Houston Says Businesses Must Install Surveillance Cameras and Cops Can View Footage Without a Warrant
Plus: The Warrant for Metadata Act, DOJ will appeal order ending mask mandate, and more...
Warrants
Minneapolis Bans Police Use of No-Knock Warrants
After the tragic shooting of Amir Locke, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has made changes to the controversial practice. But are they enough?
The FBI Decided Not To Knock Down a Suspect's Front Door Because 'It Was an Affluent Neighborhood'
"This is such outrageous behavior by the FBI," a D.C. Circuit judge says, calling the agency's special treatment of rich people "deeply troubling."
Minnesota's Attorney General Says the Cop Who Killed Amir Locke Was Defending Himself. So Was Locke.
That perplexing situation underlines the hazards of police tactics that aim to prevent violence but often have the opposite effect.
Time To Close the Car Snitch Loophole
When you plug your phone into your car to listen to your favorite band or podcast, you give police a way to rummage around in your personal data without a warrant.
Brett Hankison Is Not the Only Cop Who Acted Recklessly the Night Breonna Taylor Was Killed
The former detective's trial should not obscure the responsibility of the drug warriors who authorized, planned, and executed the deadly raid.
Amir Locke's Death Demonstrates the Recklessness of 'Dynamic Entry' Tactics
Banning "no-knock" search warrants is not enough to prevent lethal confrontations between cops and people exercising the right to armed self-defense.
The ATF Suggests You Call SWAT Raids on Your Exes for Valentine's Day
Ever wonder where people get the idea that police are thin-skinned bullies?
Ohio Prosecuted a Taxidermist for Asking an Inspector to Come Back Later
Regulators insist Fourth Amendment protections don’t apply to administrative searches.
Justice Department Charges a Steele Dossier Source With Lying to the FBI
The investigation of Trump aide Carter Page has exposed major problems with federal secret surveillance warrants.
The Government's Secret 'Google Search' Warrant Trap
With “keyword warrants,” anyone who queries certain terms on search engines will get caught in the surveillance dragnet.
The FBI's Secret FISA Court Surveillance Applications Are Chock Full of Screw-Ups
More than 400 problems were found with 29 warrant requests, twice the number previously revealed.
A Good Day for the Fourth Amendment
"We are not eager—more the reverse—to print a new permission slip for entering the home without a warrant," declared Justice Kagan in Lange v. California.
Apple Delays Plan To Snoop on Users' Pictures
An encryption back door will lead to abusive authoritarian surveillance—even if you present it as a way to stop child porn.
Top Cops Pick the Midst of an International Spying Scandal To Demand Encryption Curbs
Regulating privacy protections would put the public at greater risk than criminals.
Texas Cops Realized They Raided the Wrong House. They Kept Searching Anyway.
Three of the officers were denied qualified immunity, but accountability is a long way off.
Minnesota Poised to Pass Policing Bill That Would Restrict Asset Forfeiture and No-Knock Raids
The bill would limit petty seizures and require more reporting and oversight of no-knock raids.
Appeals Court Rules Aerial Police Tracking of Citizens Violates Fourth Amendment
Baltimore kept tabs on citizens' movement across 90 percent of the city, without a warrant, to investigate crimes.
Cops Say Encryption Hinders Investigations. These Documents Say Otherwise.
Law enforcers have plenty of tools; they just want to paw through our data without effort or expense.
SCOTUS Refuses 'To Print a New Permission Slip for Entering the Home Without a Warrant'
Fourth Amendment advocates win big in Lange v. California.
Cops Now Need a Warrant for 23andMe and AncestryDNA Searches in Maryland and Montana
Two states have passed laws requiring court approval before the cops can use genetic genealogy services to track down a suspect.
The FBI Returned This Innocent Couple's Safe Deposit Box. It Refuses To Give Back Many Others—and Is Trying To Seize $85 Million in Cash.
"It makes me feel like the government is preying on the vulnerable and the weak to line their own pockets."
Over 24 Cops Raided the Wrong Address and Wrecked an Elderly Man's Home. They All Got Qualified Immunity.
There will be no justice for Onree Norris.
Chicago Police Agree to Reforms After Wrong-Door Raid on a Naked Woman's Home Sparked Nearly 100 Misconduct Allegations
Some of the changes may make a difference. Others, not so much.
North Carolina Releases Body Camera Footage of Deputies Killing Fleeing Suspect
State investigators say shooting justified because Andrew Brown Jr. drove toward law enforcement to escape arrest.
Get a Warrant, Supreme Court Tells Cops Who Seized Guns From Home Without Due Process
Plus: On SATs and bias, what changed when Texas lifted its mask mandate, and more...
Watch a Cop Intentionally Damage a Car While Executing a Search Warrant
A Messina, New York, police officer is under investigation after video showed him intentionally slamming a door into a car several times.
Report: FBI Misused Foreign Surveillance Powers To Investigate Domestic Crimes
Section 702 is supposed to be used to snoop on spies and terrorists, not Americans.
A Phony Warrant, a Deadly Drug Raid, and a Barrel of Bad Apples in Houston
Did the city's "policies, customs or practices," invite Fourth Amendment violations?
Maryland Lawmakers Purge Decades-Old Law That Shielded Bad Cops
Over the objections of Gov. Larry Hogan, the state’s Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights is tossed out.
So Long as You Carry a Cellphone, the Government Can Track You
A phone in your pocket may as well be a GPS beacon strapped to your ankle.
Massachusetts Starts 2021 by Adopting a Process To Fire Bad Cops
The Bay State finally creates a police certification system.
Michigan Voters Demand That Police Get Warrants for Electronic Data
Constitutional amendment overwhelmingly passes.
End the War on Drugs
Drug prohibition turns police officers into enemies to be feared rather than allies to be welcomed.
Washington Post Journalist Radley Balko on Civil Rights, Militarized Policing, and the Power of Video
The Washington Post's Radley Balko was a pioneer in reporting on the disastrous consequences of police militarization and the need for criminal justice reform. Now everyone else is catching up.
Senators Propose a Cool New Contest To Destroy Your Online Privacy
A new, terrible anti-encryption bill with a twist
Amendment Revived to Protect Americans' Internet Search Records From Warrantless Collection
The House will consider a surveillance reform proposal that failed in the Senate by just one vote.