Junk science in the justice system is nothing new, and the system is at its most opaque when prosecutors know evidence - like 911 call analysis - is unfit for court but choose to game the rules, hoping judges and juries will believe it and vote to convict. Read more»
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Police departments across the country are hemorrhaging officers faster than recruiters can find qualified applicants. Read more»
Only a minuscule number of hate crimes are reflected in federal, state and local databases and reporting systems, and without a true understanding of what’s happening, it’s difficult to address hate crime and stop it. Read more»
The Tucson City Council voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of beginning plans to fund childcare services for their public safety employees, including cops, firefighters and dispatchers, as a way to recruit and retain long-term workers
. Read more»
A rule change set to take effect in December will lower the barrier for extremist organizations to access law enforcement personnel by taking continuing-education decisions out of the board’s hands and placing them in those of individual law enforcement agency leaders across Arizona. Read more»
The Uvalde police department’s activities were suspended for an unspecified period and two employees were placed on administrative leave after it was revealed that one of the first state troopers to respond to the deadly school shooting in May was later hired as a district police officer. Read more»
Across the country, police departments are facing critical staffing shortages, and with fewer officers joining the force and more retiring or resigning, the problem continues to worsen for departments of all sizes and locations - causing immense frustration and concern for citizens. Read more»
U.S. lawmakers re-introduced legislation to provide more resources for tribal law enforcement, an issue they say has become more urgent as Congress considers how to respond to a case that complicated criminal jurisdiction. Read more»
Thanks in part to the advocacy of Erin Smith - whose husband, D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, died by suicide days after being assaulted during the January 6 attack - Congress passed a bill recognizing suicides by officers for what they are: line-of-duty deaths. Read more»
Rep. John Kavanagh, the sponsor of an Arizona law that would have made it a crime to videotape police, conceded Friday that it will not take effect after he failed to meet a deadline to challenge a court’s injunction of the law. Read more»
The Tucson City Council is set to vote Tuesday on paying City Manager Mike Ortega $300,000 per year, but the they're being needlessly shifty about it. Plus a plethora of other local government meetings this week. Read more»
An Arizona law that would make it illegal to create video recordings of police in certain circumstances will not go into effect Sept. 24 as planned, after a federal judge temporarily blocked its enforcement. Read more»
All three of the defendants in a lawsuit filed last month by a coalition of news organizations and civil libertarians say they won't defend a law set to go into effect later this month that would make it a crime to take video of police officers in some situations. Read more»
A coalition of news organizations and civil libertarians filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to block a new Arizona law that would make it a crime to take video of police officers in some situations, arguing that it violates the First Amendment. Read more»
The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in the same classroom in Uvalde on Tuesday was confronted by a law enforcement officer before he entered the elementary school that became the site of his massacre, but many questions still remain. Read more»
Gun violence has soared across the United States during the pandemic, and President Joe Biden urged local leaders Friday to help police quell the bloodletting with money they got through his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Read more»