Police

NYPD Unit That Monitored Proud Boys Event Has Troubled History

The Strategic Response Group was created for counter-terrorism but it's involved in everything from Broken Windows policing to suppressing protest.

Ashoka Jegroo Oct 19, 2018

Man Convicted Of Obstruction For Refusing To Open His Door For Police

If his conviction stands, it could criminalize people who refuse to do things like unlock their phones or garages at police request.

Levi Pulkkinen Oct 17, 2018

Secretive Campus Cops Patrol Already Overpoliced Neighborhoods

Campus police forces have become more professionalized, but critics say they operate behind a veil of secrecy and often exceed their jurisdiction.

Ryan Briggs Oct 15, 2018

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 and Ethan Corey Sep 28, 2018

In One Pennsylvania County, Rape Victims Rarely Find Justice

Since 2015, police in Adams County have taken dozens of reports of rape, yet charges were filed in just two cases.

Joshua Vaughn Sep 25, 2018

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 Sep 20, 2018

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 Sep 10, 2018

In Pennsylvania, Defendants Pay A Fee Just To Plead Guilty

The ‘plea fee’ stems from a state law passed in the 1980s and can cost nearly $200, depending on the county.

Joshua Vaughn Aug 29, 2018

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 Aug 22, 2018

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 Aug 15, 2018

Milwaukee Candidates Clash In Race to Succeed The Infamous Sheriff Clarke

Several candidates are vying to become Milwaukee Sheriff in the wake of Sheriff David Clarke's resignation last fall. But will they truly spurn his legacy of jail deaths and cooperation with ICE?

Raven Rakia Aug 10, 2018

Against Innocence

In the wake of Nia Wilson’s murder, it’s critical that calls for justice in response to anti-Black violence are not contingent upon appeals to white-approved notions of innocence and respectability.

Zoé Samudzi Aug 08, 2018

After Hearing Concerns about ICE, Texas Sheriff Ran Apparent Traffic Sting That Led to Deportation Proceedings

A community group met with the Bastrop County sheriff in an effort to build trust between the sheriff’s office and the immigrant community. Then, the sheriff ran a sting that led to more than one dozen arrestees being handed over to ICE.

Michael Arria Jul 31, 2018

US Attorney’s Office That Prosecuted Inauguration Day Protesters Has History of Misconduct Findings

Prosecutors on the "J20" case faced grave allegations of misconduct after withholding exculpatory evidence contained in videos from defense attorneys. But this is far from the first time that this office has found itself in hot water.

Jessica Brand, Ethan Brown Jul 30, 2018

Multiple Police Cars Summoned to Arrest Selma Civil Rights Activist for Allegedly Stealing a Campaign Sign

Faya Rose Touré, a 73-year-old former judge, says she’s determined to fight the charges against her.

Lauren Gill

Former Baltimore Police Officer Unloads On The Department’s Gang Database

A onetime gang liaison for the Baltimore Police Department writes that its database is racist and error-ridden.

Larry Smith Jul 23, 2018

After A Murder Conviction is Reversed, Police Chief Vows to Watch Defendant ‘Til the Day I Die’

Did a Louisiana police chief and a prosecutor cross a line when they issued televised threats to a man who'd just been granted relief by a federal appeals court in a child killing?

Max Rivlin-Nadler Jul 03, 2018

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 Jul 02, 2018

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 Jun 29, 2018

A Black Man Called The Cops Nazis–And Was Charged With A Hate Crime

A Pennsylvania hate crime statute is being used by law enforcement to punish angry arrestees.

Joshua Vaughn Jun 28, 2018

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 Jun 19, 2018

Eric Holder May Be Considering a Presidential Run. But Has His Time Passed?

As voters begin to realize that prosecutors in the world's most incarcerated nation may not be the best people to run the government, the era of the prosecutor politician could be on its way out.

Chase Madar