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How reform gave way to ‘Defund the Police' in Seattle

David Kroman Sara Bernard

January 28, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Seattle spent nearly a decade reforming its police department and branding itself as an example of how to fix a broken system prone to violence and racial bias. Public trust improved and the use of force declined. But the protests of 2020 changed perspectives in Seattle so much that now it is a leader in taking money from the police to fund community-based responses to social problems and low-level crime. The community is divided, largely along racial and ideological lines, over whether to "defund" the police, whether police reform is even possible, and how to reimagine public safety.

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SC law enforcement agencies are supposed to report info on traffic stops, but most are not

Daniel J. Gross

January 28, 2021 |

The Greenville News |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, South Carolina

After the South Carolina legislature in 2005 began requiring police to enforce a seat-belt law with traffic stops, it imposed on all police departments a duty to track and report traffic-stop data on drivers' race. The law was meant as a way to prevent biased policing, through public disclosure of disparities. But only about one-third of the state's law enforcement agencies have consistently complied with the law, and some never have. Some blame ignorance of how the system should work. But another explanation is the state has done little or nothing to enforce the law.

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How the CARES Act Forgot America's Most Vulnerable Hospitals

Brianna Bailey

January 26, 2021 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The CARES Act was meant to help small businesses, including hospitals, find financial stability during the coronavirus pandemic, but confusing guidelines and a lack of oversight have impeded the success. This reality has been especially difficult for rural hospitals, some of which "have left millions in relief aid untouched, spiraling deeper into debt for fear that the wrong decision could force them to return money."

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Should Abusers Keep Their Guns? In These 13 States, Judges Choose.

Ann Givens

January 26, 2021 |

The Trace |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

In four of the 13 states where judges have the power to deny domestic-violence abusers access to guns, arbitrarily applied standards lead to a patchwork of enforcement of the laws. A review of cases heard in Arizona, Michigan, New Hampshire, and South Dakota shows that outcomes depend more on the county in which a case is heard, or a particular judge's beliefs about guns, than on a consistent application of the laws' standards. In some cases, clear allegations of a dire threat did not win approval of a domestic protection order. In others, orders were granted without allegations that guns posed a threat.

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The spacesuits saving mothers' lives

Craig Langran

January 26, 2021 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

Doctors have created a pressure garment that prevents women from dying from obstetric hemorrhage during childbirth. Modeled after the NASA spacesuit, the product was far from ideal when first envisioned in 1969 and went through several iterations over many years. Now, the garment has been successfully tested with a 50 percent reduction in mortality rate and is used around the world.

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Amid Covid Health Worker Shortage, Foreign-Trained Professionals Sit on Sidelines

Markian Hawryluk

January 25, 2021 |

Kaiser Health News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

A small cohort of states have eased restrictions and eliminated beauracratic barriers for foreign-trained doctors to practice medicine in the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic as a means of better staffing hospitals. The states that have created these temporary licenses for "foreign-trained nurses, certified nurse’s aides, physician assistants and many other health professionals" have recieved numerous applications, although not all who apply qualify.

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2 Years After Legalizing Cannabis, Has Canada Kept Its Promises?

Ian Austen

January 23, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada

Since Canada legalized recreational use of marijuana two years ago, prosecutions for possession of small amounts of the drug have all but disappeared, erasing a major racial disparity in Canadian law enforcement. But other aspects of the country's plan for racial equity to flow from legalization have yet to be realized. Few of the estimated 500,000 people with possession convictions on their record have managed the daunting process of getting their records cleared. Illegal sales still flourish, and Black and indigenous people have not found much success in the growing legal side of the business.

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Still Can't Breathe: How NYPD Officers Continue to Use Chokeholds on Civilians

Yoav Gonen Topher Sanders

January 21, 2021 |

The City |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

New York Police Department banned chokeholds in 1993, to prevent unnecessary injury and death. The practice has been scrutinized especially closely since the 2014 death of Eric Garner. But despite hundreds of complaints alleging the forbidden use of chokeholds, no NYPD officer has been fired for using a chokehold since 2014, nor have any complaints yielded more than some lost vacation time as a penalty. The failure of the policy stems from many causes, including ambiguity in the policy and its enforcement and lack of respect for investigative findings of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

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Where surveillance cameras work but the justice system doesn't

Madeleine Wattenbarger

January 19, 2021 |

Rest of World |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Mexico City

Mexico City's 11-year-old video surveillance system, one of the most advanced in the world, was a massive investment in public safety: about $660 million to date to cover the city with more than 30,000 cameras and other devices. Like so much else in Mexico's law enforcement apparatus, it has done little to control crime but instead has become a tool of corruption and official impunity. While the cameras have helped keep tourists and elites safer, the vast majority of crimes go unreported and only a tiny number of police investigations benefit from the surveillance system.

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Albuquerque's vision for non-police first responders comes down to earth

Ted Alcorn

January 17, 2021 |

New Mexico In Depth |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

In response to the 2020 policing protests, Albuquerque was among the first cities to embrace a major change in handling mental-health-crisis calls to 911. But its new Community Safety Department has foundered in its first year, a victim of inadequate planning and resources. The plan to send unarmed first responders on such calls, to reduce the risk of a violent over-reaction by the police, depended on reassigning city workers from other agencies, none of whom were mental health professionals. City councilors have sent the planners back to rethink the latest in a history of failed responses.

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