Author Archives: Eric Piza

Christina Wilcox hears the blast of gunfire echo through her Shawnee neighborhood a few times a week. She’s learned to quickly assess the threat: Are her kids safe? Doors locked? Should she drop to the ground? Not a consideration: calling the police. “I don’t do nothing wrong and I’m going to keep it like that,”Continue reading “Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting: ShotSpotter tells Louisville police about gunshots, but officers rarely look for evidence”

Washington, DCCNN Business—An audit of the Los Angeles police department is raising questions about new technologies law enforcement is using nationwide with little oversight. Last week, the department’s internal auditors, prompted by a community backlash, published online a review of the LAPD’s data-driven policing strategies and recommended more transparency, consistency and oversight of the programs.Continue reading “CNN: LAPD Audit Reveals Dangers of High-Tech Policing”

In Philly, Most Armed Robbers Remain Beyond the Long Arm of the Law…

Project Green Light, a controversial 3-year-old surveillance program that has been touted as a major crime stopper by the Detroit Police Department, will make its entry into the city’s public housing program by year’s end. The program, which installs cameras at participating locations that feed into the city’s Real Time Crime Center, has raised questionsContinue reading “Detroit Free Press: Controversial Surveillance Program Coming to Detroit Public Housing”

In the 73rd precinct in Brownsville, reporting a crime goes like this: you step through a brick entryway into a cramped, dimly-lit room and you wait there, staring at a wall. A set of double doors and a window break up the metal barrier, but red-lettered signs remind you that you aren’t allowed to goContinue reading “The Brooklyn Ink: Extreme Makeover: Precinct Edition”