Tips and resources for reporting on crime data

The CDC has an active dashboard that maps death rates across the country 
by Census tract, county or state. (CDC map)

Tips from a recent webinar with three crime data experts, narrated by Clark Merrefield of The Journalist's Resource, can help local journalists report on crime trends, fact-check law enforcement, discuss policy, and foster a dialogue about community safety. An edited version of Merrefield's tips from the discussion is shared below.

Get to know The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub, which meets three major needs for crime data research and reporting:

• The help desk, where anyone "can ask questions of reporters and editors at The Trace," Merrefield writes. "Reach out for help understanding gun violence in the areas you cover; collecting, cleaning and analyzing data on gun violence."
• A resource page that houses fact sheets, guides, and a glossary, which can aid in investigations of all sizes.
• The data library for "trustworthy data on a range of gun violence topics, from ghost guns to suicide to road rage," Merrefield notes. "The library includes data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Transportation Security Administration and many others."

Explore data focused on public safety research and data:

• The WONDER database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes numbers on gun deaths and compressed mortality data.
• The Gun Violence Archive, which "tracks gun violence incidents across the country from more than 7,500 sources, including law enforcement agencies and news media reports," Merrefield writes.
• The Mapping Police Violence provides up-to-date data on police-involved killings in the U.S. 
• The CDC dashboard, which maps violent death rates across the country by Census tract, county or state. 

 Learn which data can help you fact-check statements from public officials.

"Beyond published data on reported crimes, victimization surveys are a major source of crime data that journalists can use to vet statements from officials," Merrefield explains. "The best known is the National Crime Victimization Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. This survey each year reaches a nationally representative sample of roughly 240,000 people and asks whether they have been victims of personal or property crimes — and why the crime was or wasn’t reported to police."

To identify trends in a specific area, aim for at least 5 years of data.

If data doesn't make sense, question it. If it can't be verified, don't use it.

Merrefield's webinar panel experts included: Jeffrey A. Butts, a research professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Executive Director of the John Jay Research and Evaluation Center; Mensah M. Dean, a staff writer at The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom that covers gun violence; and George LeVines, editor of The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub, which is open to the public. 

Quick hits: Cold Case Card Deck to solve crimes; USPS podcast; Walmart's new milk plant; states snip SNAP snacks

Maine State Police hope their card deck 
will generate tips on unsolved cases. 
(Maine State Police photo via Midcoast Villager)

The Maine State Police are launching a Cold Case Deck of Cards initiative to generate leads for unsolved cases. "The deck features 52 of Maine State Police’s unsolved homicides and suspicious missing person cases and will be distributed to inmates in correctional facilities across the state," reports Jim Leonard of the Midcoast Villager. "This marks the first time the concept has been implemented in Maine. Similar initiatives in more than two dozen states have been credited with helping solve multiple homicide investigations."

Just because cranberries are tart doesn't mean they require a ton of sugar to become tasty. "Diabetics or anyone who wants to reduce the added sugars they’re consuming can try a few culinary tactics to lower their sugar intake while still enjoying this holiday treat," writes food scientist Rosemary Trout for The Conversation. "Don’t cook your cranberries much longer after they pop. You’ll still have a viscous cranberry liquid without the need for as much sugar. … For a richer flavor and a glossy quality, add butter. … Adding chopped walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts can slow glucose absorption, so your blood glucose may not spike as quickly."

In a tribute to snail mail and history buffs, a new podcast, "People of Agency," offers listening excursions into "the stories of individuals who have shaped USPS over its 250-year history," reports Sean Michael Newhouse of Government Executive. The show is co-created and co-hosted by Aileen Day, a political communications consultant, and Maia Warner-Langenbahn, who co-hosts the "Well, I Laughed" podcast. In the show's first episode, the duo recount the story of Mary Katherine Goddard, who was "put in charge of Baltimore’s mail in 1775 and printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence that listed all of its signatories."

In a bid to have more control over production and supply, Walmart recently opened its "second U.S.-owned milk processing facility in Valdosta, Ga., a $350-million plant supplying milk to more than 650 Southeast stores," reports Taylor Leach of Dairy Herd. While the company does purchase milk from local farmers, "some critics have warned Walmart buys milk from only a handful of large farms, putting smaller farms under further pressure. … The opening also follows Walmart’s recent investments in case-ready beef plants in Thomasville, Ga., and Olathe, Kansas."

Shaking your real Christmas tree before bringing it 
into your home can keep bugs from coming inside.

The holidays can be full of surprises, but discovering six-legged stowaways in your freshly cut Christmas tree shouldn't be one of them. "Bringing a real Christmas tree into your warm living room can accidentally wake up thousands of dormant bugs, turning your cozy holiday into a surprise visit from nature," reports Jenn Jordan of The Weather Channel. To prevent insect or spider visitors from entering your home, while your tree is still outside, give it more than one seriously hard shake. Many tree farms use mechanical shakers, which can also do the trick.

From the bubonic plague to cholera pandemics to deadly staph infections, bacterial illnesses often pose one of the biggest challenges to human survival. But with innovation, microorganisms can also help humans do remarkable things. "In the boulder-strewn desert east of Tucson, Arizona, miners are using sulfuric acid and bacteria to bring online the first new U.S. copper production in more than a decade," reports Ryan Dezember of The Wall Street Journal. Advances in technology are key to how this copper is mined. The enterprise uses "microbes to strip copper from ores that are otherwise uneconomical to mine." The Grand Canyon's state motto just happens to be Ditat Deus, which is Latin for "God Enriches." Last year, 70% of U.S. copper came from Arizona.

A total of 18 states have banned some non-nutritious foods from SNAP purchases. 
(Axios graph, from USDA data)

More states are restricting junk food purchases with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to increase the federal funding they receive. "Six more states agreed to ban the use of SNAP benefits for junk food under new deals with the Trump administration," reports April Rubin of Axios. "The new waivers restrict the purchase of non-nutritious items like soda, energy drinks, certain juices, prepared desserts and candy." While which foods and drinks are restricted varies by state, all states with added nutritional restrictions will all receive more federal dollars to support their SNAP programs.

Opinion: Rural policing writer disagrees with Wall Street Journal article about rural law enforcement violence

Rural police officers have high rates of shootings, but they 
are also more likely to get shot. (Adobe Stock photo)

A Wall Street Journal story about violence in rural policing gets some concepts right; however, the story's data and overall conclusions are faulty, writes rural police reporter Kathleen Dias in her column for Police1. "I agree with the premise of the article: there really are a lot of harsh interactions between law enforcement and the public in rural places. . . . Where the WSJ writer and I disagree is in the conclusion he draws (that rural cops kill people because they are poorly trained or trained to overreact), the sources for his statistics, and his slant."

"Rural places have high rates of shootings by law enforcement and also of law enforcement officers who get shot; that’s not new information or a new trend," Dias explains. "The writer is also correct that rural agencies frequently lack the ability to use the tools of time, distance and backup to defuse volatile situations."

The article's primary focus is that "rural sheriffs are killing more civilians," Dias adds. "The writer cites Mapping Police Violence stating that since 2013, killings by sheriff’s deputies have risen 43% while killings by police have risen by 3%. . . . First, sheriff’s offices are not all rural [and] not all rural police interactions, lethal or otherwise, are by sheriff’s offices."

Overall, MPV as a source is "profoundly troublesome. 'Police violence' is a broad, provocative term," Dias explains. "The definition from MPV is 'Any incident where a law enforcement officer (off-duty or on-duty) applies, on a civilian, lethal force resulting in the civilian being killed. . . . I found incidents like an off-duty Virginia state trooper who killed a man who was breaking into his home, an off-duty officer who killed his domestic partner and then himself, an off-duty deputy who struck a bicycle rider at night on a Florida highway notorious for wrecks. . ."

The WSJ article uses examples that aren't rural. Dias writes, "The article is about rural police killings, yet the first several quotes are from urban sheriffs about their resources, their experiences and cultural changes they made."

There was an "implicit undertone in the WSJ article’s descriptions of small towns and remote places of the incongruity of violence in those places — that somehow a rural setting made violence even less acceptable than usual," Dias writes. "I believe that underscores the writer’s lack of understanding of rural places, and also the perception of risk by officers."

What rural officers do face is populations that are "more likely to be poor, addicted to alcohol and illegal substances, and to attempt or complete suicide than their urban neighbors," Dias points out. "Rural officers are often poorly paid, and departments do struggle with recruiting, retention and churn that can result in bad hiring choices."

Rural officers need more staff, higher pay, additional training and equipment that works. "I’ll go to the wall with the WSJ writer on those points," Dias adds. "The officers themselves are not the problem. Indeed, they’re expected to be the solution to every problem that comes the way of every other resident, but that’s impossible. They’re cops, not Swiss Army knives."

Read all of Dias' opinion, including her comparison of the WSJ article to a Washington Post story here.

With used farm equipment in short supply, tractor thefts have become more common

Despite their size, farm tractor sometimes vanish without a trace.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

A century ago, farmers had to worry about horse and cattle rustlers, but now, they need to look out for tractor thieves. "Used tractors are increasingly valuable and often left out in the open with their keys in the cab, ready to be stolen," reports Elissa Welle for Offrange. "In 2023, there were 1,221 reported thefts of special equipment, including tractors, each month."

New farming equipment is expensive, so many farmers seek out used equipment, which is in short supply. Over the past year alone, there has been "a 23% shrinkage of the inventory of used compact and utility tractors," Welle explains. "Mower, riding, or garden tractors were the top style of reported thefts in the category."

Despite their size, tractors are surprisingly easy to steal. Farmers often leave their keys in the tractor for easy startups or the next driver, with some older models even sharing the same manufacturer's key. "By grinding off the VIN, older tractors can simply disappear into the used farm equipment market," Welle reports. "Older models are often not equipped with GPS, leaving law enforcement little to go off."

Last year, farmers in California faced a rash of vanishing tractors, which ended when state law enforcement "broke up a farm equipment theft ring alleged to have stolen equipment totaling $2.25 million," Welle writes. 

Once a tractor is gone, it's hard to recover. "Only half of the value of the stolen equipment — $1.3 million — in California was recovered in the recent bust," Welle reports. 

Despite the increase in farming equipment theft in some areas, farmers don't like to talk about it. Farmer Steve Hess, who had three pieces of equipment stolen, "believes that his tractors didn’t go far. . . But despite his lived experience, talking about a stolen tractor is taboo in the farming community, Hess said, likening it to divorce," Welle explains. "He’s silenced many bustling farmer meetings with the announcement that his tractors got stolen."

Rural jails lack mental health resources. Inmates can linger for weeks in tiny cells awaiting psychiatric care.

Local jails weren't build to house mentally
ill populations. (KFF Health photo)

Many rural jails lack resources to manage inmates who need mental health treatment. In Polson, a small town in northwestern Montana, "when someone accused of a crime needs mental health care, chances are they’ll be locked in a basement jail cell the size of a walk-in closet," reports Katheryn Houghton of KFF Health News. Jails across the U.S. have problems similar to Polson, where demand for inmate mental health treatment exceeds any state's capacity to provide it.

Polson's basement jail cell was intended to be a short-term solution to keep mentally altered inmates away from the rest of the jail population until a psychiatric bed opened up. Houghton writes, "Last year, a man sentenced for stealing a rifle stayed in that cell 129 days. He was waiting for a spot to open at Montana’s only state-run psychiatric hospital after a mental health evaluator deemed he needed care."

Some jailed individuals haven't been found guilty of crimes because a judge ordered mental health care completed before allowing the case to move forward. At the Grays Harbor County Jail, located in the small town of Montesano, Washington, "approximately 20-30% of the jail population is made up of inmates who are supposed to be receiving [mental health] care," reports Susannah Frame of KING-TV in Seattle. The facility's medical ward is "the size of a closet. There are no mental health professionals on staff. There is not enough staff to safely deal with a crisis."

Wyoming, Nevada and Oregon jail systems have similar struggles. "More than half of Wyoming’s 23 sheriffs told lawmakers there that they were housing people in crisis awaiting mental health care for months," Houghton reports. "Nevada has struggled despite a $500 daily fine for each jailed patient whose treatment is delayed. Disability Rights Oregon has said delays in that state continue after two people died in jail while on the state’s psychiatric waitlist."

In Polson, Vincent River has been the jail's only mental health provider for 25 years. "He said he’s not always available because he’s the only psychologist in four northwestern Montana counties evaluating whether a person in jail needs psychiatric care," Houghton writes. "River said he can’t get people into any psychiatric bed in Montana because there are too few. Instead, he tries to stabilize people while they’re jailed. . . . Some are released without care if they linger too long on the state hospital’s waitlist."

A cold case of cows gone missing. So many are gone and rustling doesn't fully explain it.

The Uncompahgre Plateau includes about 2,290 square miles in five counties: Delta, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, and San Migue. The San Juan Mountains stand in the background. (PeakVisor photo)

When nearly 200 cows don't come home, ranchers expect to find evidence that points to what became of their cattle. That just isn't the case in Montrose County, Colorado, where 187 cows disappeared without a trace and a comprehensive investigation yielded only more mystery.

A week before Thanksgiving 2024, the first losses were tallied: "Twenty-nine cows and calves, a rancher told a state agriculture official, hadn’t come home," reports Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post. "One week later, three more reports from three other owners: 46, 38 and 31 head of cattle, all gone. Three days after that, rancher Kelly Burch also alerted authorities. She had counted her herd and come up 43 animals short."

All of the missing cows spent the summer grazing on the Uncompahgre Plateau, "rugged country where some animals always fall victim to predators, illness or weather," Brulliard writes. "But never this many and not without leaving lots of carcasses behind. Also unusual: The vast majority were calves."

Location of Montrose County in
Colorado. (Wikipedia map)

With the demand for U.S. beef at near-record highs, Colorado law enforcement first theorized that the missing bovines were taken by rustlers. Chuck Searcy, who is leading the Montrose County Sheriff’s investigation, "spent the winter fielding tips about suspicious characters and even theories about alien abduction," Brulliard reports. "He is convinced it’s at least partially a theft case."

The state and county responded to threat of rustlers with a rigorous investigation "involving sheriffs, a multiagency task force, search planes, a $10,000 reward and a bull rider turned cowboy who has scouted the area on horseback," Brulliard adds.

But the cow rustling theory has holes. "No semitrailer could reach the hardscrabble, unpaved altitude where these cattle were spread, the kind of range even experienced ranch hands don’t know by heart," Brulliard explains. "Typically, mother cows separated from their calves would show distress. A mass die-off, perhaps from poison weed, would produce bodies."

Whatever the cause, the missing cows "raised alarm at sale barns across Colorado. At one of the busiest, Centennial Livestock Auction in Fort Collins, the brands of the missing cattle are posted on the bulletin board of inspector Jesse Phillips’s office," Brulliard reports. "In the meantime, the case got a break of sorts. Tony Mendes, a former pro bull rider, found 17 of the missing cattle. . ." still out in the grazing area. 

Read Brulliard's full story here.

Study looks at American gun ownership: A firearm can make owners feel safer, but it can also increase anxieties

Owners can have complicated reactions to having
their firearm nearby. (Adobe Stock photo)

U.S. gun owners come with a wide variety of backstories about why they like owning a firearm, but research suggests that most owners share some of the same reasons for wanting a gun, writes Nick Buttrick for The Conversation. "American gun owners tend to agree. . .that guns are for personal protection. In a 2023 Pew survey, 72% of gun owners reported that they owned a firearm at least in part for protection. . . 81% of gun owners reported that owning a gun helped them to feel safer."

Guns can also help their owners feel emotionally protected. Buttrick explains. "Owning a gun helps them feel more in control of the world around them and more able to live meaningful, purposeful lives that connect to the people and communities they care for." For individuals or families who fear police or government "are either unable or unwilling to keep them safe," a gun can provide an added layer of psychological assurance.

Even though some gun owners may feel safer with a deadly weapon, having one comes with hidden threats that owners may not recognize. "When gun owners look for danger, they often are more likely to find it," Buttrick adds. "[They] may end up perceiving the world as a more dangerous place, institutions as more uncaring or incompetent, and their private actions as all the more important for securing their lives and their livelihoods."

To gauge how gun owners psychologically relate to their weapon, Buttrick and his colleagues "recruited a group of over 150 firearms owners. . .along with over 100 demographically matched Americans who have never owned a gun," Buttrick explains. When gun-owning participants were "subtly reminded of guns in general. . .our participants reported feeling more safe and in control. About half of the times that we texted, the gun owners told us that they had a gun accessible. . . . When a gun was handy, participants [said] they felt more vigilant and anxious, and that their immediate situation was more chaotic."

Buttrick writes, "To more fully understand the many ways responsible firearm ownership can look, we are interviewing gun owners from all around the state of Wisconsin, a notably diverse state when it comes to gun ownership. . . We hope to learn more about the many different ways that people conceptualize what a gun can do for them."

Hackers who claim to be the 'Cyber Army of Russia Reborn' disrupt a water tower system in rural Texas

The FBI has been investigating the hack in Muleshoe, Tex.
(City of Muleshoe, Texas photo via CNN)

While the number of computer hacks on American businesses by foreign actors has steadily increased, a hack in Muleshoe, Texas, in January might be the "first disruption of U.S. water system by Russia," reports Ellen Nakashima of The Washington Post. A Muleshoe citizen drove past the town's water tower, saw it was overflowing and alerted the police. "Authorities soon determined the system that controlled the city's water supply had been hacked. . . . Thousands of gallons of water had flowed into the street and drain pipes."

The hackers, who identified themselves as the Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, "Posted a video online of the town's water-control systems showing how they reset the controls," Nakashima writes. Using the messaging platform Telegram, the hackers posted a caption that read, "We're starting another raid on the USA." The hackers proceeded to explain how they were going to target U.S. infrastructure.

Location of Muleshoe, Tex., pop
5,200 (Wikipedia map)

Experts from the cyber security firm Mandiant believe "that the water tank overflow in a Texas panhandle town may well be linked to one of the most infamous Russian government hacking groups," Nakashima reports. "If confirmed, analysts say it would mark a worrisome escalation by Moscow in its attempts to disrupt critical U.S. infrastructure by targeting one of its weakest sectors: water utilities."

The notorious Russian hacking group, nicknamed "Sandworm, has achieved notoriety for briefly turning out the lights in parts of Ukraine at least three different times; hacking the Olympics Opening Games in South Korea in 2018; and launching NotPetya, one of the most damaging cyberattacks ever that cost businesses worldwide tens of billions of dollars," Nakashima explains.

Muleshoe's city manager, Ramon Sanchez, told Nakashima, "You don't think that's going to happen to you. It's always going to happen to the other guy." Nakashima reports, "Sanchez said the hackers brute-forced the password for the system's control system interface, which was run by a vendor. That password hadn't been changed in more than a decade."

Thieves took most print copies of rural weekly with story on alleged rape at police chief's home; increased story's reach

UPDATE, Jan. 20: Mike Wiggins tells the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, "The thief returned all of the stolen newspapers to our office Thursday night, confessed to the crime and was cited for petty theft this morning." The Plaindealer reports that it is not disclosing the thief's relationship to the sexual-assault case, and "The theft was not connected in any way to the three defendants in the case, their families or the Ouray Police Department."

Front page of the latest Ouray County Plaindealer

By Corey Hutchins
Inside the News in Colorado

This week, a front-page story appeared in the small and mighty Ouray County Plaindealer about a 17-year-old girl’s allegations of being raped by teenagers at the home of a police chief.

What happened next? Papers started disappearing from newspaper boxes around the county, said the paper’s owners, Erin McIntyre and Mike Wiggins.

Here’s more from a note to readers in an email Thursday: "All of our newspaper racks in Ouray and all but one rack in Ridgway were hit by a thief who stole all the newspapers. From what we know so far, it seems this person put in four quarters and took all the papers at these racks. It’s pretty clear that someone didn’t want the community to read the news this week. … Whoever did this does not understand that stealing newspapers doesn’t stop a story. We’re not going to stop doing our job, which is to shine light on important issues in our community and keep you informed. This person is not going to shut down the freedom of the press by stealing a few hundred newspapers. Our community won’t stand for it and we won’t, either."

McIntyre also said the young newspaper publishers were working with a printing plant in Montrose to get another press run published on Thursday. “I'll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions on which story they didn’t want you to read,” she wrote. Online, a backlash was surging.

When news of the alleged newspaper thefts hit social media Thursday afternoon, Colorado journalists began sharing a link to the online version of the rape allegations story, including an editor at the Colorado Sun, Denver Post staffers, prominent Denver TV anchor Kyle Clark, and others. (The Plaindealer made the story free to read on its website; other stories are not.) The Post ran details of the rape allegations, naming two suspects; the story led with news of the stolen papers.

Ouray County (Wikipedia map)

Clark also included a broadcast segment about it on his "Next" show Thursday evening, indicating the sexual assault story was the news someone was trying to suppress. “We have a link to the article at the Next section of 9News.com,” Clark told his audience Thursday evening. “I recommend you read it if for no other reason [than] that because somebody doesn’t want you to see it.”

If that was the case, the pilfered periodicals produced a classic Streisand effect. The online version prominently displayed mugshots of the three young men arrested for suspected sexual assault, including the Ouray police chief’s stepson; the front-page print story did not.

McIntyre said Friday she hadn’t looked at how much traffic the online story generated, but she said more than $2,000 in donations had flowed in to the newsroom since they publicized the thefts. “People are angry this happened,” she said in a text message Friday morning. “Law enforcement is going to catch this person and we plan on pressing charges.” (She pointed to a 2022 state statute that makes the act of interfering with the lawful distribution of newspapers a finable offense.)

“If you hoped to silence or intimidate us,” Plaindealer co-owner Wiggins said, “you failed miserably.”

Female election officials are often targets of physical and verbal threats, but there are tools to protect them

A polling station worker in Falls Church, Va.
(Reuters photo via Brookings)

As the U.S. heads into the final months of election preparation, officials are dealing with challenges that go beyond counting votes --  physical and verbal threats, especially against women. "The threat of violence against election officials is pervasive. Women make up 80% of election workers in the United States, and they face unique, gendered harassment," report Zoe Wynn, Hannah Fried, and Norman Eisen of Brookings.

With more partisan politics, election site hostility has become more common. "Legal tools are available to make things better. The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 lays out confidentiality provisions aiming to protect the personal information of survivors of domestic violence," Brookings reports. "If codified into state law, similar provisions based on those in VAWA could help protect female election officials in advance of the expected surge of election denialism in the 2024 election."

The harassment of female election officials has been well-documented, alongside the loss of seasoned election officials who have quit or retired. "An investigation by Reuters in 2021 found that threats to election officials were typically generated by men and directed at a predominantly female workforce. Reuters found that dozens of these threatening messages used sexual or misogynistic language," Wynn, Fried and Eisen write. "The Brennan Center for Justice found that one in five election officials are 'very' or 'somewhat unlikely' to continue serving through 2024. The election officials surveyed specifically cite attacks on the system and stress as their primary reasons for leaving."

The VAWA gives states a framework to begin protections, but a "one-size-fits-all" structure is not the answer. "The VAWA provides a useful legislative starting point for a tailored, female-specific anti-harassment law. The bill's aims include reducing violence against women, securing offender accountability, and ensuring victim safety," Brookings reports. "Eleven states have passed comprehensive laws to protect election officials. . . . Threats to female election require a tailored approach that accounts for the gendered nature of the issue."

"A critical portion of the law is its confidentiality provisions. Confidentiality provisions are measures to protect the personal information of survivors of domestic violence and can provide opportunities for disciplinary action if personal information is disseminated," Wynn, Fried, and Eisen explain. "Lawmakers identified these measures as an effective means of preventing abusers from tracking their victims and causing them further harm."

Brookings reports, "Women who serve in election posts should be awarded similar protections commensurate with the nature of the threat to their safety. The functioning of our elections, and therefore our democracy, depends upon it."

Investigative reporting reveals a Mississippi 'Goon Squad,' with a 20 year history of brutality

Six Rankin County deputies, above, all pleaded guilty to
federal and state charges. (Photo by R.V. Solis, AP)

For almost 20 years, the Rankin County Sheriff's Department deputies have run amuck, doling out their own version of crime justice from sticking guns into suspects' mouths to torturing impoverished residents with tasers, reports Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield of Mississippi Today. "Narcotics detectives and patrol officers, some who called themselves the 'Goon Squad,' barged into homes in the middle of the night, accusing people inside of dealing drugs. Then they handcuffed or held them at gunpoint and tortured them into confessing or providing information, according to dozens of people who say they endured or witnessed the assaults."

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey claimed that "he was stunned to learn of the 'horrendous crimes' committed by his deputies,'" Howey and Rosenfield report. "But a deep investigation by The New York Times and the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today "revealed a history of blatant and brutal incidents stretching back to at least 2004." After records and interviews were scrutinized, "What emerged was a pattern of violence that was neither confined to a small group of deputies nor hidden from department leaders."

The Times and Mississippi Today "identified 20 deputies who were present at one or more of the incidents — many assigned to narcotics or the night-shift patrol," Mississippi Today reports. "Taken together, the reporting shows how Rankin deputies were allowed to operate with impunity while racking up arrests for relatively minor drug infractions and leaving entire neighborhoods in fear of violent raids."

The area Rankin County deputies focused on was ravaged by meth in the early 2000s. "Local sheriffs, even in small departments, set up special narcotics units and joined state and federal task forces in the War on Drugs. The Rankin County Sheriff's Department responded by targeting low-income communities and policing them relentlessly," Howey and Rosenfield write. 

"It's unclear when Rankin County deputies adopted their nickname, but last year, they ordered commemorative coins emblazoned with cartoonish gangsters and the words 'Lt. Middleton's Goon Squad.' Lt. Jeffrey Middleton was the squad's supervisor," Mississippi Today reports. "He is among the five deputies who pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from a January raid. . . . A Justice Department investigation this year found that Rankin County deputies chose the name Goon Squad 'because of their willingness to use excessive force and not report it.'"

This article is part of a series by The New York Times' Local Investigations Fellowship examining the power of sheriffs' offices in Mississippi.

Newspaper publisher sounds off on threats and harassment by neo-Nazis after reporting facts about a mayoral candidate

In the case of a newspaper and its adversaries, sometimes "enough is enough," reports Derby Jones, publisher of the Williamson Herald, in Franklin, Tennessee. The Williamson County paper has faced an onslaught of vandalism and harassment, including threats leading up to a Franklin election. "The group or groups seems to take issue with our factual reporting of Franklin's mayoral candidate, Gabrielle Hanson."

Wikipedia map

Jones calls out the perpetrators in his Oct. 24 column: "The Williamson Herald's offices were vandalized over the weekend. . . . Someone took the time to bring printouts of so-called 'leftist journalist' propaganda and glued them to the side of our building here in Franklin, on our painted pillars at our front door and on the front of our building. They stapled them to the utility poles at the entrance of our office, too. . . . This is textbook vandalism and intimidation tactics. It is certainly not the Franklin I love and that I have worked hard to serve the past 17 years. . . .This is also after a weekend where these same organizations threatened one of our reporters, threatened our advertisers and threatened me and my wife amongst others."

Jones has been the Herald's publisher
for 17 years.(Williamson Herald photo)

Jones points out the paper's truthful reporting as the puzzling "reason" for the crimes. He adds, "Hanson herself admitted to being arrested for a prostitution charge in the 1990s, we reported on this. We reported on a neo-Nazi/white supremacist group that attended a candidate forum on Oct. 3 in support of Hanson. . . . Since then, this group has gone after local journalists using threats of violence and neo-Nazi doxing, especially against our reporter."

A group called "nomoorewokefranklin" added to the intimidating tactics through social media posts "targeting our journalists, myself and our advertisers," Jones writes. "We won't stand for our reporter being threatened for doing his job, and we won't tolerate threats of violence. . . . Hanson's followers are harassing journalists and others in the community when they don't like what we say or write. The Williamson Herald stands by every story we report on. We are being called leftist and biased, but there is not one report that we posted that was not the truth."

Jones makes his point clear and asks his readers a question, saying, "Neo-Nazis don't have a place in our town. I say enough is enough. We have never seen this level of hate and divisiveness in Franklin. And to be so blatantly targeted and threatened is uncalled for. . . . If you have not voted yet, I strongly urge you to do so TODAY. And I would ask yourself what kind of Franklin you want to live in as this vote could change our way of life now and for future generations."

By addressing inmates' mental health problems, some rural counties aim to stop a cycle of incarceration

Photo via RHIHub

Rural jail population statistics paint a grim picture of traumatized, abused or mentally ill individuals who volley between jail and life outside without ever receiving treatment; rural counties aim to change that dynamic by addressing mental health needs during incarceration, reports Gretel Kauffman for Rural Health Information Hub.

Washington County, Texas, pop. 35,000, is one of those countries. Eric Hensley, the county's chief sheriff's deputy overseeing jail operations, "heard about a psychological telehealth program at nearby Texas A&M University. Hensley immediately began to wonder how the technology could be used in the Washington County Jail," Kauffman reports. "Three years later, an estimated 150 people incarcerated in the Washington County jail have participated in virtual group or one-on-one counseling through a partnership between the jail and the Texas A&M Telebehavioral Care program, and two other rural Texas counties have replicated the program in their own jails, too."

In Marion, Ohio, pop. 36,000, "seeing familiar faces in the courtroom was a common occurrence for James Boleyn," Kauffman reports. "Boleyn, who serves as Director of Specialized Dockets for Marion Municipal Court, told Kauffman, "We were running into this situation again and again, and we decided we needed to do something as a community and say, 'How can we interrupt this cycle and better resource these individuals?'" Kauffman adds, "In 2021, Marion County signed onto the Stepping Up Initiative, a project by the National Association of Counties that encourages counties to improve and expand mental health resources in their local criminal justice systems. . . .The county is focusing its efforts inside the jail, which hasn't offered mental health treatment services up until this point."

Many communities address inmates' mental health needs while helping them plan for life upon release. Kauffman reports, "While rural communities may have fewer mental health resources available to people recently released from jail, that simplicity can also help to streamline the transition process, Erin Comartin, an associate professor in the Wayne State University School of Social Work, noted. In one rural community she worked with, the mental health center and jail were a parking lot away from each other." Comartin told Kaufman: "It was really great because when the jail was releasing somebody, they just call over and say, 'Hey, do you want to come to the other end of the parking lot and help this person get back into services?'"

Isaac Saldivar, a psychologist working virtually with clients in the Washington County Jail and two other rural county jails, "describes jail-based mental health services as having the potential to produce a 'dramatic domino effect' throughout rural communities," Kauffman writes, "The more they heal, the healthier the community becomes." Saldivar told Kauffman: “These are community members that are hurting and need healing. That's someone's friend, someone's brother, someone's sister, someone's father. And the more they heal, the healthier the community becomes.”

In a world of social-media noise and dark drugs, how do we warn kids how dangerous experimenting with them is?

Illustration by Michael DeForge, The New York Times

How do you talk to your kids about fentanyl, xylazine, or meth? How do you warn them how dangerous a simple party could become? At the risk of sounding like the old Alan Parsons Project, perhaps it's time to say, "Where do we go from here?" In answer to that question, addiction journalist Maia Szalavitz gives her thoughts on talking to kids about dark drugs in an opinion piece for The New York Times.

It can start with knowledge of what can happen when kids take risks. "In September, two 15-year-old Los Angeles girls overdosed on fentanyl, one of them fatally, after they purchased what they thought were prescription opioid‌‌ pills. . . . Teen opioid fatalities have doubled in recent years, even as opioid use among adolescents has plummeted. . . .Street fentanyl and its derivatives can be dozens to thousands of times more potent than the oxycodone in Percocet. Street synthetics are typically found in drugs sold as heroin or prescription pills, but they are sometimes present in party drugs like cocaine. This has exponentially increased the risk of even one or two ‌‌youthful experiments."

Young people are assailed with social media and messaging all day long. How do parents and caretakers cut through the noise? "Two key themes emerge in effective approaches. One is that reaching adolescents requires earning trust by being truthful, rather than simply trying to instill fear. The second‌‌ is that school-based programs must recognize that not all drug use can be prevented. ‌‌Instead of focusing only on abstinence, they aim to prevent the highest-risk behaviors and ‌address the personal and environmental factors most likely to lead to addiction.

Today there is a greater recognition of the need for accuracy‌ over hype. New videos and radio spots from the Advertising Council, which has been making public service announcements for the government and nonprofits since the 1940s, confront the dangerous new reality directly. They feature former drug dealers — not cops — speaking plainly about fentanyl. They also provide information on how to reverse overdoses with the opioid antidote, naloxone."

What has been working? "Rhana Hashemi, who has helped pilot an evidence-based program called Safety First, says teens are more likely to listen when they recognize they are given accurate information about genuine dangers. . . . Hashemi said that she always stresses that abstinence is the safest option and that in reality, most teenagers abstain from illegal drugs. She also provides information on harm reduction. This can include using tests that can detect fentanyl before taking any pill or powder not prescribed by a doctor, never using alone and having naloxone nearby. . . . Hashemi said a common response is for students to recognize how serious the danger is and decide that in light of the effort needed to reduce risk, using isn’t worth it right now. For those who aren’t deterred, however, the hope is they are armed with ways to protect themselves."

Some people are born with temperaments that are more likely to lead to addiction. "In 2016, I wrote about one program called PreVenture, which targets ‌problematic coping strategies by teaching children better ways to manage their particular temperaments. By acting early, ‌‌the program aims to prevent predispositions from becoming disorders‌ and obviate the desire to use drugs to self-medicate. Programs like PreVenture that teach self-regulation and coping skills have been shown to have lasting effects, unlike those that focus only on refusing drugs."

Where do we go from here? We keep kids alive. "Effective addiction prevention requires social change to prevent or at least intervene early in childhood trauma, creating communities conducive to mental health with safe, nurturing schools, stimulating extracurricular activities and access to comprehensive health care. ‌‌But first, we need to keep ‌‌young people alive, which means having uncomfortable, honest conversations about ‌the dangers of drugs and the ways to minimize the risk for those who use them. . . . .No one has yet found a way to eliminate youthful risk-taking and impulsiveness — probably for the best because these can also drive learning and creativity. We can, however, reduce the odds that the unwise things kids do will kill them."

Nearly one in three election officials report being 'abused, harassed, or threatened;' some are ousted from their party

Marge Bostelmann at her home in Wisconsin
(Photo by Taylor Glascock, special to ProPublica)

Republican Margaret Rose Bostelmann of the Wisconsin Elections Commission refused to agree with other GOP members on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. For that, she has been banished from the party, report Megan O'Matz and Mariam Elba of ProPublica, who cite her as an example of the harassment many local elections officials are facing.

"Fellow Republicans have exiled her and disparaged her, sought to upend her career. . . . Because she refuses to support false claims that Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election," O'Matz and Elba report.

Green Lake County
(Wikipedia map)

For over 20 years, as Green Lake County's clerk, Bostelmann oversaw its elections "without controversy," ProPublica reports. "But two years into her term in a Republican slot on the Wisconsin Elections Commission, she became a target, denounced and disowned by the Republican Party of Green Lake County, which claimed she had failed to protect election integrity in the state. Now a suit filed in June by a Wisconsin man who promotes conspiracy theories about election fraud seeks her removal from the commission."

The hostility toward Bostelmann is being seen throughout the country, ProPublica notes: "In an April survey of local election officials nationwide, the Brennan Center for Justice, an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization, found that nearly one in three reported being abused, harassed, or threatened because of their job."

Don Millis, the Republican who chairs the election commission, also "has expressed frustration with the election conspiracy theorists. He said he considered some of the agitators to be 'grifters' who are conning people of goodwill into thinking there is something wrong with the election system," ProPublica reports. He told reporters: "It's not about winning or preventing fraud. It's about getting publicity or attention. It's about grifting, convincing others to donate to their cause. . . . There are many people who believe them, who don't know any better."

Bostelmann is unsure how a system that once flowed smoothly is now steeped in tension, and why lawsuit plaintiff Peter Bernegger, grandson of the founders of Hillshire Farm, the Wisconsin deli meat and sausage company, has targeted her. "But she does know that things in Green Lake began to change in 2020, during Trump's reelection bid," O'Matz and Elba report.

Rural court officials shift from abstinence-only approach to drug defendants to medication-assisted treatment

A strip of Suboxone film, an opioid-addiction medication (Photo by
Craig F. Walker, The Boston Globe, Getty Images via KFF Health News)

Rural judges and other court officials are shifting their stance on medication-assisted treatment programs for addicts facing drug charges. "A study conducted a decade ago found that barely half of drug-treatment courts offered medication treatment. Those that didn't cited uncertainty about its efficacy and noted political, judicial, and administrative opposition. But research in the years since has persuaded many of the most insistent abstinence-only advocates," reports Taylor Sisk of KFF Health News. "By 2022, more than 90% of drug courts located in communities with high opioid mortality rates that responded to a survey said they allow buprenorphine and/or methadone, the medications most commonly used to treat addiction. . . . Federal legislation has lowered the barriers to it. And Bureau of Justice Assistance funding for treatment-court programs now mandates that medication for substance use disorder be provided."

Judge Duane Slone

The evolution of Judge O. Duane Slone is an example. As a prosecutor in charge of drug cases in Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties in East Tennessee, who becanme a judge in 1998, "Slone believed abstinence was the only path to recovery. But in 2013, after consulting with substance-use-disorder experts, he relented, introducing medication as an alternative to incarceration for pregnant women. . . . Building from evidence-based research, Slone has launched programs that show how a judge, and a region, can trade an abstinence-only, lock-’em-up approach for one that offers a full range of paths to recovery."

Eventually, Slone founded a drug-recovery court. "It allows defendants with nonviolent drug-related charges to avoid jail time by entering treatment and counseling," Sisk reports. But this type of court was so "resource-intensive, relatively few people can be enrolled. So in 2013, Slone introduced the Tennessee Recovery Oriented Compliance Strategy, an alternative to jail for those who aren't considered at high risk of recidivism but are deemed in urgent need of treatment. Many are pregnant women or mothers of young children. . . . Both the recovery court and TN-ROCS offer three medication options: buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. . . . Since TN-ROCS' launch, Slone said, his community has seen a decrease in property crimes and its jail population."

Monica Christofferson, director of treatment-court programs at the Center for Justice Innovation, told Sisk she has seen a "huge shift" among judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement agencies away from the stigma associated with medication treatment, but rural areas still face unique challenges. "The relative unavailability in rural areas of medication treatment is certainly a problem. A shortage, Christofferson noted, is not only an issue in itself but also a barrier to overcoming stigma," Sisk reports. "More openings available [in treatment programs], more success stories. More success stories, less stigma. Fewer provider options also mean one bad actor — a provider who overprescribes or is otherwise negligent — perpetuates the stigma. Strict oversight is essential."

Feds charge three N.H. men with harassment, stalking of radio journalists; probable cause is retaliation for a story

A screenshot from security-camera footage shows one of the vandals.
(Middlesex County District Attorney/YouTube via WBUR)

After a year-long federal investigation, "Three New Hampshire men have been charged in connection with a conspiracy to harass and intimidate two New Hampshire Public Radio journalists — incidents that allegedly involved repeated threats and vandalism to their homes over a year ago," reports Roberta Baker of the New Hampshire Union Leader. "Tucker Cockerline, 32, of Salem, Michael Waselchuck, 35, of Seabrook, and Keenan Saniatan, 36, of Nashua conspired to commit stalking through interstate travel."

Anthony Brooks of Boston's WBUR reports: "The case dates back to late April 2022, when a series of vandalism attacks began on the homes of journalist Lauren Chooljian of NHPR, her parents and her editor, Dan Barrick. In one of the attacks, Chooljian arrived at her home and discovered that a brick had been thrown through a front window. An apparent warning was spray painted in big red letters on her house: 'JUST THE BEGINNING!'. . . Similar attacks were made on Barrick's home and on Chooljian's parents' home. . . . Vandals also threw bricks through their windows and spray-painted profanities on the buildings."

Before the attacks, NHPR published a story by Chooljian "on allegations of sexual misconduct by Eric Spofford, founder of an extensive network of addiction rehabilitation centers in New Hampshire," Baker reports. Brooks noted, "According to Chooljian's reporting, since 2019, the state of New Hampshire has awarded Granite Recovery Centers, which Spofford founded and later sold, more than $3 million in no-bid contracts."

Spofford has denied any connection to the vandalism, but the indictment "refers to him as 'Subject 1' and alleges that an associate of his recruited at least two of the suspects to initiate the vandalism," Brooks reports. "According to the complaint, federal investigators concluded 'there is probable cause to believe that the vandalisms were retaliatory acts intended to harass and intimidate NHPR and its employees.' The complaint does not say if Spofford is or has been a target of the investigation. . . . NHPR has released a podcast, 'The 13th Step,' about the entire Spofford saga. The threats against the journalists have drawn national attention."

"Federal investigators spent more than a year putting the case together before making the arrests. . . . They tracked the use of Google searches by the suspects to determine that the attackers allegedly hunted for the homes of the journalists and their family members," Brooks reports. "Investigators also used cell phone records of the suspects to place them near the homes that were vandalized. Jim Schachter, chief executive of NHPR, told Brooks, "Journalists doing their jobs, reporting open-mindedly in the public interest, should not have to worry about threats of violence or attacks on their homes and their families."

"Last year, Spofford sued NHPR for defamation after Chooljian's investigation of his alleged misconduct was published," Brooks notes. "Cockerline's and Waselchuck's next hearing is scheduled for June 20. . . . Saniatan remains at large."