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 "force, brutality" ...
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The Texas
Mentally disabled residents of a school in Texas were forced to be a part of a “fight club” run at night. The brutality of this was highly disturbing and it terrified these residents. Many of them tried to leave, but the staff members continuously forced them back and continued the abuse. Since all this information was revealed, these former staff members have been found guilty of felony charges of injury to the mentally ill and face time in prison.
Tags: mental health care; system; Texas State School; Corpus Christi; brawl; battle; struggle; state government; state facilities; civil rights
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Police Complaints Rising
Brutality complaints were on the rise at three area law enforcement departments; they had increased by 25 percent in the last five years. Complaints about other officer misconduct, such as rudeness or harassment, also were on the rise. Few citizen complaints were validated by the departments, which investigated the complaints themselves. The majority of complaints were deemed unsubstantiated and in many cases they were classified as false, which subjected the complainant to possible criminal prosecution.
Tags: civil liberties; law enforcement; police brutality; search and seizure; excessive force; civil rights activists
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Police relying on Taser as a fix-all on the force
Stettler investigates the use of Tasers by police and whether the weapon is truly safe or if it threatens the lives of people on which it is used. Two deaths were linked to Tasers over the past three years in Utah's largest law enforcement agencies.
Tags: law enforcement; stun gun; force, brutality; cop;
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Undue Force in Seaside Park
"A band of night-shift cops known as the "Justice League" would kick, beat, abuse and sometimes cripple handcuffed prisoners for little or no reason. Internal reports of abuse were ignored by the mayor and chief of police, even when they came from a dispatcher who witnessed the abuses. The officer that headed the Justice League is from a highly regarded family of judges, lawyers and real estate moguls, who became untouchable in the small town."
Tags: police brutality; Justice League; night-shift cops; prisoner abuse
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Denver's bad boys, a probe of police discipline
The series reveals a "police discipline system that even top safety officials at the city described as broken. Operating under a comparative discipline rule that forced city officials to peg current punishment to discipline decisions meted out years ago, the city had allowed police officers with serious and repeated offenses to remain on the force."
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Use of Force
After finding that a young police The Chronicle established a computer database to keep records of use of force by individual police officers, and found "about 100 officers were responsible for a quarter of the force reported by officers in the 2,100-member department in a nine-year period." Another statistic was that African Americans "bore a disproportionate amount of force and arrests despite the fact they made up less than 8 percent of the city's population." The city had to pay more than $5 million in damages in force-related cases over those nine years, yet it seldom disciplined the officers responsible. Also, "police-involved shootings were investigated in an incomplete fashion."
Tags: Police; police brutality; excessive force; San Francisco Police Department
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Policing Force
Reporters examine Southwest Washington police departments' failure to track and discipline officers who use excessive force. Problem officers abuse their authority, and then public funds are used to settle the legal claims against them. Citizens were injured by officers who already had histories of brutality.
Tags: law enforcement; police; police brutality; excessive force; open records
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No Sense of Justice
These stories found that no police shooting inquest in Milwaukee over the past twenty years ever resulted in criminal charges. In one case, an off-duty police officer shot and killed someone who tried to steal his lawnmower; the officer was let off with no consequences. The investigation found several cases in which the juries did not completely acquit the police officer, but still the shootings were written off as justifiable. Besides exposing this problem, the investigation offers some suggestions for reform.
Tags: police brutality; force; self-defense; shooting; excessive force; justice; courts
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Police Force Under Surveillance
The Bakersfield Californian goes beyond the legal mumbo jumbo to find out what really goes on in the force. Reporters talk to former and current officers and members of the community to contribute to their article. The result is an unbiased, honest review of what role racism plays in the Bakersfield Police Department.
Tags: police; cops; brutality; racism; department of justice; doj; racial profiling; bias; civil rights; false charges; harassment; misconduct