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 "California Highway Patrol" ...
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America's Great State Payroll Giveaway
A state-employed psychiatrist in California made $822,000 by clocking in 17 hours every day last year, including Sundays and holidays. An employee cashed out with $609,000 for unused vacation when she retired, claiming she never took vacations in a 30-year career. A highway patrol officer collected $484,000 in salary, pension and leave payments. The chief money manager at a Texas pension fund got $1 million in salary and bonuses while posting investment returns that trailed those of peers who earned a quarter as much. Bloomberg News used freedom-of-information laws to obtain 1.4 million payroll records from the 12 largest states and show how taxpayers funded these out-of-control expenses and more, while at the same time states cut funding for universities, public safety, health care, schools and services aimed at the neediest residents.
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CHP Contracting
Bee reporters investigate the California Highway Patrol, reporting on topics including "favoritism in bidding practices to ongoing instances of CHP pension fraud, and efforts to crack down on it." As a result of the Bee's work, the state legislature and administration called for further investigations to discover and fix the problems.
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Premium Pensions
Three stories examine the abuses of California's generous public pensions system. "Chief's Disease," reveals that the highest ranking officers of the California Highway Patrol often made injury claims as retirement drew near, so their pensions were supplemented by workplace injury settlements. "Workers' comp judges cash in," showed that judges who decided worker's comp claims were themselves six times more likely to claim job related injuries than their judicial colleagues in other parts of the system. "How state law fattens pensions," deals with California's law that allows pensions to be calculated based on the single highest year of salary a public worker achieves. California is the only state in the country that has such a law. There is also supplemental material that followed the publication of the series.
Tags: public pensions; workman's compensation; fraudulent claims; state government; local government; public servants
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Death, Maiming, Money and Muni: The enormous costs- human and financial- of bad drivers and tax discipline at the San Francisco Municipal Railway
In an investigation conducted by the SF weekly, reporters found that Muni buses, streetcars and trolleys have higher incidence of accidents than other transit vehicles. As the investigations reveled many of these accidents were caused due to the negligence of the drivers. The article also reveals that Muni has been reimbursing pedestrians frequently, spending taxpayers' money and refusing to acknowledge the serious issue.
Tags: Muni buses; pedestrian safety; driving under the influence of alcohol; DUI; California Highway patrol
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Disparities in CHP Searches
A San Francisco Chronicle analysis of more than 3.3 million statewide California Highway Patrol traffic stops showed that "Latinos and blacks pulled over by the CHP are far more likely to be searched than white drivers."
Tags: California Highway Patrol; vehicle searches; racial profiling; discrimination; police; traffic stops
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Gun Dealers with Badges
KCAL 9 reports "the secret practice of state agencies of California selling assault weapons and other firearms. In part one... the California Department of Corrections was held accountable for the first time ever for selling firearms that ended up on the streets. These included assault weapons, some of which have been banned in the state for over 10 years, along with thousands of other weapons. In part two,the California Highway Patrol's practice of selling over 4000 high-quality handguns and other weapons was also exposed..."
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Vehicle Safety: The Hidden Dangers
This investigation of vehicle safety led to a series of stories which focused on "... overlooked aspects of the dangers posed by cars and trucks on America's roads.... government and automakers have neglected to address a long-standing safety hazard that causes injuries to and deaths of back-seat passengers: weakly built front seats that collapse backwards in rear-end collisions.... most children who died in crashes were victims of safety lapses, negligence and recklessness, often by their parents.... the government's program to investigating and recalling defective vehicles has a serious defect of its own: namely the power of automakers to forestall expensive recalls by withholding information from federal safety regulators..."
Tags: vehicle safety National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA California Highway Patrol
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The Medical Board of California: A controversial past, a confusing present, a brighter future?
California Physician reports that "Since 1975, the Medical Board of California, formerly the Board of Medical Quality Assurance, has provided primary oversight for licensing and enforcement of practice standards for health professions in California. As with any regulatory body with a complex range of responsibilities, MBC's performance has been the subject of criticism over the years--most recently, a six-month investigation of MBC by the California Highway Patrol has received substantial press and raised serious questions about management practices within the Board."
Tags: accountability disciplinary process state legislature physician review reform
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Highways Paved with Broken Lives
The Times analyzes California Highway Patrol accident reports and finds that there are an increasing number of fatal accidents on the state highways. The series looks at the conditions of the roads, drunk driving and drunk driving laws in this story on highway safety, 1994.
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No title (id: 8144)
Fresno Bee finds that the California State Highway Patrol knew that the dust-storm problem was severe on Interstate 5, and did not act to prevent the chain-reaction collision that resulted in 17 deaths and more than 100 injuries, Dec. 19, 1991.
Tags: None