Question of the Week

There was a police shooting in Boston last month. I initially missed it, but the officer, Nicholas O’Malley, is facing manslaughter charges. With everything going on in the world, I don’t expect questionable police violence to be top of mind, but it’s still happening. That said, this case appears to be getting the necessary attention and may lead to some accountability.

However, there’s a local debate happening around the shooting. The Boston police have not released the body camera footage. Two city council members want the footage out, but the district attorney said releasing the video could compromise the investigation.

It’s the same excuse authorities have used for years, especially when body cameras became the norm. This was part of the debate during the police reform era in the 2010s. We already established that body cameras are supposed to be a tool of transparency, and the footage should be shared as soon as possible.

So here’s my question:

Why are we still debating body camera footage?

Stories to Read

You can’t hide your lying ICE: The harassment of Francisco Longoria — The Watch
Federal immigration agents in California stopped Francisco Longoria in what prosecutors later struggled to define as an “immigration check”. It escalated into gunfire and a home raid. Authorities claimed he assaulted officers, but video evidence contradicted them. A judge dismissed the charge, but Longoria now faces deportation. [Link]

Trump cut funding for gun violence prevention. California’s Latino communities are facing the fallout — The Guardian
Federal funding cuts to gun violence prevention programs are forcing nonprofits across California to scale back, threatening services that have helped drive recent declines in shootings. The loss will disproportionately impact Latino communities, according to advocates, and is raising fears that violence could rise again without sustained investment. [Link]

Large Police Departments May Be Starting To Grow — Jeff-alytics
After years of post-COVID declines, some large U.S. police departments appear to be modestly increasing staffing levels in 2025. Early data shows growth in certain agencies, though gains remain small compared to earlier losses. Ongoing budget pressures and reliance on temporary funding raise questions about whether departments can sustain or expand. [Link]

Looking for Patterns in Justified Police Homicides — John K. Roman, PhD, Substack

An analysis of long-term data finds that justified police homicides remain relatively stable over time and are only loosely tied to overall violence levels. The data suggests police are more likely to use deadly force in unpredictable, high-risk encounters rather than periods of higher crime. [Link]

Prison Suicide Watch Was Once a Staff Job. “Inmate Observers” Are Cheaper — Filter

A Tennessee prison has shifted suicide watch duties from staff to incarcerated “inmate observers”, paying them under $1 an hour. This comes as the prison faces understaffing and rising demand. While some say prisoners monitor peers more effectively, critics note the practice stems from overcrowding, violence, and cost-cutting, raising concerns about safety and the misuse of suicide watch. [Link]

From the Trace

SIG Sauer’s effort to shield itself from lawsuits over its P320 pistol is facing setbacks, with immunity bills stalling in Florida and Georgia despite heavy lobbying. The push follows mounting claims that the gun fires unintentionally, but critics argue the legislation would block victims from seeking accountability while the company avoids addressing design flaws. [Link]

Six months after 9-year-old Cash Russell was killed in Springfield, Illinois, his case remains unsolved with little public attention or transparency. Residents cite deep mistrust of police, fear of retaliation, and a lack of visible follow-through from a newly formed task force, raising doubts about whether authorities can solve the case or build community trust. [Link]

From My Desk

I’m going to be a little vulnerable this week. I was waiting to hear back from a couple of grants/fellowships I applied for. One was for the new book, and another was for a project I’m working on for The Trace. I didn’t get either, and for good measure, in the rejection letter for one of them, it was clear they just copy and pasted a rejection they sent to someone else because they had the wrong details about my project.

These rejections were hours apart, and it forced me to take a moment and look back at all the fellowships and grants I’ve applied to since I started working in journalism. These are usually for long-term projects or some kind of mentorship program. I estimate that I’ve applied for at least 20 of these in the last decade. I’ve only ever gotten one.

I’m not looking for sympathy or pity; this is just a venting session. I know how the game goes. These things are crapshoots, and I feel fortunate to be able to even apply to them (though I doubt I’ll be applying to another one anytime soon).

But damn if this ain’t putting a battery in my back and right when I need it, too, as I’m finishing book revisions. So it’s frustrating, but it’s also motivating

Question of the Week

There was a shooting incident in my hometown this week. A seven-month-old in Brooklyn was hit by a stray bullet from a reckless gunman riding on the back of a moped, firing at a corner in East Williamsburg. The details are still being gathered, but police say it’s gang-related and the baby was not the intended target.

This shooting happened on the same day I was having a conversation with a community activist in Grand Rapids, Michigan, about this generation of kids and young adults involved in gangs and the streets. He came up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, was active in the streets of Grand Rapids, and later served a decade in prison. Now he does community work.

He was reminiscing about how, even though he and his fellow gang members were a terror, they had some semblance of a code. If he was beefing with someone, he approached them directly. He wasn’t spraying an entire block, he wouldn’t pull his gun if women and children were outside, and if Ms. Jenkins walked by in the middle of it, they stopped and let her pass in peace. “Today, they cussing Ms. Jenkins out,” he said.

Now, he says it’s harder than ever to break through to the youth and young men on the corner.

So here’s my question:

What do community workers need to do better to reach and influence kids on the corner?

Stories to Read

Jailed in Crisis: Rodricus Lewis needed mental health care. He died in a solitary cell — Arkansas Advocate

A Navy veteran in Arkansas died in jail after spending 10 months waiting for a mental health evaluation while in solitary confinement. His death underscores the systemic failures in mental health care and overcrowded jails, where people in crisis are often detained without proper treatment. [Link]

Albany Common Council seeks more police review board applicants — WAMC

Albany’s Common Council is looking for applicants to fill three open seats on its police review board. In recent years, the board has struggled with low participation, resignations, and negative coverage. Despite a new mayoral appointee bringing membership up to six, the board still lacks stability and has only met once this year. [Link]

After 20 years in prison, Detroit artist wins $20K to imagine life beyond policing and incarceration — Michigan Public Radio

Detroit artist Cozine Welch, who spent 20 years in prison, won a $20,000 residency from the Detroit Justice Center to produce a musical exploring a future beyond policing and prisons. Using his personal experiences, his project emphasizes realism and envisions what a plausible future of criminal justice reform can look like. [Link]

Death of a refugee left at a Buffalo doughnut shop by Border Patrol is ruled a homicide — PBS News

The death of a Rohingya refugee found on a Buffalo street days after Border Patrol agents left him outside a closed donut shop has been ruled a homicide. Authorities say he died from complications linked to hypothermia and dehydration, prompting calls for a criminal investigation into the agents’ actions and broader accountability. [Link]

This N.J. county saw no homicides so far this year. How did they do it? — NJ.com

Atlantic County, New Jersey, reported zero homicides in the first quarter of 2026, continuing a long-term decline in violence. Officials credit targeted enforcement, data-driven policing, and pretrial detention for repeat violent offenders. The milestone also comes as part of a broader reduction in both fatal and nonfatal shootings over the past decade. [Link]

From the Trace

States like Rhode Island and Virginia are advancing laws that make it easier to sue gun manufacturers and sellers by classifying negligent practices as public nuisances. These measures build on a legal strategy used in New York to work around federal protections, aiming to hold the gun industry accountable for unsafe sales, marketing, and distribution practices. [Link]

From My Desk

I finally got the edits back for every chapter of the new book. I already revised the prologue and the first two chapters, but now I have the remaining ones to go through. That means the next eight weeks or so are gonna be all about editing (plus the other ish I gotta do). I try to keep myself level-headed, but my editor is really excited. That doesn’t mean she took it easy on the edits, but she thinks the book could have some real impact. I let myself live in that for maybe 5 minutes before reminding myself that’s only gonna be possible if I put in the work.

Question of the Week

The Free Press published a story this week taking a critical look at Chicago’s violence intervention and prevention programs. It was, as we call it in journalism, a hit piece. It wasn’t written to offer a nuanced look at public safety in Chicago or to uncover potential wrongdoing in the city. It was written to take shots at Governor …

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Question of the Week

Busy week, so I’ll keep this one tight. A lot of my reporting right now centers on the relationship between police and Black communities, whether that’s in the Midwest, the South, or on the East Coast. In those conversations, a generational divide keeps coming up.

Older Black residents tend to have a more tempered view. They want acco…

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Question of the Week

Sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my time writing about anything that isn’t one of the earth-shattering issues dominating the news right now. But I knew that tension would exist when I started this weekly newsletter, so I’m pressing ahead.

Last month, there was a police killing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Da’Quain Johnson, a 32-year-ol…

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Question of the Week

If you’re unfamiliar with how public safety discourse works in academic or political spaces, I’ll give you a crash course. Violent crime is almost always framed as an urban problem. Urban is just a cute way of saying a black-and-brown area. The underlying narrative isn’t subtle: the country’s violence is blamed on those communities i…

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Question of the Week

To no one’s surprise, Trump spent his State of the Union address making false claims and misleading the public. He misrepresented immigration trends, distorted data on gas prices, and painted a selective picture of the economy and foreign policy. I’m not naive enough to think that dishonesty in politics began with Donald Trump, but t…

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Question of the Week

The Trump administration announced that ICE agents would pull back from Minneapolis and that “Operation Metro Surge” was coming to an end. Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, framed the operation as a success. I won’t spend time litigating that claim here. It’s nonsense.

Even before this announcement, I noticed the attention …

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Question of the Week

I’ve been thinking through how to address last week’s layoffs at The Washington Post and what they say about the state of journalism. Like many of my peers, I was devastated to see such a pillar of the industry gut its staff. It was disheartening and deeply concerning.

There are plenty of ramifications to unpack. But one feels especia…

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Question of the Week

I’m coming back to trends in homicides and violent crime this week because there’s still a lot of threads to pull on, and aside from ICE, this is where much of the criminal justice discourse remains. We’re only a month into 2026, and a lot can change, but so far, the declines from the past few years are holding.

New York City, Philade…

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Question of the Week

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, but there’s no shortage of bad-faith actors in the criminal justice and public safety space. I’m not talking about trolls or bot accounts. I’m not even talking about politicians because bad faith is baked into politics. I’m talking about academics and researchers who claim independence but are driven b…

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Welcome to the second installment of my weekly criminal justice roundup, featuring a public safety question to ponder, some stories worth your time, strong reporting from my colleagues at The Trace, and a few notes on what I’m working on.

Question of the Week

I hate to fall into a classic newsman cliché, but something important is happening that people ar…

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I haven’t done a great job of using this Substack page consistently. I was a lot more active when I was promoting my first book. I’ve been slacking since. Part of that is just life and juggling a lot of different projects. But I’ve been paying closer attention to how other writers and journalists are using this platform. I’m watching the consistency, th…

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Back in 2022, I was at TIME Magazine, deep in coverage of the surge in gun violence that gripped the country for more than a year. Much of my reporting focused on numbers, people, policy, and policing. We had a series called “As Told To,” which featured first-person narratives …

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I have an unrelated post going up next week, but I want to share my latest Trace story here because I genuinely think it’s one of the best pieces I’ve worked on.

If you’re anywhere near the gun violence or criminal justice space, you’ve heard this line a thousan…

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Where the hell do I start?

There’s so much I want to say about what’s happening right now across the country. But years of training have wired me to pause, gather facts, weigh the context, and then speak. My friends and family know how I give it up when we’re on the phone or hanging out. But as a working journalist, I st…

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I recently heard someone say that the days are long but the years are short, which I guess is a popular saying, but that was my first time hearing it. That sh*t is ringing extra true for me right now.

Somehow, someway, I have to turn in the manuscript for my new book in less than four months. I swear, time moves so fast, no matter how present I try to be…

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Before the internet fractured public attention and social media reshaped news cycles, TIME Magazine was a pivotal force in American discourse. Its covers didn’t just reflect national moods, they helped shape them. What appeared on the front of TIME often set the tone for public deba…

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SPOILER ALERT for plot points of The Shield

Whenever there are debates about the greatest television shows of all time, the usual suspects dominate the conversation: The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Seinfeld, Game of Thrones, etc. But one show rarely comes up—and if it does, it’s too far down the list.

I’m talking about The Shield

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This is my last week living in Brooklyn, New York.

Even though my more personal posts get the most traction, I wasn’t sure I wanted to write about moving on this page. But I gotta work through my feelings a bit, and this is a good place to do it. Plus, there are a lot of intersections between the move and my journalism…

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