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 "undercover surveillance" ...
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Concealing County Corruption: Anatomy of a Cover-Up
Wayne Dolcefino saves the best for last. In his final investigation for KTRK-TV, he and the 13 Undercover Unit demonstrated relentless persistence as they attempted to shake up a county government with an abysmal record of policing itself. This submission begins with four reports detailing shocking evidence of corruption inside the downtown precinct of Constable Jack Abercia. 13 Undercover spent several months doing painstaking surveillance -- catching the Constable’s deputies running his personal errands, working extra jobs on the clock and stockpiling never driven county patrol cars while lawmen were being laid off. 13 Undercover then managed to get a hidden camera inside the chief deputy’s office as he and two deputies talked openly about corruption inside the precinct. The language is often foul mouthed and always revealing. The FBI nabbed Aberica and two top commanders in a bribery sting weeks later. The veteran former constable is now awaiting trial. Eventually, 13 Undercover turned our cameras on county leaders to say “enough is enough.” Not only was action not forthcoming, it quickly became clear that many in positions of power wanted this all to go away without getting their hands dirty, without ending decades of a patronage system that made deputies feel required to give money to their boss’s campaigns and charities to keep their jobs. That was not an option. This investigation demanded accountability and we held leaders to the promises they made to the public. In late summer, 13 Undercover scored a major public records victory that revealed what one commentator dubbed "a cover-up of Nixonian proportions." The series culminated with the long awaited, and previously unimaginable, indictment of one of the county’s most popular elected officials – precinct 6 Constable Victor Trevino. New county directives now prohibit constables from soliciting money from their deputies and legislation is expected to filed in Austin to protect county employees from further shakedowns.
Tags: Corruption; county government; officials
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The Informants
In the package, "Terrorists for the FBI," Mother Jones exposed this pattern with in-depth pieces that drilled deep into what has become federal law enforcement's No. 1 priority. As a part of an 18-month investigation, reporter Trevor Aaronson pulled court documents of all 508 federal terrorism convictions since September 11, 2001, and interviewed everyone from undercover FBI informants to street agents, top bureau officials, and legal and terrorism experts. The investigation found that following 9/11, the FBI built a massive network of domestic informants -15,000 in all- many of them tasked with surveilling and infiltrating Muslim neighborhoods and institutions.
Tags: FBI; informants; undercover; federal agents; terrorism
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Moonlighting City Workers
Fox news in Philadelphia reports as two employees of the Philadephia Board of Revision of Taxes were found to have been "working private jobs while on city time." One of the workers was a licensed funeral director, caught "attending funerals and meeting grieving families in the middle of his city work day." The other "was caught on tape working in his bar and shopping for beer and supplies" while on the city of Philadelphia's clock. Their timesheets indicated they had each claimed the time out at other jobs as time spent working for the city. In the end, the funeral director resigned, and the bar owner was fired by the city.
Tags: Employment; moonlighting; falsified timecards; undercover surveillance
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Desperate Appointment
Using undercover surveillance, KNXV reporters exposed Mexican dentists who crossed the border to perform illegal weekend procedures on illegal immigrants. The cash-only operation, which usually took place in the back of homes and in abandoned trailers, operated under the state dental board's radar. In some instances, patients risk serious infection at the hands of unlicensed dentists. As a result of the investigation, two of the dentist practices were shut down and KNXV was able to open up phone lines to "help people who needed dental care from licensed clinics."
Tags: dentists; immigration; Arizona State Dental Board; unlicensed dentists; undercover surveillance
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"Roughed up at recess"
Undercover surveillance at 52 schools representing five of the state's largest school districts revealed how widespread violence and bullying were on the playground. The investigation focused on the problem of bullying and its causes, contributing factors and possible solutions. The set of stories now serve as educational tools for parents, teachers and administrators statewide.
Tags: school violence; bullying; playgrounds; hidden-camera investigation
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FBI Files
CBS News reports on a little known decade-long surveillance operation designed to spy on American citizens. FBI started the operation in the late 1970s under the Reagan's administration. It was conceived as an anti-Soviet initiative to limit the communist propaganda in the United States but eventually turned into a widespread domestic spying, CBS reports. Surprisingly, central to the program was then-undercover Soviet spy Robert Hanssen.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; FOI requests; intelligence; unclassified records; Soviet Union; cold war
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Selling Innocence
A joint investigative effort by WMAQ-TV Chicago and WTVJ-TV Miami uncovered "child erotica," a new industry exploiting young girls that spans several states. The two stations were able to combine their investigative sources and perform more research as well as undercover and surveillance work across the country. As a result of their combined work a convicted child sex offender who was recruiting young girls is being investigated by the Justice Department, one of the largest child erotica sites on the internet shut itself down, and representatives from Illinois and Florida asked the Attorney General to shut down the child erotica industry and review current law that deals with the area.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; crime; child pornography
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No title (id: 7375)
WAGA-TV (Atlanta) uncovers systematic Medicare fraud by suburban Atlanta ambulance company; undercover video surveillance reveals firm was illegally billing federal government for trips to clinics not covered by Medicare, for ambulance service when a car was used, and double-billing for trips to the clinics, May - December 1990.
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind
KSL-TV (Salt Lake City) airs documentary on conditions in Utah nursing homes; reporters worked in nursing homes undercover, secretly installed cameras in homes and did long-term surveillance of nursing home operators, 1980. Tape
Tags: None