2020 Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

Lawless

A first-of-its-kind investigation, by the Anchorage Daily News in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, uncovered major gaps in law enforcement that placed residents at risk. Their reporting found that one in three Alaska communities have no local police of any kind, the state of Alaska has failed to enforce police hiring requirements and some villages routinely hire criminals as cops, and state Troopers are patrolling suburban areas at the expense of hard-to-reach villages. As a result of this reporting, the Department of Justice declared a national emergency and has promised more than $52 million in federal funding for public safety in Alaska villages.

Read more about the story behind the investigation in this piece by The Journalist’s Resource.

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