The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Los Angeles Police Department" ...
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Spy Drones Aiding Police
Government surveillance drones have been used, with no public notice, to assist local police departments inside the U.S. find suspects and conduct. A Los Angeles Times/ Tribune Co. Washington Bureau investigation uncovered for the first time over two dozen uses of the Department of Homeland Security drones to help local law enforcement in North Dakota, where two of the department's nine Predator B aircraft are based.
Tags: Government Surveillance; Department of Homeland Security; North Dakota; Drones; Security
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The Town the Law Forgot
LA Weekly chronicled "the intersection of organized crime and public corruption in the Hispanic suburbs of Los Angeles County and in revitalized downtown Los Angeles. ... The overarching conclusion is that local law enforcement's piecemeal approach to gang and drug-related crime is not sophisticated enough to make a dent."
Tags: crime; drug; urban; elected officials; attorneys; political operatives; lobbyist; corruption; police department; city
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The Scourge of Skid Row
In Los Angeles' Skid Row, the lives of police, firefighters, social workers and homeless people are threatened by a staph infection outbreak. Yet the country health department has done little to assist, even as L.A. firefighters and police, as well as a doctor, chaplain and employees at local homeless Missions were infected.
Tags: Staph; LAPD; LAFD; Skid Row; staph outbreak; staph infection
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Southeast Homicide
This story examines the intractable problem of homicide in black neighborhoods in Southeast Los Angeles. It also follows the efforts of the Los Angeles Police Department's Southeast homicide squad to solve the killing of Jerry Walsey Jr. The story describes how the lack of resources or skewed apportionment of resources creates problems for detectives.
Tags: LAPD; Jerry Wesley Jr.; race; homicide
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Feed 5: Best of Show and Tell
1) Jennifer Kraus (WTVF-Nashville) This story exposes problems at the Nashville office of international charity "Feed the Children." In a four-month investigation, WTVF-TV's undercover cameras caught the charity's staff loading up their personal cars with donated items and taking the items home. 2) Deborah Sherman (WFXT - Boston) Costa Rican trips for child sex. Actually spoke with girls who used to get paid by American tourists for sex. Focuses on one area man charged with this crime. 3) Anna Werner, David Raziq (KHOU-Houston) KHOU-TV reports that "You're in physical pain. You need help. So you go to your doctor expecting needed relief and comfort. But what if in the process of treating you, you realize this healer's touch has become 'sexual?' That's what dozens of Houston women claimed happened to them when they were referred to a local health professional, a professional they claimed used their trust to molest and even rape them. His name is Shin Higashiura and he claimed to be a Master of Shiatsu, also known as acupressure, a Japanese massage therapy that promises health benefits...." 4) Jilda Unruh (WCCO-Minneapolis) An investigation reveals that automatic door sensors can't detect certain colors. The doors often close on elderly people, causing them harm. 5) Tom Merriman/Jeff Harris (WEWS-Cleveland) The story investigates how state-trained lifeguards perform on state beaches as compared to privately trained lifeguards on private beaches. Follows both teams though a simulation. The state team fails horribly and never recovers the dummy planted for them to rescue. 6) Jim Schaefer; Shellee Smith (WXYZ-Detroit) WXYZ-TV discovered that the leaders of Highland Park, a poor city surrounded by Detroit, had virtually ignored a major problem in the 911 emergency response system while continuing to enjoy the relatively expensive perks of their jobs. While claiming there was no money in the budget to fix the problem, the mayor leased a brand-new Lincoln with city cash. Undercover video found citizens at risk, fire fighters in danger and no one helping. 7) Drew Griffin (KCBS-Los Angeles) "The Real ConAir" Investigation reveals department of corrections transporting convicts on commercial flights. Passengers are not told who's sitting beside them. Planes are forced to land because of disturbances during the flight. A girl is sexually assaulted by one of these convicts. 8) Robb Leer; Maria Tomasch (KSTP-Minneapolis) Inmates can change their names on the taxpayer's dime. 9) Jeremy Rogalski; Bill Dutton; Gerry Lanosga; Kathleen Johnston (WTHR-Indianapolis) WTHR-TV reports that "a source mentioned to us that numerous DUI cases were being dismissed because police witnesses fail to appear in court... After we crunched a slice of our county's criminal justice data ... We found thousands of DUI cases - nearly one in ten - thrown out because cops didn't show..." 10) Wes Williams; C.J. Ward (KPNX-Phoenix) Security guards with criminal records have a "License to Steal." 11) Tony Kovaleski; Matt Goldberg (KPRC-Houston) Ninety-eight guns were discovered in schools in 10 of Houston's largest school districts -- that works out to 5,864 students per gun. 12) Phil Williams; Chris Clark (WTVF-Nashville) WTVF-TV's investigation into the backgrounds of school teachers found more than three dozen convicted felons working in Metro Nashville-Davidson County schools. 13) Chris Halsne; Kim Albro; Dave Weed (KWTV-Oklahoma City) Voters handed Oklahoma City Schools a 93 million dollar bond in 1993 to improve schools. The money is now gone, but many projects remain unfinished. KWTV-TV's investigation found millions of dollars in waste, fraud and mismanagement. 14) Laure Quinlivan; Jeff Keene; Ken Fulk; Mark Shafer; Scott Diener; Stuart Zanger (WCPO-Cincinnati) WCPO-TV's investigation "... to monitor County officials as they began spending nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money... earmarked to build two, new sports stadiums for our city's professional sports teams, the Bengals and Red. As (the) investigation enters its third year, work on the first stadium is two-thirds complete and ground will soon break on the second. Already, our investigation has revealed broken promises, manipulation of numbers in official reports, political cronyism in contract awards, creation of 'pass-through' companies and other questionable and possibly illegal activities...." 15) Jim Barry; John Campbell; Sam Zeff; Jennifer Snell; Denise Haley; Brad Naw (WTXF-Philadelphia) After transit union strike crippled Philadelphia's bus and subway service for forty days, WTXF-TV investigated the region's transportation agency - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. SEPTA is one of the largest and most expensive transit systems in the county. This investigation exposed a widespread culture of laziness and dishonest work habits that was allowing hundreds of buses with potentially dangerous problems out onto the street each day. 16)Darcy Spears; Kim Kruger (KVBC-Las Vegas) "Taken for a Ride". Taxi drivers getting kickbacks for taking clients to certain bars/stripclubs.
Tags: TAPE; Investigative reporting; computer-assisted reporting; IRE; FOI; CAR; no transcripts
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Soft on Crime Fighters
Crogan investigates the case of L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Richard Ceballos, who is suing his supervisors and former D.A. Gil Garcetti in federal court "claiming they retaliated against him after he alleged that L.A. County Sheriff's deputies made up information to obtain a search warrant in an auto-parts theft case." Ceballos goes on the say that there is a "historical custom and practice in the D.A.'s office to protect and cover up police officer who engage in misconduct." The suit stems from a 1999 incident in which a defense attorney alleged that several sheriff's deputies lied on a search warrant affidavit in the auto-parts case which they subsequently discovered narcotics. Trouble began for Ceballos after he investigated the incident further and took his information to his supervisors. Ceballos claims his supervisors neglected his investigation and "kowtowed" to the department's fear of civil litigation. Ceballos' supervisors maintain they did nothing unethical or illegal and that Ceballos was upset over a missed promotion.
Tags: Criminal Justice; Los Angeles; corruption
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Know Justice, Know Peace
Crogan tells the ins and outs of the "... chilly reaction by officials to the announcement of a citywide gang truce in April 1992 by Bloods and Crips peacemakers. Since that time, local government has failed to provide either political of financial support to bolster the momentous agreement, perhaps squandering a rare window of opportunity to stop what amounts to urban street warfare among the city's minority youth....There was also the published Bloods-Crips proposal to the city which circulated in South-Central, including $2 billion for infrastructure, $700 million for educations, $6 million for Neighborhood Watch patrols $20 million for economic redevelopment, and $1 billion for social-service and recreation programs. In exchange, the so-called 'Bloods-Crips Organization' promised to 'ask drug lords to invest their monies in L.A. area businesses and properties and to stop their drug trade'".
Tags: gangs; Watts; youth violence; blacks; LAPD; Los Angeles Police Department; projects; hood war; grassroots; South-Central; crime; CYA; California Youth Authority
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Chris Wallace's Internet Expose
This ABCNews.com investigative show focuses on "the very lucrative business of on-line prostitution." It reveals that "the majority of clientele ... includes very wealthy dot-commers that are purchasing sex on-line who otherwise would never have solicited prostitutes." The show features "interviews with an LA vice cop who reveals that the Los Angeles Police Department will often not pursue or prosecute internet prostitutes because of the difficulty involved in tracking them down."
Tags: CD ROM; Internet; e-commerce; on-line; law enforcement
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Rampart Rampage
The New Times investigates corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department Rampart CRASH unit, a special, anti-gang task force. In 1995, "one of the CRASH cops had his tires slashed and the entire anti-gang unit went on a rampage in the neighborhood trying to find out who vandalized the car. Numerous gang members were beaten up and then stripped. Two of those gang members who were assaulted filed a formal complaint against the cops involved. The first story uncovered how Rampart CRASH cops had one of the complainants deported and appeared to have planted a drug case on another in order to get rid of the victims. "
Tags: Los Angeles Police Department; LAPD; Rampart CRASH; gangs; violence; corruption; 1995; police officers; cops
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Shots Fired
Shots Fired examines how the San Francisco Police Department investigates cases in which officers shoot civilians. It detailed five police shootings that raised questions about the department's conduct in the shooting and the subsequent official investigation. It is the first public tally of the number of citizens killed (31) or injured (55) by San Francisco police bullets (in the last eight years). Among its findings: San Francisco cops fatally shot civilians at about twice the rate of police in New York City and Los Angeles; San Francisco paid more than $1.5 million in settlements, judgments and legal fees in the past 10 years for suits claiming cops wrongfully shot eight unarmed people; and about 75 percent of those shot or killed were minorities or people in low income areas.
Tags: Police brutality