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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One day ahead of the Jan. 6 anniversary, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger detailed in testimony before the Senate how his department has worked to prevent the communication pitfalls and internal deficiencies that failed to stop last year's violent attack. Read more»
Frustration and pension among the reasons Navajo Nation Police Chief Phillip Francisco is leaving the position he’s held for five and half years to become chief of police for Bloomfield, New Mexico at the beginning of the new year. Read more»
Advocates called on San Diego District Attorney Stephan to file charges against Border Patrol agents involved in the 2010 beating death of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas based on evidence a shadow police unit within the federal agency impeded the investigation of his death. Read more»
Civil rights advocates say they’ll step up their efforts at the state level as late last month, once-promising negotiations to strike a bipartisan deal on policing reform broke down on Capitol Hill, dashing hopes for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Read more»
An analysis finds that nationally, just 7% of sworn state troopers are female - a tiny gain from 2000, when the average female makeup of state police troopers was 6% - and overall, women make up less than 13% of full-time police officers in the United States. Read more»
Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have taken steps to scale back their civil asset forfeiture laws since 2014, but civil asset forfeiture continues because legislators have failed to close a giant loophole: the federal equitable sharing program. Read more»
Silver Alerts allow DPS to reach more people via phone notifications, broadcast alerts on TV and radio, and highway signs. Read more»
Police officers gave hours of emotional testimony Tuesday about being on the front lines at the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, while separate groups of GOP lawmakers attacked the hearings as a sham and defended the rioters as “political prisoners.” Read more»
Police crackdowns on protests, such as the arrests for trespassing and other acts of civil disobedience against construction of crude oil pipelines slated to be built across traditional Native American homeland, have the potential to infringe on the religious freedom of Indigenous people. Read more»
Tucked into a budget bill on criminal justice is a provision that would allow the Arizona Department of Public Safety to outright deny releasing any video records the agency possesses and to heavily edit any videos it chooses to make public. Read more»
The U.S. Supreme Court was unanimous in holding that tribal officers can temporarily detain and search non-Natives traveling on public roads running through a reservation if there is reasonable suspicion a state or federal crime has been committed. Read more»
Most American children who age into the criminal justice system do so in middle school — every state allows for the prosecution of children as young as 12, though most set the threshold earlier, or not at all — and suspension from school is predictive of incarceration later in life. Read more»
Over the past year and into 2021, Police agencies in Arizona have received $6.8 million in military equipment through the Law Enforcement Support Office of the Department of Defense. Read more»
Authorities are on high alert for extremist right-wing groups that are armed and said to pose a dangerous threat to all Americans following the insurrectionist siege of the U.S. Capitol. Read more»
National and local law enforcement agencies are preparing to respond in case civil disturbances break out after Tuesday’s elections, which experts fear may have a “different venue for challenging election results, namely in the streets.” Read more»