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Thousands of Mass. police disciplinary records released by POST Commission
By Sarah Betancourt On August 22, 2023 A state commission released several thousand disciplinary records for law enforcement across Massachusetts on Tuesday in a long-awaited effortto improve police accountability. The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, known as POST, released the database containing 3,413 records of over 2,100 officers from 273 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts.…
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Police are Getting DNA Data from People Who Think They Opted Out
By Jordan Smith On August 18, 2023 Forensic genetic genealogists skirted GEDmatch privacy rules by searching users who explicitly opted out of sharing DNA with law enforcement. CECE MOORE, AN actress and director-turned-genetic genealogist, stood behind a lectern at New Jersey’s Ramapo College in late July. Propelled onto the national stage by the popular PBS show…
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Lawsuit: Colorado Police Tased A Black Man For Doing What?
By Noah A. McGee On August 22, 2023 Despite their pledge to rebuild trust after the unfortunate death of Elijah McClain three years ago, the Aurora Police Department is still being accused of participating in violent and dangerous behavior. Over the weekend, Antonio Johnson, who is Black, filed a lawsuit against the department claiming that they used dragged him…
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Baltimore Police should spend less time in their vehicles and more time on the street, report says
By Ben Conarck On August 15, 2023 Critical staffing shortages are preventing police from spending enough time getting to know the neighborhoods they patrol — a roadblock to regaining community trust, report finds After decades of discriminatory policing eroded trust in scores of neighborhoods across the city, the Baltimore Police Department is continuing an uphill…
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Texas state troopers are routinely stopping motorists of color in Austin, data shows
By Noah Alcala Bach On August 10, 2023 More than 8 in 10 people charged by state troopers since they began helping Austin police have been people of color. In Southeast Austin, a neighborhood president calls it “outright racial profiling.” As the sun sets over Riverside Drive in Southeast Austin, a cluster of state troopers…
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LAPD shrinks below 9,000 officers, the fewest in a generation
By Eric Leonard and Andrew Blankstein On August 7, 2023 The current police academy class, with only 29 recruits, is less than half full as the city struggles to attract new officers and retain retirement-eligible veterans. LOS ANGELES — The number of officers employed by the Los Angeles Police Department has dropped below 9,000, a…
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Houstonians worry new laws will deter voters who don’t recall the hard-won fight for voting rights
By Ayanna Alexander On August 20, 2023 HOUSTON (AP) — Sylvia Ann Miller-Scarborough remembers when people of color had to pay a poll tax to vote in Houston. She recalls her grandmother, undeterred by such obstacles, reminding her how important it was to be heard at the ballot box. Miller-Scarborough worries that much of the…
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Niger: NGOs warn further instability and sanctions could exacerbate humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable including women and children
By Anisa Husain On August 22, 2023 Niamey, Niger, August 5, 2023 — In Niger, a country already affected by multiple crises, humanitarian NGOs are warning that further instability could strongly deteriorate the living conditions of the most vulnerable, including women and children who are often the most vulnerable during times of crisis, and hamper the humanitarian response. The combination…
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India must end ‘inhumane’ detention of activist GN Saibaba, says UN expert
On August 22, 2023 UN rights expert raises alarm over nearly decade-long detention of the former professor who is 90 percent disabled and bound to a wheelchair. A United Nations rights expert has slammed India’s prolonged detention of a rights activist with disabilities as “inhumane”, citing grave concerns for his health and demanding an immediate…
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