Is Police Misconduct a Secret in Your State?

10/14/2015 News Insights

By The Takeaway & Campaign Zero

Insight: In the weeks after Cleveland Police Officer Tim Loehmann shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice last November, the Cleveland Plain Dealer discovered that Loehmann had problems learning to use firearms in his previous job.
Loehmann’s personnel file read that the officer “‘could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal,'” the Plain Dealer reported.
Plain Dealer reporters could access Loehmann’s files because Ohio is one of a handful of states in which an officer’s disciplinary and personnel records are available to the public. An investigation by WNYC reporter Robert Lewis and WNYC’s Data News team (see below) finds that these laws vary widely across the country.