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 "metro" ...
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Crime Data Investigation
The initial story in the crime data investigation found that from 2009 to early 2012 the Milwaukee Police Department misreported more than 500 aggravated assaults as lesser offenses not counted in the city’s violent crime tally. More than 800 additional cases followed the same pattern but couldn’t be verified with available records. Subsequent stories found police underreported aggravated assaults even when their own officers were severely injured; police clerks routinely changed dangerous weapon codes to generic ones in a way that allowed violent assaults to be underreported — and escape FBI scrutiny; the FBI’s crime auditing process is a fig leaf — metro police departments are rarely audited, and even then the sample sizes are too small to draw meaningful conclusions; Milwaukee police knew they misreported rapes and robberies, but didn’t mention this to city leaders or the public; high-ranking department officials raised red flags internally for years that there were problems but the public only heard a drumbeat that crime was down. In addition to these major installments, Poston and Diedrich wrote nearly two dozen follow-up stories that documented the fallout.
Tags: Crime data; police; assaults; city government
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War Zone: The Destruction of an All-American City
The hour-long documentary War Zone: The Destruction of an All-American City takes an unprecedented look at the impact of corruption on the East St. Louis, Illinois area, one of the poorest and most violent communities in America. The program was broadcast twice during prime time; Tuesday night at 8 pm on August 28, and the following Saturday night at 7 pm. This project was the result of an ongoing decade-long probe of government waste, corruption, police misconduct, and violence in East St. Louis and the surrounding villages by investigative reporter Craig Cheatham. Our documentary begins with a detailed look at police misconduct and corruption, how it has contributed to the breakdown of public safety in the East St. Louis area, and why local politicians tolerated such outrageous behavior by their officers. The second part of our documentary focuses on the impact of derelict and vacant housing, the slumlords who own the property and the people who live in some of the worst housing in the metro area. Our investigation also uncovered new connections between politicians and legendary slumlord Ed Sieron, who was business partners with a longtime mayor. In addition, KMOV revealed that of the 500 mostly rundown properties that Sieron owns in East St. Louis, only 13 were cited for code violations. That lack of accountability for the notorious slumlord, empowered him and made the people living in his homes feel powerless. War Zone also exposes the way East St. Louis communities have sold their economy to vice-driven businesses like strip clubs, liquor stores, a casino, and convenience marts that had a long history of selling illegal synthetic drugs. Our investigation found that nearly all of these businesses failed to employ a significant number of East St. Louis residents, even though they received millions of dollars in tax incentives that are paid by East St. Louis residents. At the same time East St. Louis is handing out tax breaks to wealthy out-of-town businessmen, it repeatedly refused to provide the same tax incentives for local residents who wanted to create family friendly businesses that would employ people living in the East St. Louis area.
Tags: government corruption; police misconduct; violence; politicians; community; local business
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Rough Road for Bus Safety
Houston's public transit agency, Metro, has poor safety records according to an investigation by the Houston Chronicle. The investigation determined there were more than 1000 bus-involved crashes in a one-year period and hundreds of traffic violations. Metro officials were unaware of many of these violations.
Tags: bus safety; transportation; driving; traffic; Metro
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Investigation of Louisville Metro Police Det. Marlowe
The reporters find that one local detective accused at least a dozen defendants of crimes they did not commit. Many of these defendants could not possibly have committed the crimes because they were in jail or out of the city at the time. Many of the accused served jail time for days or even months before they were exonerated.
Tags: exonerate; detective; police; criminal justice; innocent
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Gang Strike Force
The series reveals that police officers, those among the anti-gang unit, were mismanaging funds and other property confiscated from suspected criminals. Also, it revealed they were abusing laws, which were used to fight crime, and sometimes taking illegal actions to protect themselves from scrutiny. Additionally, once this story was released the police officers came straight to their offices and began shredding internal documents.
Tags: law enforcement; Metro Gang Strike Force; agencies; evidence; unit; corruption; Twin Cities; lawsuit; arrest
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Officer Absent, Case Dismissed
Many defendants facing felony charges were set free in 2007 because police officers, who arrested them, never showed up for court. Further, these defendants already had long criminal records and after being released were later arrested for other crimes. In some instances, cases were postponed when officers did not show up for court, instead of having the case dismissed. No matter if the case is postponed or dismissed it wastes the time of judges, lawyers, defendants, and the public’s money.
Tags: law enforcement; Louisville Metro Police Department; Jefferson District Court; absences; county attorney
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"Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund"
For over 20 years, The Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund has built up a "powerful political network" throughout the state that provided financial perks to its leader and employees. The fund marketed itself as a "nonprofit," a claim that the Tennessean proved false.
Tags: Charles "Bones" Seivers; Metro Finance; Murfreesboro; Morristown; Rich Riebeling; Bank of America; campaign donations
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Grants, Graft and Greed at Workforce West Virginia
Mary Jane Bowling, an employee at the Workforce West Virginia office, secretly distributed federal grant money to her son's company, Comar, Inc. Martin Bowling then used the money to pay for travels to conferences that ultimately helped expand his company. Reporter Eric Eyre later exposed an attempted cover-up of the mishandled money by Mary Jane Bowling and her housemate, Christine Gardner, who ran the West Virginia State University's Economic Development Center in Charleston.
Tags: MetroValley Magazine; WVSU; Comar; Christine Gardner; Mary Jane Bowling; Martin Bowling; Albert Hendershot; Zi.ma; Mandi Felty
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Death on the Rails
When nine people died and 80 were injured on Washington's Metro June 22, the general manager described the event as "a freak occurrence." However, the article revealed that the Metro's automatic "fail-safe" system had failed repeatedly before the collision, but past failures barely escaped catastrophic consequences.
Tags: Washington; metro; train; collision; fail-safe; automated; deaths; injuries; neglect; accident; rail; subway; June 22;
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FOIA Package
This is a series of stories that show how the Courier Journal used FOIA requests to report on various problems in the Kentucky government and police systems.
Tags: freedom of information act; Louisville; Jefferson Circuit Court; sex offender; database; metro government