St. Louis Public Radio

Add the looming threat of a pandemic to a toxic stew of disadvantages in St. Louis communities.

Court records show that Missouri’s federally funded drug task forces have often failed to set up required oversight commissions, failed to hold oversight meetings in public and repeatedly failed to respond to Sunshine Act requests for public information.

No police officer or prosecutor testified in public against Rep. Shamed Dogan's bill to reform civil asset forfeiture tools. But their behind-the-scenes lobbying prompted the House Rules Committee chair to kill the bill.

A data-driven investigation of civil asset forfeiture by St. Louis Public Radio reveals how police routinely seize large amounts of cash and are able to keep the money to build jails, construct new police headquarters, buy police cars and purchase computers and other electronic gear.

When Judy Gladney began attending University City High School in the '60s, she was one of its very first African American students, and found herself bridging two disparate worlds.

When Teddy Washington was walking with nine other black incoming Washington University students from the IHOP in Clayton back to campus, the last thing he expected was for the night to end in a confrontation with police officers.

How does civil asset forfeiture work? An image-based explainer.

Missouri law requires convictions before a state asset forfeiture and earmarks seized cash for schools. But Phelps County seizes millions from people not guilty of a crime and the cash goes to police.

The Supreme Court decision limiting police seizure of property has spurred a bill in Missouri to stop police from seizing millions from people who have not committed a crime or carried drugs.

Sgt. Carmelo Crivello of Phelps County is a legend along the section of I-44 he has patrolled for 20 years. He focuses on the westbound lanes where cars carry cash. The money pays for jails and guns.

Law enforcement agencies in St. Charles County got a budget windfall of more than $1 million in 2017. The source? A court process known as civil asset forfeiture.

Rachel Lippmann and William Freivogel discuss how police departments use civil asset forfeiture, as well as the legal implications of the practice.