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 "Drug Enforcement Agency" ...
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Torpedoed G-man unit rising like phoenix from its ashes
A San Antonio Business Journal investigation discovers that inspectors of the U.S. Customs are linked to Mexican drug traffickers. The package of stories reveals the covered-up findings of a federal task force that was originally created to investigate law-enforcement corruption in Arizona, but several years later was hastily disbanded. Conroy examines how the suppressed cases are connected to the suspected murder of a former Customs supervisor.
Tags: U.S./Mexico border; law enforcement; Department of Justice; FBI; special agents; intelligence; federal agencies; whistleblowers
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The Siege
Westword reports on the misuse of power by sheriff John Mestas and his overzealous deputies in Costilla County, Colorado. The story points to multiple incidents in which law enforcement officers gave tickets to good drivers, attempted to kick in residents' doors without search warrants, and handcuffed or threatened at gunpoint children and elderly people. The reporter finds that the sheriff, a former owner of a liquor shop, has "vowed to clean up the town of San Luis," and has been inclined to overaggressive enforcement of DUI laws. A major finding is that some of the deputies have been dismissed by other agencies, or have had disciplinary problems related to undue aggressiveness.
Tags: drunk driving; drug enforcement; speeding; surveillance; abuse; intimidation; police force; arrests
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DWB* (*Driving While Black)
Esquire reports on the DEA's program Operation Pipeline, an attempt to stop interstate drug trafficking that has come under file for encouraging, if not sponsoring, racial profiling. Despite numerous civil rights law suits and statistics that show an overwhelming majority of the motorists pulled over are black and Hispanic, the DEA still calls the program one of its "most successful." The Supreme Court basically handed law enforcement a license to do these kind of searches when it ruled that a cop can pull someone over for any minor traffic violation. U.S. District Judge James Carrigan wrote a criticism of the program which said, the task force, "systematically violated the constitutionally protected rights of blacks and Hispanics to travel and be free from unreasonable seizures."
Tags: racial profiling; law enforcement; operation pipeline; Drug Enforcement Agency; U.S. Supreme Court; Whren decision
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The Drug War
In trying to answer the question, "How effective is the Drug War," the National Journal reports on the drug war's history and societyal effects. Special sections are devoted to users, prevention, interdiction, treatment and punishmet as the Journal examines this complex issue.
Tags: drug war; prohibition; leagalization; Drug Enforcement Agency; drug interdiction; drug traffic; drug use; drug abuse; drug treatment; drug smuggling; drug sentencing
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Seize first, convict later
"Months or years before some suspected Scott County drug dealers get their day in criminal court, their seized property and cash already belong to law enforcement agencies. One in four Scott County residents who had property and money seized by local police never faced any criminal charges, a Quad-City Times investigation of court records shows."
Tags: defendants; police seizures; profits; drug; civil forfeiture laws; criminal convictions; criminal trials; "bounty-hunting" of assets; budget padding; tracking property; guns; vehicles; homes; boats
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The Meth Monster
Governing Magazine reports on the wide spread use of methamphetamine and the increasing number of meth labs in the Midwest. Trying to secure the homemade drug has been "a difficult and costly job for law enforcement agencies in many states. . . Each pound of meth generates five to six pounds of toxic waste. . . It usually costs from $5,000 to $10,000 each time" to clean up. And as the number of meth labs increase, so does the demand for local law enforcement. Reporter Ellen Perlman investigates meth labs and the new laws many states have adopted to fight against the problem.
Tags: methamphetamine; drugs; police; National Drug Control Policy; Drug Enforcement Administration; laws
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Our Man in Mexico
"Sal Martinez was a drug agent who did everything by the book. Which means he broke the laws the Feds wanted him to break...'Go down there and sell some drugs. Bust some heads. Play like a mafioso.' Then one day Sak crossed the line - and he's still paying for it." Bowden studies the life of career DEA agent, Sal Martinez as he prepares to go to prison for 87 months. Martinez worked on both sides of the Mexican boarder for seven years in the DEA. Most of Martinez's work was undocumented, allowing him to carry out assignments with at his own discretion. That often meant the use of Mexican police tactics. It was these same tactics that the FBI say Martinez asked the police to use on a young man who killed his cousin. Bowden takes a look at Martinez's unusual case. "Normally, an agent who crosses the like Sal did gets sent to a shrink or tossed out of the agency. Not sent to jail."
Tags: Law Enforcement; DEA; Mexico
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Target Practice: A class-action lawsuit becomes a vehicle for racial justice
Witcher explains how some law enforcement agencies in Colorado have used use race as a factor in pulling over drivers. The Eagle County Sheriff's Department, on Colorado's Western Slope, has pulled over minority drivers for technicalities, and then gone on to search their vehicles. Sometimes it turns up drugs, but it has often violated the civil rights of law-abiding minority citizens. But the department was also found to have used racial profiling in its traffic stops. In 1996, Eagle County settled a class-action lawsuit brought by 30 plaintiffs, including a man found with three pounds of cocaine after a stop. About $600,000 of the $800,000 in settlement money was set aside to nonprofit organizations. Now organizations in Colorado are trying to figure out how to put the money to good use.
Tags: racial profiling; Eagle County Sheriff's Department; lawsuit
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Caught Off Guard
A Boston Magazine investigation examines the Coast Guard' vanishing ability to rescue mariners. The free-lance author "explores what happened when three fishermen, trapped inside their overturned boat, drowned while waiting for the Coast Guard to rescue them." The story details several other marine tragedies. The investigation reveals that the agency's staff has become "overworked and underqualified," as its budget has been cut and its mission has "expanded exponentially in such areas as drug enforcement, refugee interception and pollution control." The story's "sobering lesson" is: "Don't expect the Coast Guard to save you. The agency has neither the legal obligation nor the top notch ability to rescue every mariner who calls for help."
Tags: diskette; FOIA; Coast Guard; negligence; courts
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Drug Control or Biowarfare?
"The story unveiled a secret government plan to use Colombia as a testing ground for Fusarium oxysporum, a fungus-based herbicide, as a new biological weapon in the war on drugs; the power and personage behind the effort, and the lack of oversight, monitoring, and informed consent from stakeholders on health and environmental concerns. (The) story detailed how the fungus was initially clandestinely isolated and developed by various government agencies and how the U.S. worked to force the experimental agent on Colombian authorities for use against coca, poppy, and marijuana."
Tags: deforestation; USDA; Peru; fungus; Plan Columbia; Rep. Ben Gilman; mycoherbicide (fungus plant killer); human health; farming; immune system; State Department of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement; Monsanto Roundup; United Nations