Tag: Stephen Janis
The WHITE ESTABLISHMENT rebels against COMMUNITY POLICING
Every Thursday at 9:00 p.m. EST on The Real News Network, journalists Stephen Janis and Taya Graham premier a new episode of the acclaimed Police Accountability Report, a show that investigates police corruption around the…
Police Union Defends CONVICTED COPS Keeping Their Jobs
Why is it so hard to reform the police, let alone hold police accountable for abusing their power? What are the legal and political protections that have put police above the very law they’re supposed…
ILLEGAL Checkpoint Arrest Tied to Controversial Shooting
In the small town of Talking Rock, Georgia, a man was supposedly stopped for avoiding a roadblock, had his car searched without consent, and was arrested for having balding tires. But residents say the story…
Militarized police attacked him on his own front porch. PAR helped him fight back
Nick Pettit was assaulted by Columbus, Ohio, police for filming a botched raid. We investigated on his behalf, and now evidence gathered by PAR is part of an ACLU lawsuit against the police department that…
A police chief tried to stop the drug war—then they came for him
In this episode of the Police Accountability Report, we tell the story of Kelvin Sewell, the first Black police chief of Pocomoke City, a small town on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore. When Sewell tried to…
Police HIJACK helicopter ambulance for aerial surveillance
Documents obtained by PAR reveal how an air ambulance (medevac) service has been used repeatedly to fly surveillance missions over the city of Baltimore, raising serious questions about the militarization of American police and the…
Filming the police is legal, but that doesn’t stop them from arresting people for it
Another Ohio resident has been arrested under the dubious charge of “misconduct during an emergency,” which has been used again by Ohio police to incarcerate another person who filmed them in action. The arrest raises…
Cops keep pulling him over, and their reasons are increasingly bizarre
Shortly after our story aired on how police put LA resident Daniel Alvarez in handcuffs for a bogus traffic violation, he was pulled over again for allegedly switching lanes without signaling. In this episode of…
This bodycam footage reveals all that is WRONG with policing
Video obtained by TRNN reporters Taya Graham and Stephen Janis highlights American law enforcement officers’ lack of de-escalation training and respect for civilians. In this week’s PAR, Graham and Janis investigate the questionable arrest of…
Did cops RETALIATE against this activist (and did the public defender drop the ball)?
As we continue our investigation into over-policing and mass incarceration in rural America, we return to Pocomoke City on Maryland’s lower eastern shore to speak with Michelle Lucas. Lucas is a pizza delivery driver, a…
Another police killing in rural America, another case without accountability
(Content warning: Some images and details in this episode are graphic and disturbing.) The horrifying body camera footage of Chico, California, police killing 31-year-old Tyler Rushing is another troubling example of why police violence is…
The feds want him to spend 20 years in jail for a single phone call, but the case is falling apart
The federal government attempted to build a case of guilt by association hinging on a single phone call, which would have left Sean Weston incarcerated for 20 years. The case of this beleaguered Baltimore businessman…
Cops destroyed her family with a suspicious drug bust. 47 years later she’s breaking her silence
The nation’s endless war on mind-altering substances has many casualties, some who refuse to be forgotten. That’s why Catherine Freeman is coming forward after 47 years to describe how her family was set up by…
Former cop became cop watcher after this fraught encounter with police
What would cause a former cop to cross the thin blue line and use his camera to monitor law enforcement and hold police accountable? For well-known police auditor James Madison, it was a fraught encounter…
He livestreamed a congressman’s aide on Facebook, they charged him with two felonies
The prosecution of a progressive marijuana activist for livestreaming an encounter with a congressman’s aide during a protest shows how the criminal justice system can be easily used as a tool for political retaliation and…
Cops said they arrested him for turning around at a checkpoint, but the real reason is much worse
PAR investigates new data that confirms what many have long suspected: police-initiated car stops are not just deadly, but often blatantly unnecessary. This week, PAR continues its coverage of the overt abuses of…
Cops wanted to arrest him for a red light infraction, but they weren’t ready for what happened next
Traffic stops lead to fraught encounters with American law enforcement, which is why this stop between a LA County Sheriff and a local cop watcher is so illustrative of the power of turning the camera…
Cops want to ban cop watching. Here’s how we fight back w/The Battousai & James Freeman | PAR
A recent article in The Washington Post highlighting the growth of cop watcher YouTube channels provided a rare mainstream spotlight on a movement that’s developed entirely outside of elite institutions. But for all The Washington…
