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 "crime scene" ...
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Trail of the Gun
After a wave of gun violence in Seattle, KING 5 examined some of the most basic techniques that police use to solve gun crimes. By analyzing documents received through public records requests the television station learned that most large police departments in Washington state are not conducting routine ballistics tests on the so-called “crime guns” they seize from suspects and crime scenes. This means that guns, that could hold clues to unsolved crimes, are sitting right under investigators’ noses in their own evidence rooms. The investigative series "Trail of the Gun" also unearthed the results of federal firearms “traces”, which police use to determine how a gun ended up in the hands of a criminal. These trace results revealed that a large number of Seattle’s crime guns came from an unexpected place. After the stories aired, several large police departments pledged to begin ballistics testing programs for their crime guns. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms offered to assist local police agencies to test every gun in their evidence rooms. And, the feds unveiled a warrant targeting one of the gun dealers identified in the series.
Tags: Guns; gun crimes; police
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Broken Shield: Police force fails to protect state’s most vulnerable residents
Decades ago, California created a special police force to investigate crimes and unexplained injuries inflicted upon some of society’s most vulnerable citizens – men and women with severe autism and cerebral palsy living in taxpayer-funded institutions. This police force, the Office of Protective Services, works exclusively at state developmental centers that have been the scene of horrific abuses. We sought to bring this story to readers in many forms, from working on all platforms, distributing condensed versions and delivering broadcast video stories to our partners, to creating a graphic novel video on one particularly human story -- a woman who was raped, apparently by a janitor. We also created an ebook of the series of stories and an interactive tracker that detailed key milestones of legislation drafted and signed into law. Producing this work on every platform helped to maximize audience reach and heighten the impact.
Tags: Autism; cerebral palsy; taxes; taxpayers; Office of Protective Services; abuse
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Fast and Furious: Arizona Crime Ties
When a Border Patrol agent was shot to death near the Arizona/Mexico border in Dec 2010, KNXV-TV quickly learned that guns found at the murder scene were linked to a controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives case called Fast and Furious.
Tags: Border Patrol; Alcohol; Tobacco; Firearms; Fast and Furious; Arizona; Mexico
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Fast and Furious: Arizona Crime Ties
When Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot to death near the Arizona/Mexico border in December 2010, we quickly learned the guns found at the murder scene were linked to a controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives case called Fast and Furious. Phoenix ATF agents testified in front of Congressional leaders about the flawed gun case and the strategy in which they knowingly allowed criminals to obtain deadly assault weapons. The agents admitted to watching straw buyers purchase weapons on behalf of criminals. The agents said they did nothing to stop the purchases or to track the guns in a meaningful way after they were purchased. As a result of the Fast and Furious case, approximately two thousand weapons went missing. They are presumed to be on the streets somewhere in the United States, near the border, or in Mexico. The agents' testimonies sparked a slew of Congressional hearings and a major shuffle within the leadership ranks of the ATF and other areas of the Department of Justice.
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The Hidden Life of Guns
The investigation details the way guns move through society, from retail sales to street crimes. The Post set out to break the secrecy imposed by Congress and an examination of how gunes are used in crimes. Their investigation included creating a database of more than 35,000 guns traced to crimes; a comprehensive database of 511 police officers killed by firearms; lists from confidential sources of the top 12 gun dealers who have sold the most weapons trace from Mexican crime scenes over the past two years.
Tags: guns; gun laws; crime; gun dealer; illegal gun trade; Mexico; criminal statistics; Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; National Shooting Sports Foundation; Tiahrt Amendment;
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The Shadow Economy
This series of investigations into the Baltimore crime scene was inspired by the public interest in the HBO show The Wire, a show highlighting Baltimore crime. The paper uncovers the shadow economy in which launderers and drug dealers meet and develop political connections to stay in business
Tags: Milton Tillman Jr.; gangster; money-laundering; bondsman; felony;
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Race to Execution
"Race to Execution reveals how, beyond DNA and the issue of innocence, the shameful open secret of America's capital punishment system is a matter of race." The race of the victim's and the accused "influence the legal process" from crime scene investigation, media portrayal, to jury selection and sentencing.
Tags: race; death penalty; execution; investigation; jury; suspects; criminal justice; capital punishment
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Is Esmie Evil
In August 2005, Esmie Tseng was arrested for the stabbing death of her mother. Due to evidence at the scene indicating that the crime may have occurred in multiple sections of the house the 16-year-old Esmie lived in with her parents, the Johnson County, Kansas prosecutor tried Esmie as an adult. The local community's outpouring of compassion for Esmie as "a good girl who had snapped under pressure from her harsh parents" is only part of the story as the writer delves into Esmie's unhappy life, her diaries at Livejournal.com and Xanga.com and her "use of illegal drugs such as ecstacy (which) might have contributed to Esmie's faltering mental stability in the days leading up to her mother's murder." Esmie Tsang is now serving eight years after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
Tags: Esmie Tsang; juvenile offenders; patricide; ecstacy; Livejournal.com; Xanga.com
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Murder City (Series)
Seven stories: "Risky Business," "Case of the Grim Tweaker," "Case of the Jealous Lover Boy," "Case of the Fatal Femme," "Case of the Wily Coyote," "Case of the Two Abigails" and "Fear Factor," tell the story of an entire calendar year of cases for the Phoenix Police Department's homicide unit. These stories are the result of Rubin's access to the unit, which included the case that turned out to be the first murder by the serial "Baseline Killer".
Tags: Baseline Killer; Phoenix Police Department C-32 homicide squad; murder; crime scenes; murder/homicide investigations
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Every Contact Leaves a Trace
"This book is an oral history that focuses on the realities of crime scene investigation, based on extensive interviews with eighty forensic experts throughout the U.S. The major finding was that the depictions of crime scene investigation in TV shows such as 'CSI' and its many off-shoots have created a set of expectations, on the part of the publi, jurors, and police, that has had the unintended effect of compromising both timely crime scene analysis and fair jury trials."
Tags: Forensics; crime scene; CSI; detective; clues;