appeal Podcast: Mayor of Jackson Faces Uphill Battle for Police Accountability With Appeal contributor Ko Bragg Adam H. Johnson
‘The Police Act Like We Are Nothing’ A new coalition of people in the sex trades wants New York to become the first state to fully decriminalize their work. Melissa Gira Grant
The Mayor of Jackson Wants to Hold Its Police Accountable. Easier Said Than Done. Since Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s 2017 election, at least five people have died at the hands of the law enforcement in Mississippi’s capital city. Ko Bragg
California Police Unions Fight New State Law Promising Transparency on Misconduct Records Senate Bill 1421 requires law enforcement agencies to make public investigative records of officer-involved shootings and uses of force resulting in great bodily harm. But law enforcement unions argue that the law threatens the privacy of their members. Darwin BondGraham
Family of Donna Dalton, Who Was Shot By a Columbus Police Officer During Arrest, Demands Independent Inquiry Advocates say the case hasn’t been handled fairly and there’s little hope for justice. Melissa Gira Grant
New Study Finds Body Cameras Aren’t Objective Witnesses People who view body cam footage of an incident are less likely to attribute blame to a police officer than those who see the same incident through the lens of a dashboard camera. Nicole Wetsman
New York Agency Declines to Help Trans Woman Allegedly Harassed by Law Enforcement She is suing the Division of Human Rights for saying it’s not authorized to investigate her complaint. Emma Whitford
Video Shows Baton Rouge Police Pinning Man To The Ground and Beating Him The officers were part of the department's Street Crimes Unit, known among residents for its aggressive patrols. Daryl Khan, Clarissa Sosin
Lawsuit Accuses A Louisiana Police Chief Of Punching a Man and Throwing His Wife to the Ground Then he ordered another officer to arrest the man. George Joseph
‘Worse Than Guantánamo’ Dozens of former detainees at the Gwinnett County jail in Georgia claim they were subjected to brutality at the hands of its Rapid Response Team. Kira Lerner
Claims of Racism and Brutality Dog Los Angeles County Sheriff ‘Deputy Gangs’ A lawsuit brought by a Compton resident detailing an alleged beating by deputies is just one of nearly three dozen federal civil rights lawsuits alleging brutality and racial bias at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. George Joseph, Raven Rakia, Ethan Corey
In Washington State, It’s Nearly Impossible To Prosecute Police Killings This fall, however, an initiative goes to voters that would change the law on deadly force by the police, which has led to no officer there being convicted of wrongfully killing someone in the line of duty in more than 30 years. Mike Faulk
Ohio State Rep: If Police Tase or Shoot a Child, She Probably Acted ‘Stupid’ or Was ‘a Punk’ Rep. John Becker doubles down on his recent comments about the tasing of an 11-year-old for allegedly shoplifting. Melissa Gira Grant
Just 6% of Columbus Police Officers Account for Half of All Force Reports Between 2001 and 2017, the department justified officers in 99 percent of use-of-force cases, according to data released through a public records request. Ethan Corey, George Joseph
A Grand Jury Indicted An Alabama Police Officer For Murder. Then A Mayor Came To His Defense. Jeffery Parker was shot to death by a police officer in his Huntsville home. A grand jury handed up an indictment for murder, but the mayor and City Council appear to be throwing their support behind the officer. Lauren Gill
Notoriously Brutal, Racist Plainclothes Policing Makes A Return In Baltimore After the Gun Trace Task Force scandal rocked the police department, plainclothes policing was spurned. But a recently resigned commissioner championed plainclothes units, a decision the department seems to be sticking with. Larry Smith
Defund The Baltimore Police A former Baltimore cop questions how a department with a nearly half-billion-dollar budget that is riven by rampant corruption and brutality, bloated overtime spending, and unaccounted for patrol officers can continue to justify its existence Larry Smith
NYPD Detective With a Shady Past Helped Lock Up a Pot Dealer For Federal Conspiracy Jurors were barred from hearing about the eight civil rights lawsuits against Detective Jeremiah Williams. George Joseph
Austin Cops Said They Shot A Man Who Fired On Them–But It Turns Out He Didn’t Fire A Shot Lawrence Parrish faces charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and remains jailed on $500,000 bond even though the Austin police admitted he never shot at them. Michael Arria
The Baltimore Police’s ‘Summer Surge’ Scam A former Baltimore Police officer says that a plan to flood the streets with local and federal law enforcement is likely to yield more of the same ineffective 'broken windows'-style arrests. Larry Smith
Responses to Violence Must Move Beyond Policing The solution to problems like unsolved homicides, especially in communities of color, cannot be reinvestment in institutions that wage violence against them. William C. Anderson
Lawsuit Tests the Supreme Court’s ‘Immunity Protection Program’ for Police Officers Who Kill Kyle C. Barry
Data Shows Police Brutality in America is Getting Worse — 2018 Could Be the Most Deadly in Years Shaun King
Chicago Activists Organize Against Massive Police Training Academy to Be Built As Schools Close Prince Shakur
Cascade of Overturned Cases May Emerge In Wake of Philly DA’s ‘Bad Cop’ List Maura Ewing, Daniel Denvir
Houston Police Chief Who Called Michael Bennett ‘Morally Corrupt’ is Quiet on Police Brutality Jessica Brand
Stop and Frisk Apologies Prove that the Mic Must be Passed to People Most Affected by the Police Josmar Trujillo
The Trials of Keith Davis, Jr: How Baltimore Prosecutors Pursued a Police Shooting Victim Brandon Soderberg
New York’s Attorney General Just Indicted a District Attorney for Covering Up a Police Shooting of an Unarmed Black Man Max Rivlin-Nadler
For Victims of Corrupt Chicago Police, An Unusual Taste of Justice Fifteen men had their tainted convictions vacated by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office, but this isn’t the norm when it comes to prosecutors. Rebecca McCray
As Incidents of Police Misconduct and Abuse Pile up Nationwide, Justice for their Victims Remains Fleeting Shaun King
Free Meek Mill, Philly cops panic over their new DA, LAPD caught planting drugs, 14 year old boy killed on reservation In Justice Roundup is my weekly debrief rounding up the justice news you need to know. Shaun King
Cops Who Slap Homeless Women, Rape Prisoners, Assault Children, and Keep their Jobs … and Other Unseen News from The World’s Most Carceral State Shaun King
Injustice Roundup: My Weekly Roundup of Stories on Abusive Police Officers, Prison Guards, and Prosecutors Shaun King
New York District Attorney Indicted For Covering Up Police Violence U.S. Attorney says the evidence against him is “overwhelming” Carimah Townes
Chicago Activists Say #NoCopAcademy; Hospital Says No Kidney For Son of Justice-Involved Dad … and more Rory Fleming
Goodbye Tent City; Philly’s Newspaper Makes A Crazy Endorsement; Oops — ICE’s Manual Tells Too Much … and more Matt Henry
Injustice Roundup: My Weekly Roundup of Stories on Abusive Police Officers, Prison Guards, and Prosecutors Shaun King
The arrest and charging of Karla Frye marks a pivotal moment for protest in St. Louis County Her case says a lot about prosecutorial discretion. Carimah Townes
Like during the Civil Rights Movement, peaceful NFL protesters have exposed the mean-spirited bigotry of America Shaun King
Criminal cover up in St. Louis reveals “frighteningly close relationship between police and prosecutors” Larry Hannan
Ex-DA faces suspension after failing to disclose that cop planted evidence in murder case Larry Hannan
Houston Police officers will not be tried over invasive body cavity search of black woman Larry Hannan
Charges dropped against black teenager, but no explanation for how she was mistaken for man wielding machete Larry Hannan
Multnomah D.A. quietly imposes significant policy change concerning police use-of-force investigations Rebecca McCray
