Police misconduct records are either secret or difficult to access in a majority of states — 32 of them including Washington, D.C. But the breeze of openness is blowing. Seven big states have opened records in recent years — California, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Massachusetts and Maryland. Nineteen states now have laws that allow these…
Police officers who abuse citizens usually escape punishment because of an array of legal doctrines that stack the law in an officer’s favor. That was true before the murder of George Floyd and killing of Breonna Taylor and it’s true after the uprising that those events caused. The guilty verdict and stiff sentence for Derek…
Eighty-one Chicago police officers lost their badges over the past 20 years, but only after being investigated for 1,706 previous offenses – an average of 21 accusations per officer. One third (28) of these Chicago officers were investigated for domestic altercations or sexual misconduct. Two murdered their wives. That statistical picture emerges from records obtained…