law enforcement
They called 911 for help. Police and prosecutors used a new junk science to decide they were liars
This story contains audio clips of 911 calls where people in distress describe traumatic deaths in sometimes graphic detail. It also mentions a suicide attempt. Text STORY to 917-905-1223 to get the next installment in this series as soon as it publishes. Standard messaging rates apply. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story […]
Biden touts public safety policy in visit to Wilkes-Barre
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — President Joe Biden knocked defenders of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol while touting his recent public safety policy wins in a visit to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. “You can’t be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection,” Biden said. The president also referenced the FBI search at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago […]
‘Defund the police’ slogan and anti-cop violence debated at U.S. Senate hearing
Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and law enforcement witnesses at a Tuesday hearing blamed recent violence against officers on anti-police rhetoric, while Democrats distanced themselves from the “defund the police” slogan and said an oversupply of guns made law enforcement jobs more dangerous. Republicans on the panel raised complaints about general attitudes toward […]
Ohio Republicans introduce bill that would criminalize ‘swatting’
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. A new bill in the Ohio Senate would criminalize ‘swatting,’ which […]
Proposed law would allow Ohio teachers to carry guns in schools with 20 hours of training
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. A controversial new gun law in the Ohio Senate is causing […]
Senate candidate Matt Dolan hosts law enforcement roundtable in Columbus
In Columbus, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Dolan hosted a roundtable Friday with law enforcement officials to underscore his record in the Statehouse and his plans for Washington. The Chagrin Falls senator touts his ability as finance chair to deliver funding for police training, fighting human trafficking and stemming the opioid crisis. He, like many […]
Chauvin trial begins with opening statements focused on cause of death, police training
By Max Nesterak, States Newsroom Attorneys in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin laid out their case on Monday before 14 jurors who will decide if Chauvin is guilty of murder or manslaughter in the death of George Floyd on May 25. The opening statements from the prosecution and defense indicate […]
Protect and serve and live next door
It was a tiny detail in another devastating story of police use of force. Seeking comment from the Columbus police officer involved in the most recent killing of a civilian, the Columbus Dispatch described the “No Trespassing” sign tacked to the front door of the officer’s house in Union County. There is a crisis in […]
Social media misconduct flares up among police in Ohio, nationwide
George Floyd had only been dead for a few days, and Mount Eaton police officer Jeff Lewis predicted the opinion he was about to share about Floyd would not be popular. “Here’s where I lose more ‘friends,’” Lewis posted to his Facebook page, alongside a photo of Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on […]
Reimagining a broken system of policing
America’s criminal legal system is broken. Policing is part of that system and is no exception. In fact it’s where it all begins. It’s hard to imagine that any system with roots in slave patrols, groups of armed white men who enforced slave laws, can be just. So it’s no surprise that we have seen […]
2020 uprisings, unprecedented in scope, join a long river of struggle in America
The river was the metaphor that best captured “the long, continuous movement” of the black freedom struggle for theologian, historian and civil rights activist Vincent Harding. Harding, who had served as a speechwriter for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in his groundbreaking 1981 study of African-American history, “There is a River: The Black Struggle […]
Police officers accused of brutal violence often have a history of complaints by citizens
As protests against police violence and racism continue in cities throughout the U.S., the public is learning that several of the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville share a history of complaints by citizens of brutality or misconduct. Decades of research on police shootings and brutality […]