Resource Center

Stories

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 "cops" ...

  • Sun Sentinel: Speeding Cops

    A Miami cop in his marked patrol car set off a public fury in the fall of 2011 when a Florida state trooper clocked him going 120 mph to an off-duty job. Turning to technology and a never-before used tool – highway toll records – the Sun Sentinel produced back-to-back investigations documenting widespread police misconduct and the professional solidarity that allowed it to flourish. In "Above the Law," a three-part series published in February, reporters used police toll records to confirm what many South Florida drivers had witnessed for years: cops were among the worst speeders on the roads, taking advantage of the badge and patrol car to ignore the very laws they enforce. "Short Shifted," a two-part series published in December, used those same toll records to detail how many South Florida cops, paid to serve and protect, were regularly leaving their beats and cities before their shifts ended.

    Tags: Police; police speeders

    By Sally Kestin; John Maines

    Sun-Sentinel

    2012

  • Documenting Russian Federation Corruption

    With documentation from several secret bank accounts and offshore corporate records, Barron's Dow Jones traced how Russia's most powerful officials have looted their nation in cahoots with cops, gangsters, and oligarchs. They show how a worldwide network of money laundering professionals that facilitates that plunder, while also abetting other global mischief like drug smuggling and arms trafficking.

    Tags: corruption; drug smuggling; arms trafficking; Russia

    By Bill Alpert

    Barron

    2011

  • Cop's Book Says Sean Combs, Suge Knight Ordered Tupac and Biggie Killings

    The LA Weekly investigation provided the public with the first big break in nearly a decade in the 14-year-old unsolved murder cases of rap superstars Tupac Shakur and Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace.

    Tags: Tupac, Biggie Smalls; Sean Combs; LA Weekly; Rap

    By Chris Vogel, Simone Wilson

    Villiage Voice Media/LA Weekly

    2011

  • Suicide By Cop

    Documenting the story of how a veteran from Iraq, suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, terrorizes a store full of customers and then proceeds to lead police from four counties on a high-speed car chase across North Dakota.

    Tags: veteran; ptsd; iraq; hostage; mental breakdown

    By Coburn Dukehart; John W. Poole; T. Christian Miller; Katie Hayes Luke; Daniel Zwerdling

    National Public Radio

    2011

  • Deadly Force: When Las Vegas Police Shoot, and Kill

    In the wake of two controversial officer-involved deaths in the summer of 2010, the Las Vegas Review-Journal asked a simple question: Are Las Vegas police too quick to shoot? What reporters Lawrence Mower, Brian Haynes and Alan Maimon found in a groundbreaking analysis of all police shootings in Clark County since 1990 stunned even veteran police administrators: Local cops had shot at people 378 times, resulting in 142 deaths. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department alone was involved in 311 incidents resulting in 116 deaths. By any measure, Nevada's largest law enforcement agency uses deadly force more often than counterparts in the region and in other major cities surveyed.

    Tags: officer; shootings; deaths

    By Lawrence Mower; Brian Haynes; Alan Maimon; Brian Haynes; James Wright

    Las Vegas Review-Journal

    2011

  • How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam

    Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, regularly declares that the police must be our "eyes and ears" in the effort the secure the United States against terrorism. Over the last ten years, this conviction has fed billions of federal and state dollars to a flourishing market in counterterrorism courses for state and local law enforcement. No one, however, has been paying attention to what cops are actually taught.

    Tags: police; Department of Homeland Security; terrorism; counterterrorism

    By Meg Stalcup; Joshua Craze

    Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute

    2011

  • Judge Me

    The story summarizes the attempt by Elroy Phillips to prove he's in prison for a crime several legal experts say he did not commit. Phillips was arrested by the West Palm Beach police in 2001 for allegedly selling $50 worth of crack to an undercover cop, Phillips has spent the years since his arrest collecting evidence. Phillip's legal work appears to show that cops fabricated the evidence against him.

    Tags: Elroy Phillips; West Palm Beach Police; Judge; Court

    By Eric Barton

    Village Voice Media/Miami News Times

    2011

  • A Bad Cop and His Wife

    The investigation uncovered how a Los Angeles detective and his wife ripped off people from coast to coast. The detective would use his influence as a police officer to help his wife's furniture and design business. She would take customers money but not deliver the goods.

    Tags: police; rip off; scam; LAPD

    By C.J. Ward; Herb Tuyay; Sean Kallas; Adrian Flores; Luke Depass

    KETV-TV

    2010

  • Cop Stomp

    KIRO-TV investigates racially charged excessive force allegations against Seattle police officers and weather a cozy relationship between police and another local television station helped keep those allegation's secret.

    Tags: Seattle; stomp; brutality; police; stomping; assault

    By Chris Halsne; Bill Benson; David Weed; David Quinlin

    KIRO-TV (Seattle)

    2010

  • "Fresno Cops Involved in Repeat Shootings Still on Duty"

    This investigative report by Ali Winston found that "27 Fresno police officers were involved in repeat shootings of civilians" from 2003 to 2009. Winston compared the data to the Oakland Police Department, a city that has a higher crime rate, during the same period of time and found that "only five officers were involved in repeat shootings." The Fresno Police Department's chief of internal affairs was "unaware of the number of officers involved in repeat shootings until contacted by Winston."

    Tags: Fresno Police Department; Oakland Police Department; Internal Affairs; California; Anaheim Police; LAPD; Robert Nevarez; Central Valley

    By Ali Winston

    The Nation Institute (New York, N.Y.)

    2010