Shot and killed by police
Jan. 6, 2018
For the third year in a row, police nationwide shot and killed nearly 1,000 people, a grim annual tally that has persisted despite widespread public scrutiny of officers’ use of fatal force. And for a third consecutive year, The Post documented more than twice the number of deadly shootings by police that were recorded on average annually by the FBI.
In response to the shooting data compiled by The Post and others, the FBI in 2015 promised to start better information gathering about all police encounters that lead to deaths. This month, the agency said it will launch the new nationwide data collection system.
Still on the force
Dec. 22, 2017
Dozens of officers forced out of the New Orleans department over the past decade for misconduct who were given badges and guns by other departments, according to a Washington Post analysis of state and city employment records, police personnel files and court documents. At a time of increased scrutiny of police nationwide, the ease with which fired or forced out New Orleans officers found work at new departments underscores the broader challenge that law enforcement faces to rid itself of “bad apples.”
Fired Officers
Nov. 24, 2017
In another in an occasional series, The Washington Post and IRW explore how police chiefs are often forced to put hundreds of officers fired for misconduct back on the streets. This story looks at Gene Gibbons, who represents officers in job appeals on behalf of police unions across Florida, and who has, over the past eight years, won reinstatement for more than 22 fired officers, often returning them to work over the objections of police chiefs who say they are unfit for duty.
The Kangaroo Hunt
Nov. 21, 2017
Does hunting kangaroos for commercial use make sense? Australia’s kangaroo hunt supports a small but controversial industry of meat and leather products. The Investigative Reporting Workshop and National Geographic's Wildlife Watch co-reported and co-produced this special report.
The drug industry's triumph over the DEA
Oct. 19, 2017
Congress weakened the DEA’s ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continue to rise, a Washington Post and "60 Minutes" investigation finds.
The New Americans
Aug. 28, 2017
Though the future of the federal refugee program has been put into question under Trump, last year’s influx of new arrivals to San Diego County — the third-highest on record since 1983 — could have a lasting impact on the region’s public schools. In this special report, we look at how San Diego is educating its refugee students, including what challenges remain and what it could mean for the future of the county.
Water: how clean, how safe, how much?
Aug. 16, 2017
As many as 63 million people — nearly a fifth of the country — from rural central California to the boroughs of New York City, were exposed to potentially unsafe water more than once during the past decade, according to a News21 investigation of 680,000 water quality and monitoring violations from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Fired Cops
Aug. 3, 2017
Since 2006, the nation's largest police departments have fired at least 1,881 officers for misconduct that betrayed the public's trust, from cheating on overtime to unjustified shootings. But The Washington Post has found that departments have been forced to reinstate more than 450 officers after appeals required by union contracts.
Police shootings
July 1, 2017
Police nationwide shot and killed 492 people in the first six months of this year, a number nearly identical to the count for the same period in each of the prior two years.
Fatal shootings by police in 2017 have so closely tracked last year’s numbers that on June 16, the tally was the same. Although the number of unarmed people killed by police dropped slightly, the overall pace for 2017 through Friday was on track to approach 1,000 killed for a third year in row.
Charter schools
May 18, 2017
Two rural Louisiana charter schools — one predominantly white, the other predominantly black — are under legal scrutiny for their role in promoting resegregation in school districts still under decades-old desegregation orders. Critics say the charter schools are draining district funds and making it impossible to achieve integration, while charter advocates argue that families have been failed by the status quo and deserve access to new opportunities. As the Trump administration considers how to make good on a campaign promise to invest $2 billion in school choice, these two schools offer a glimpse at the complexity of the debate ahead.
