Covering police guide for journalists

Community Media Workshop at Columbia College Chicago 600 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois | 312-‐369-‐6400 | @npcommunicator

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Covering police Resources, ideas and examples for journalists

By Stephen Franklin Edited by Susy Schultz Research by Austin Montgomery

The McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute is made possible by the generous support of the McCormick Foundation and the coordination efforts of the Poynter Institute.


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Introduction Police reporting is the bedrock of journalism. Yet today, we find what we do is not enough. We need to dig deeper, hold up a broader lens, work harder to understand the problems and the solutions. Why? Because of the surge of incidents that has raised serious questions about race and police. There’s a renewed concern about how police operate across the US. We think this is an important moment for journalists. While some are sounding journalism’s death knell, we know that it is journalism that can produce the reporting to light the way through this difficult issue. In the wake of too many incidents that stirred unease across the country, including Ferguson, Mo. and Staten Island, President Obama created a task force to look into how police operate and what changes need to take place. Hopefully, journalists will step up to the same challenge. Hopefully, we will do what journalists do so well — raise questions, cause debate, start people thinking about public policies, hold up myths and stereotypes to closer examination and find the full story. Not just the story outlining the problems, but the stories that give voice to the ideas for solutions. This is how we can connect the news that matters with those who rely upon us. This is how we can have impact. This guide, pulled together by veteran newsman Stephen Franklin, who runs our ethnic and community media project, gives you a great look at stories with the basic police issues of today. It’s not all-‐inclusive but it’s a great starting point to help you think. There are examples here of good reporting — investigative as well as daily coverage that provides content and analysis, multi-‐media packages and creative examples of different storytelling strategies. There are also links to government and academic resources. Please let us know how this guide works for you. Share with us your reporting or suggestions. We want to keep it up to date.

Susy Schultz President

Community Media Workshop, @Susys


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Index

Police accountability page 4 Here you will find stories on police discipline, police-‐civilian review boards.

Police violence and abuse page 8 Race and police page 10 Racial profiling and minority police

Community relations page 12 Police strategies for crime and violence page 15 Mental health and police page 17 These are stories of how police deal with mentally ill and emotionally disturbed as well as the emotional challenges police face and the police culture.

Police statistics page 18 Resources for police issues page 19


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Police accountability Much of the focus by journalists on police accountability has dealt with how police monitor their own and what system of monitoring works best. An even more basic issue has been documenting police violence and misconduct.

• In this Milwaukee Journal-‐Sentinel series, reporter Gina Barton investigates how police deal with officers’ misconduct. Among the issues raised, the articles look into the emotional problems that drive officers’ misconduct. The project includes a multi-‐media presentation and descriptions of the challenges encountered in obtaining information from the police.

• “LAPD discipline case” raises questions of favoritism.

o Board reinstated an officer after he was recorded making racial slurs o Officer later cited in another controversy o The Los Angeles Times questions possible police negligence

• “Beyond Burge” — The Better Government Association of Chicago’s report

provides extensive data on numbers of police misconduct cases and their legal costs for the city.

o Outlines police misconduct settlements/claims o Details claims by year up to 2014 o Provides diverse measurements for the toll of police misconduct.

The coverage of Chicago officials’ decision to create a $5.5 million reparations fund for victims of police torture victims is a reminder of the media’s role in revealing the costs of police misconduct. Nationally the news media has increasingly learned how to get the facts about police misconduct and to explain its impact. Here are recent stories dealing with Chicago’s legacy of police misconduct claims:

• Chicago Tribune coverage • Chicago Sun-‐Times coverage • Washington Post coverage


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Chicago Police at the scene of a homicide on the city’s South Side. By Alex Wroblewski

As this New York Times story points out, the federal government does not keep a record of fatal shootings by police. There is a drive to require such a database, but, as the story notes, there is political opposition to it. Still, as many of the news reports here show, reporters are able to cobble together data locally on this.

• A New York Daily News investigation shows 179 fatalities involving police with only three indictments and one conviction. The report details the number of unarmed victims and breaks down victims’ race — 86 percent were black or Hispanic. It notes that the NYPD did not make its “internal statistics on officer-‐involved deaths” available.

• “Abusing the badge” — An examination by the Chicago Reporter of the trend

and toll of police “repeaters,” officers involved in misconduct gives a thorough reporting on a case involving a city worker and police lieutenant. It sheds light officers involved in multiple misconduct suits and allegedly shielded from punishment.

• As part of a nine-‐part series on police misconduct, the Sarasota Herald-‐

Tribune provided links to government agencies with reports on actions involving law enforcement officers.


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• “Who polices the police? In Chicago, it’s increasingly ex-‐cops” — An examination by WBEZ (Chicago) on the city’s effort to monitor Chicago police

o Monitors are usually ex-‐cops associated with the IPRA, the Independent Police Review Authority

o When investigations are reviewed by former cops, biases may occur and take a less independent role in oversight.

• A Baltimore Sun investigation details a number of misconduct cases against

police. It points out officials had not kept track of some cases until recently.

• “Audit: SDPD flaws led to misconduct” — A San Diego Union-‐Tribune news report on a federal audit that details San Diego police department flaws.

o The federal report: § Found problems with the department’s handling of sexual

misconduct by officers § Cites citizen complaints, inadequate ethics training § Suggestion: Plan your follow up when there’s a critical study.

• “Police killings highest in two decades” — An attempt by USA Today to

measure fatal police shootings across the nation. o 461 felony suspects fatally shot by police in 2014 o Under-‐reported data by departments could be behind spike

• A Wall Street Journal investigation shows hundreds of unreported killings by

police across the US. This is a link to a video of journalists explaining the findings.

• “For Their Eyes Only” — This investigation by Newsday lists alleged flaws in

police departments’ monitoring of police misconduct. It: o Details the New York state privacy law that protects police. o Cites cases where officers shot innocent people, falsified reports and

manipulated driving while intoxicated (DWI) arrests. o Makes any information relating to officers performance confidential. o Outlines weak oversight in Long Island police departments.


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• “Building the perfect cop in Sacramento” — The Sacramento News-‐Review holds up the recent findings of the President’s Task Force on Policing to examine how police operate locally.

o Feature story along with discussion of White House 21st century policing task force.

o Personal account of police ride along in Sacramento o Department change needed, not individual officer reform

• “Grand Jury to Take Up Death Linked to Police Chokehold in Staten Island,”

by the New York Times — Explains the challenges facing a grand jury’s deliberations on murder charges against a police officer.

• “Why police are rarely indicted for misconduct” — An analysis by a sociology professor of how police handle misconduct cases, by Al Jazeera America.

o Opinion piece by Alex Vitale o Structural problems for no indictments: prosecutors must work with

police investigators, on scene interviews of witnesses, conflict of interest of prosecutors working closely with police

o State laws protect police with courts’ support.

• “People Forget That We Are Human Beings” — An effort by The Marshall Project to provide a voice for police, is a personal account from a 20-‐year police veteran.

o Question: How would you provide a similar point of view?

• “Dead and Buried: HPD barely investigated almost two dozen homicide cases,” by the Houston Chronicle outlines how HPD skimmed investigations of nearly 24 homicide cases and examines the murder clearance rate by Houston police.

• “How Police Unions and Arbitrators Keep Abusive Cops on the Street” o Commentary by Conor Friedersdorf for The Atlantic o Outlines cases across the US where police were reinstated o Discusses how police are reinstated by labor agreements o Multiple examples of police misconduct


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Police violence and abuse Cheryl Thompson of the Washington Post has put together a great resource for understanding dangers of police informants. — “Dozens in D.C., Maryland paid the ultimate price for cooperating with police.”

• And Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times “Justice Dept., Criticizing Philadelphia Police, Finds Shootings by Officers Are Common”

o 454 shooting involved officers o 59 unarmed o Strong usage of available statistics by the New York Times

• “Departments Are Slow To Police Their Own Abusers” by Sarah Cohen,

Rebecca R. Ruiz and Sarah Childress wrote this New York Times article. It summarizes:

o Disciplinary procedures put police at risk. o Rare for police departments to discuss domestic violence. o 1 in 10 police officers in study said they had “slapped, hit or injured”

spouse or partner.

• “Hawaii Police Killed At Least 36 People in 20 years” is a report by the Honolulu Civil Beat by Nick Grube about death and injuries inflicted by police. It shows:

o Police injure people while making arrests, leaving citizens liable for medical costs.

o Sent 2,285 citizens to the emergency room. o Estimated police costs as a result — $4.2 million based on medical

billing data. o It also has extensive use of statistics.

• Cheryl Thompson of the Washington Post examined nearly 2,300 homicides in the District between 2000 and 2011 and found that police closed at least 189 cases without an arrest or a trial — 15 percent of the 1,288 total closures.

• ‘Untold number of police killings in Va. go unreported or uncounted” written by Mark Bowles of the Richmond Times Dispatch shows there were more than 24 unreported and uncounted police shootings since 2000. According to federal reporting requirements, departments don’t report.

• “Deadly Force in Philadelphia,” an editorial shows process for police being

interviewed after involved in controversial shootings. And it outlines the Justice Department evaluation team by the New York Times.


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• “How cop killers got their guns”: A yearlong investigation by the Washington

Post shows “how guns got into the hands of police officers' killers and -‐ in a nation with more than 250 million guns in circulation -‐ how a moment of panic can have deadly consequences.”

o “More than 1,900 officers were wounded by firearms during the same period.”

o “Through documents and interviews, The Post was able to track how the suspects obtained their weapons in 341 of the deaths.”

o It shows the legal underside of acquiring firearms.

• In another story by the Washington Post’s Cheryl Thompson, “The story of two guns that killed police officers,” she traces the path of two guns that were used to kill two police officers.


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Race and police More than ever, race has become a measure for understanding how police operate and relate to their community. A large amount of reporting has looked at racial profiling by police. Similarly, much more attention has been given to diversity within police ranks; how it impacts police behavior and community relations.

• An incredibly helpful resource from the New York Times is “The Race Gap in America’s Police Departments,” which breaks down the racial composition of local police departments in 17 metropolitan areas. This is an in depth analysis, which provides context.

• A Fusion Documentary by Orlando de Guzman and Tim Pool is a

documentary about residents of St. Louis County and is the personal accounts of racial profiling, under police surveillance: “The policing of black bodies: Racial profiling for profit and the killing of Ferguson’s Mike Brown”

• “Sixteen Shots” by Jamie Kalven, a Chicago activist on police accountability,

examines the police version of a fatal shooting in Slate. Kalven has played a major in obtaining police documents dealing with police misconduct. The tagline on the story reads: “Chicago police have told their version of how 17-‐year-‐old black teen Laquan McDonald died. The autopsy tells a different story.” It notes the impact of videos from Ferguson to police dash cams.

• “Racial Profiling: A Times Special Report” is an explanation of how the

Shreveport Times reported on racial profiling by local police.

• “Reaction to Ferguson Decision Shows Racial Divide Remains Over Views of Justice” by Michael Wines of the New York Times, shows 3 percent of black men in the US were in prison, while 0.5 percent of all whites in prison. In 2011, one in 15 black children had a parent in prison compared to one in 111 of white children.


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• “Exclusive: Daily News analysis finds racial disparity in summonses for minor violations in ‘broken windows’ policy” by Sarah Ryley , Laura Bult and Dareh Gregorian finds that “roughly 81 percent of the 7.3 million people hit with violations between 2001 and 2013 were black and Hispanic, according to a New York Civil Liberties Union calculation of available race data on summons forms.” It uses strong investigative graphic data to tell the story in the New York Daily News:

o Out of 648,638 summonses, 80 percent were black. o 7.3 millions citations were handed out and most were for

consumption of alcohol on the streets — 1.5 million; disorderly conduct was 1.01 million.

• Online investigative news outlet ProPublica’s piece, “Deadly Force, in Black

and White” is a risk analysis of killings by police written by Ryan Gabrielson, Ryann Grochowski Jones and Eric Sagara. It finds “on young males killed by police certainly seems to support what has been an article of faith in the African American community for decades: Blacks are being killed at disturbing rates when set against the rest of the American population.”

• This column by New York Times writer Charles Blow examines the

Department of Justice report on the use of force in Philadelphia. “Officers’ Race Matters Less Than You Think,” notes that race is not a driving force in the tensions between a largely black police force and Philadelphia black residents. See race and police in Philadelphia. He writes: “...these findings should shatter the simplistic narrative that the recent discussion about policing and communities of color is only about white officers and minority suspects. It is broader than that: It’s about policing writ large and the use of force against people of color. It is about how sophisticated — and complicated — biases can be, how they inform and activate our fears and how they do not respect rigid racial barriers.”


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Community relations Amid heightened criticism and calls for greater monitoring of police, departments have come under review for how they deal with communities. Community policing is one strategy, but some experts doubts its impact. Another police strategy has been to develop a sense of legitimacy in their communities. But the question remains: What works?

• “NYPD Commissioner Bratton predicts cops will have 1 million fewer law enforcement contacts with public in 2015” by New York Daily News’ reporters Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy and Larry McShane.

o Outlines a less invasive approach could start to mend police/black relations and a scale back in “Stop and Frisk.”

• “Philadelphia Commissioner Steps Into Fray Between Police and Public” by

Timothy Williams is a New York Times article showing how Philadelphia police chief Charles Ramsey has tried to deal with police community tensions in his city, and sought to reform the department. It raises questions about dealing with the police culture and how police reform takes place. Some key quotes:

o “I really think officers out there in the community need to see their roles differently,” he said. “We’re not at war with communities we serve. We use terms like ‘fighting crime,’ ‘war on drugs,’ all those kinds of things, that really over time develop a mind-‐set both among the police and also the public that is not real healthy.”

o “Complicating efforts at reform is the divide between lower-‐ranking officers, who have traditionally been resistant to changing tried-‐and-‐true behaviors, and commanders, who have pressed for change.”

• The President created the Task Force on 21st Century Policing by Executive

Order. “Fact Sheet: Task Force on 21st Century Policing” — It held hearings around the US and then compiled a list of recommended changes. The hearings provide an invaluable resource in terms of experts and discussions of key issues involving the police. Likewise the report can become a tool for examining the state of efforts to update or reform police departments.

• NPR’s Martin Kaste’s piece, “To Catch Up On Unsolved Murders, Detroit

Detectives Mine Cold Cases” outlines a police strategy to classify “cleared cases” in Detroit. As it wraps, the reporter notes: “Detroit police say they brought their clearance rate up to 63 percent in 2014, in part by solving older cases. Sixty-‐three percent is about the national average, so that's good.”


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• This Crime Report article “Cops and The Media: A Chilly Peace” by David Krajicek points to heightened tension between police and the press. It offers surveys of media policies adopted by law enforcement agencies

• NPR’s This American Life’s two-‐part series, “547: Cops See It Differently —

Part 1 and Part 2” are insightful programs dealing with incidents relating to police brutality and community relations in Indiana and Wisconsin. The series features extensive reporting and highlights the gap between the public’s perception of crime and the police perspective.

• “How New York protects police records from public view,” for the Columbia

Journalism Review by David Uberti is an “in depth look a statute that allows law-‐enforcement agencies to keep virtually all internal personnel records secret.” It describes the fight by several news organizations against law enforcement agencies desire to keep internal personnel records secret.

• “State committee urges Cuomo, legislators to open police files” is a report for

greater transparency between law enforcement and public by Albany Times Union’s reporter Brendan J. Lyons. It discusses: “The committee's call for "greater transparency" for law enforcement agencies comes after public outcry over deadly incidents involving police use of force in the shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., and the July death of a New York City man placed in a chokehold by officers who confronted him for selling untaxed cigarettes on Staten Island.”

• “Shootings by Police Soar as Violence Crime Plummet,” by Philly.com: This article points to the high rate of police shooting as compared to other major cities. It provides several graphs measuring police shootings and violence across the US, which can be helpful in similar reporting efforts.

• “Police Reform Organizing Project” in New York City is a community-‐based

advocacy group reporting on allegations of police misconduct and New York police strategies. Using research and analysis, public education, policy advocacy and coalition-‐building, PROP aims to stop the current ineffective, unjust, discriminatory, and racially biased practices of the NYPD, investigate police priorities, punish abusive conduct; and implement local problem solving measures that strengthen communities while reducing crime.


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• The “Sexual Assault In A Big City: Is There A Lack Of Priority” is a story by CBS Chicago’s Mason Johnson. It discusses the crime statistics that speak best to safety in judging an urban area. The story looks at:

o Statistically, criminal sexual assault has dropped about 50 percent the last 20 years.

o Discusses the need for training for officers on sexual assault victims. o Details on the Chicago Police Department cataloging of sexual assault

data

• This NPR report by Martin Kaste,“For Police, A Debate Over Force, Cop Culture and Confrontation,” looks at how one police chief worked to reform his department. But it also stands back and raises the question of this process. “Protests in Ferguson and New York this summer rekindled an old debate about how American police use force. The perception that cops are too aggressive has been fed not just by the high-‐profile deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, but also by a stream of unflattering camera phone videos, such as the recent scene of New York cops aggressively clearing a street of vendors or the clip of three officers in a Houston school wrestling with a teenage girl who didn't want to give up her cellphone.”


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Police strategies on crime and violence From “broken windows,” a strategy of tamping down crime by keeping an orderly society, to focusing on the dangerous individuals in each community, police have been searching for solutions. The challenge for reporters is separating the myth from the reality and discovering what makes difference.

• The Atlantic magazine produced this in-‐depth story from reporters George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson on what the strategies are that work.

o Broken Windows: what it means o Broken Windows: an essay that began it all

• “After Ferguson shootings, how do police proceed without fear?” is a report

by the Christian Science Monitor’s Patrik Jonsson. It chronicles: o Violence against police could underscore larger police reform

movement. o Attacks against police occur about same rate every year.

• “NYPD’s ‘Broken Windows’ Policing is the Same Old Stop-‐and-‐Frisk” is a

report from Vice News by Mary Emily O’Hara. “According to data provided by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the numbers have remained steady for the past ten years: in the first quarter of 2014, 81 percent of those stopped turned out to be innocent of any wrongdoing, and 83 percent of all stopped were black or Latino.” It includes: Resources about police strategies and cities critics doubts about the impact of a Broken Windows strategy

• “Police around state gain military firepower; critics see danger” by Mike

Carter for The Seattle Times presents details of the Defense Department surplus materiel program.

o Shows a town of 10,000 equipped 17 Swat units, also spent half a million on military grade equipment.

o Law enforcement agencies in Washington State received more than $21 million of military equipment.

• “Two Gunshots On a Summer Night” is a New York Times package by

reporters Walt Bogdanich and Glenn Silber. o It shows police inability to do unbiased internal investigations of

officers. o The New York Times highlights grey area prosecuting domestic abuse

cases. And it shows danger of inquiry by police of police officers.


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• “Departments Are Slow To Police Their Own Abusers” is a New York Times investigation, yielding: Police departments are not held accountable for collecting domestic abuse statistics.

o The New York Times concludes there is no accurate way to measure domestic abuse. “But police departments have been slow to adopt the rules. And while most officials say they treat domestic abuse by officers as they would any other form of misconduct, interviews and disciplinary records indicate that, in fact, punishment is often light and job loss uncommon.”

• “How Many Crimes Do Your Police “Clear”? Now You Can Find Out” is an NPR

piece discussing the national clearance rate (where crimes going unresolved). It includes a very helpful Internet tool to look up clearance rates in cities across US.

• “Open Cases: Why One-‐Third Of Murders In America Go Unresolved” is a

long-‐term strategy by Martin Kaste. The work shows: o At least 200,000 murders have gone unsolved since 1960s. o 1 in 3 chance police won't identify killer, according to NPR.

• “San Francisco police texting scandal: How can police root out racism?” is a

story by Daniel Wood of the Christian Science Monitor. “One veteran SFPD police officer has resigned and 13 more are under investigation after racist and homophobic texts came to light during a federal investigation.”

o The case involves racist texts, made public by federal prosecutors after court filing.

o Widens case that helps bring transparency between police and public monitoring groups.

o The Christian Science Monitor sources criminal justice experts, valid opinions on racism as police culture not individual incidents.


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Mental health and police Policing comes with an emotional price. How police deal with the emotional baggage carried by their officers is a major question. So, too, police increasingly are faced with the challenge of dealing with the emotionally ill or mentally troubled. There’s been a national drive to train and equip police to deal with these individuals. But has it had an impact? And what of the realities of the police culture?

• “The Cop Mind” by David Brooks, the New York Times details the emotional and psychological challenges of being a cop. It outlines “types” of officers and gives a picture of working conditions. It also cites the chilling but reasonable statistic that two-‐thirds of officers deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

• “Milwaukee to require mental health training for all officers” by Milwaukee

Journal Sentinel reporter Meg Kissinger is a follow-‐up piece to an investigation on how police deal with the mentally ill in the aftermath of the killing of a man who suffered from schizophrenia and hallucinations.

o “Police, mental health teams remain limited in Milwaukee County” is yet another dogged follow-‐up article by Kissinger, which discusses Milwaukee’s strained mental health teams for police. It’s a good piece for exploring police mental health training.

• “LAPD’s inconsistent discipline has a steep price” is an opinion piece in the

Los Angeles Times by Sandy Banks that deals with the fatal police shooting of a mentally ill man five years ago. This companion piece by Veronica Rocha also explores the issues, “Two LAPD officers awarded $4 million in discrimination lawsuit.”

• “Beyond CIT” brings a strong voice to showcasing mental health/police issue

by Bryan Bailer in Police Magazine. It highlights the issues facing police as “last resort caregivers” as it outlines the solutions in the Tucson department.

• “Family releases video of Dallas police fatal shooting of mental patient” by

reporter Naomi Martin, Dallas Morning News, questions the use of force by police and calls for review of policy through a specific Dallas incident.

• “Phoenix police assemble dedicated mental health squad” by Megan Cassidy

of the Arizona Republic’s online edition, AZ Central, outlines crisis intervention training and the department’s taskforce to assist with 4,000 court ordered pick-‐ups of mentally ill.


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Police statistics Increasingly reporting on policing that makes a difference relies on data to reveal trends and situations. But getting the data is a challenge when far too many police will not make it available. Then there’s the problem of discovering what the data means, and what it does or doesn’t cover. Here are some best practices from a variety of outlets, conventional media as well as new media projects.

• USA Today’s Kevin Johnson examined the FBI’s updated data collection in “FBI will overhaul tracking report, add missing crimes.” It points out: “Murders may be the most consistently tracked. … But other crimes often committed in the course of those deaths — rapes, robberies, assaults, arson and others — go unrecorded.” Data will now include race, gender, relationship of victims and offenders and police use of deadly force.

David J. Krajicek of The Crime Report asks “Can We Trust Crime Numbers?” The report, a daily publication of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, recommends third party stat resources such as, Pew Research Center, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, the Death Penalty Information Center and the Vera Institute of Justice.

• The Marshall Project’s Tom Meagher interviews Thomas Hargrove, a national correspondent and director of quantified research for the Scripps News Bureau. In “Why Are American Cops So Bad at Catching Killers?” Hargrove explains the Murder Accountability Project, a strong third party, independent source of FBI data. It focuses on unsolved homicides.

• Chicago Magazine’s David Bernstein and Noah Isackson show “The Truth

About Chicago’s Crime Rates, Part 1.” The reporters dissect how the Chicago Police Department allegedly reclassified crimes to adjust crime rate. Here is Part 2.

o This IRE article explores the resulting controversy. o CPD reaction to Chicago Magazine in the Chicago Tribune and

disputes the magazine’s findings in “McCarthy defends department’s crime reporting, faults media coverage.”

• Los Angeles Times reporters Ben Posten and Joel Rubin found “LAPD

Misclassified Nearly 1,200 Violent Crimes As Minor Offenses.” Notice the reporters’ use of outside experts to confirm their finding and fact-‐checking with the Los Angeles police.


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Resources for police issues This section of our guide points to basic academic and scientific studies, which lead us to understand critical policing issues. Studies from Journalist’s Resource, Police and Community and Fatal Encounters, for example, provide data and perspectives to guide your research and reporting strategy.

• “Excessive or reasonable force by police? Research on law enforcement and racial conflict in the wake of Ferguson” by the Journalist’s Resource is a source of numerous statistics as it uses alternative sources such as data from Pew and Gallup to discuss racial divisions. It found things such as: 29 percent of all national police officers would be injured at some point during their career; FBI data collections are a major headache; and calls for more stringent data reporting from all police.

• “Community-‐oriented policing strategies: Meta-‐analysis of law enforcement

practices” by the Journalist’s Resource summarizes the main issues facing community policing strategy adopted by police departments. It also links to and summarizes academic journals relating to community policing.

• “Post-‐industrial cities and explanations of order-‐maintenance policing” by

the Journalist’s Resource studies demographic shifts following the 2008 recession and impact on policing. It uses data to show how Broken Windows policing strategy may reinforce social inequality.

• “Police and Community” by Police and Community Project is an archive of

academic and public policy research on policing. This general resource provides thorough information on different policing issues that include: Broken Windows, Stop and Frisk, Community Policing, Use of Force, International Policing and Policing Reforms.

• “Stop and Frisk Data” by New York Civil Liberties Union provides in-‐depth

statistical analysis of NYPD’s stop and frisk strategy, concluding nearly nine out of 10 stopped-‐and-‐frisked New Yorkers were innocent.

• The US Justice Department provides this resource of litigation information

for national crime summaries, disability cases.


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• Fatal Encounters is a nonprofit website run by the Reno News & Review with a strong data analysis tool to create searchable registry of people killed during interactions with police. It is searchable by state and also allows people to upload information on new killings. This story explains the project.

• “The Epidemiology of Firearm Violence in the Twenty-‐First Century United

States” by Garen Wintemute was published in the 2015 Annual Review of Public Health journal and provides strong statistics. It shows trends in mortality rates from firearm violence have remained stable for a decade. Also, firearm violence is among the leading cause of death among teens and young adults.

o “Effects of Policies Designed to Keep Firearms from High Risk Individuals” by PubMed summarizes and critiques available evidence from studies published between 1999 and August 2014 on policies designed to keep firearms from high-‐risk individuals in the US.

• “The Processing and Treatment of Mentally Ill Persons in the Criminal Justice

System” by the Urban Institute outlines the limits in the justice system in aiding the mentally ill, analyzes the costs of managing mentally ill within a penal system and shows current practices of penal system in dealing with mentally ill inmates.

• “Cleveland Police: Forcing Change” by Cleveland.com is an investigation and

collection of resources for examining community policing strategies. It lists multiple articles and statistics on police use of force in the Cleveland area.

• Illinois Appellate Court ruling in Kalven v. City of Chicago opens access under

the state’s Freedom of Information laws to Chicago police internal files on police misconduct.

• “Drug Courts, Chiefs Of Police And Sheriffs” by the National Association of

Drug Court Professionals, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Chapter One outlines community policing, and Chapter Three covers drug court problems and the impact on policing.

Documents

Covering police guide for journalists