Latest Law Enforcement Headlines
All the headlines from our Law Enforcement Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Abandoned Vehicles a Common Problem in Omaha, Nebraska, Neighborhoods
Sep 22 2020 // The blue SUV had been parked in front of the Omaha Bike Project near 33rd and California Streets, with its windows down, for more than three months. After multiple calls to the Mayor’s Hotline failed to yield...
Owners Find Insurance Inadequate to Cover Demolition of Buildings Destroyed by Riots
Sep 21 2020 // Some commercial property owners whose businesses were torched by rioters are learning that they don’t have enough insurance to clear away the debris. Many property owners in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area purchased...
The Role Insurance Plays in Civil Rights Settlements Against Law Enforcement
Sep 21 2020 // Municipalities, their insurers and risk pools should be heeding the current public re-examination of police and prosecutorial actions taking place across the country, according to an insurance policyholder attorney who...
Louisville Agrees to Pay Breonna Taylor’s Family $12 Million, Enact Police Reforms
Sep 16 2020 // Louisville, Kentucky agreed to pay the family of Breonna Taylor a $12 million settlement and enact a series of reforms as part of the largest police misconduct payout in the city’s history after officers shot and...
Wildfires Grow in Oregon as 500K Evacuated, Death Toll Rises
Sep 11 2020 // Around half a million people in Oregon evacuated as dozens of extreme, wind-driven wildfires scorched U.S. West Coast states on Friday, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 16 people, state and local...
Court Revives Civil Suit Against Ohio Cops Over Fatal Shooting of Black Man
Sep 10 2020 // A federal appeals court reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit against two police officers in Ohio’s capital city over the 2016 shooting of a Black man by undercover officers. In a ruling issued Sept. 8, a three-judge...
Police Investigating Explosion in Florida Industrial Park
Sep 9 2020 // UPDATE: This story has been updated with additional details. Police shut down a section of U.S. 1 in central Florida Tuesday due to fires from an explosion. Palm Bay police said in a Twitter post that officers were...
Kentucky Police Road Safety Campaign Targets Aggressive Drivers
Sep 9 2020 // Police are looking for aggressive drivers in Kentucky over the next few weeks. Kentucky State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division launched the Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks Campaign on Sept. 2. Officers...
Owners Say Insurance Inadequate to Cover Demolition of Riot-Destroyed Buildings
Sep 4 2020 // Some commercial property owners whose businesses were torched by rioters are learning that they don’t have enough insurance to clear away the debris. The StarTribune newspaper reported that many property owners in...
Mother of Unarmed Man Shot in Wyoming Files Lawsuit
Sep 4 2020 // The mother of an unarmed Wyoming man killed by a sheriff’s deputy after a traffic stop has filed a lawsuit alleging excessive use of force and failures in hiring and training the deputy. Debra Hinkel filed suit...
Mass. Court Rules Statute of Limitations, Fair Report Privilege Apply in Defamation Case
Sep 3 2020 // A Massachusetts appeals court has ruled in favor of an online newspaper in a defamation case, holding that the statute of limitations and fair report privilege apply to articles the newspaper published regarding two...
Insurance Plays Key Role in Civil Rights Settlements Against Law Enforcement
Sep 2 2020 // Municipalities, their insurers and risk pools should be heeding the current public re-examination of police and prosecutorial actions taking place across the country, according to an insurance policyholder attorney who...
4 Indicted for Minneapolis Police Station Fire
Aug 27 2020 // Four people have been indicted for allegedly helping to burn down a Minneapolis police station during the protests over the death of George Floyd, U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said. The complaint charges 22-year-old Dylan...
Reuters Finds Disparity in How Judges Apply Qualified Immunity
Aug 25 2020 // The May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis cop has prompted calls for an end to “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that in recent years has increasingly helped cops beat back lawsuits...
Vehicles Torched in Protest after Wisconsin Police Shoot Man from Behind
Aug 25 2020 // Protesters set cars on fire, smashed windows and clashed with officers in riot gear after Kenosha, Wisc., police shot and wounded a Black man, apparently in the back, while responding to a call about a domestic...
Georgia Dept. of Public Safety Claims Police Wrote Tickets Outside Jurisdiction
Aug 25 2020 // A small Georgia city’s police department wrote more than 130 speeding tickets on a road where it had no jurisdiction, a state agency’s investigation found. Citations issued on Kildare Road over a two year...
Los Angeles County Owes $8M to Man Killed Like George Floyd, Court Rules
Aug 17 2020 // Los Angeles County must pay a full $8 million damage award to the family of a Black man whose death had similarities to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the California Supreme Court ruled. While subduing...
Federal Judge in Mississippi Calls On Supreme Court to Examine Qualified Immunity
Aug 12 2020 // A federal judge in Mississippi has issued a sharply worded ruling that calls on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the principle of qualified immunity, which protects law enforcement officers from being sued for some of...
Atlanta Officer Fired for Killing Black Man Files Suit
Aug 11 2020 // The former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks is suing the mayor and interim police chief, saying his firing violated his constitutional rights and the city code. Meanwhile, prosecutors have asked a...
North Carolina Study: Black Drivers Twice as Likely to be Stopped by Police
Aug 10 2020 // A state study shows that Black drivers in North Carolina are stopped by police at more than twice the rate of white drivers. The Raleigh News & Observer reported Wednesday that roughly 25 out of 100 Black drivers were...
