I cover crime and government in New Jersey. But I repeat myself! Reporter/records troll for @njdotcom. You can call me Sean. DMs are off the record.
Apr 7, 2021 • 25 tweets • 10 min read
Here's a thread about police reform in New Jersey, following an historic overhaul in use-of-force reporting this week, which was prompted in large part by serious, in-depth, costly investigative reporting from my news organization.
Follow along! ⬇️
Yesterday, @NewJerseyOAG unveiled a new portal for regular citizens to dig into police use-of-force data. It was modeled directly after a project we built at @njdotcom, force.nj.com. You can find it here: nj.com/news/2021/04/n…
Apr 6, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I want to return to this point. NJ passed legislation relaxing state records law in the face of the pandemic. You could argue this was necessary! But you can’t argue it made the state the most transparent in the union. It’s absurd on its face.
It’s reasonable to say the pandemic made it more difficult for government agencies to comply with OPRA. But you can’t claim that and also argue you’re a paragon of transparency. These two things can’t be true at once.
Apr 14, 2020 • 24 tweets • 8 min read
THREAD:
Yesterday, the @TheJusticeDept released a damning 31-page report finding a "culture" that encourages sexual abuse and exploitation of inmates at New Jersey's women's prison, a problem that at least two administrations "failed to remedy." nj.com/coronavirus/20…
I have been reporting on issues at Edna Mahan for years, though I'll admit I've recently neglected the problem as other issues have commanded my attention. We first wrote about one case involving one officer and 16(!) prisoners in 2017. nj.com/news/page/lock…
