Newsday Projects

For years Newsday has committed considerable resources to research and report in-depth on matters of significance to the region. We all benefit from that body of work.

Police Misconduct

Cameras and Consequences: Four video case histories reveal evidence of unwarranted actions and unjustified force by Long Island police officers, as well as how the public paid millions in compensation for injuries and loss of liberty (March 2021) https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/policing-on-li-case-studies/  

• Case No. 1: Thrown To Ground, Charged With Assault https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/robert-besedin-case-study/

• Case No. 2: Shackled, Jailed For A Week https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/bobby-hayes-case-study/

• Case No. 3: False Stolen Vehicle Alarm After Parking Lot Dispute https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/william-hasper-case-study/

• Case No. 4: Slammed Into Car, Disabled For Life https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/abel-alvarenga-case-study/

• Policing On LI: More Coverage

  • Courts: Bystanders have right to record police under the First Amendment
    https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/policing-on-li-case-studies/long-island/nys-law-recording-police/

  • The Suffolk PBA and campaign spending limits
    https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/suffolk-pba-campaign-contributions-1.50181363

  • Transparency denied: Why LI’s major police forces patrol without widely used body cameras
    https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/police-body-cameras/

  • New software bringing new data on Nassau traffic stops
    https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau-police-statistics-traffic-stops-1.50153202

  • Newsday sues Nassau County Police Department to release police discipline records
    https://www.newsday.com/long-island/newsday-sues-nassau-police-discipline-records-1.50151902

  • Newsday analysis: Suffolk police stopped, searched minority drivers at higher rates
    https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/police-traffic-stops-1.50041710

• Case studies: Long Island police misconduct cases https://data.newsday.com/crime/cases/ (Dec 2013)

  • For Their Eyes Only: Police misconduct hidden from public scrutiny by secrecy law weak oversight http://data.newsday.com/long-island/crime/police-misconduct/ (Dec. 2013)

    • Beaten Three years ago, this 19-year-old ran from Suffolk police. It cost him his life
      by Will Van Sant and Aisha Al-Muslim http://data.newsday.com/long-island/crime/turner/

    •  Unjustified The behind-the-scenes account of how a Nassau cop shot an innocent man http://data.newsday.com/long-island/crime/huntington-station-shooting/

      • Key players and events https://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/1.5538556

      • Details of $30M lawsuit https://www.newsday.com/cab1

      • Nassau police facing other questions on officer conduct https://www.newsday.com/cab2

      • Complete coverage https://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/1.5537631

    • Always Right Since at least 2006, Nassau’s deadly force investigators have never ruled an officer’s actions unjustified http://data.newsday.com/long-island/crime/nassau-police/

    • The Southampton Tapes How one officer’s addiction exposed turmoil at the top of the department http://data.newsday.com/long-island/crime/southampton-police/ 
      Relevant documents: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/814683/the-southampton-tapes-supporting-documents.pdf

    • View the case studies. LI Police Misconduct Cases: http://data.newsday.com/crime/cases/

    • View the survey responses. Police Misconduct: What do your elected officials think? http://data.newsday.com/crime/cases/

      • Is there a need for increased oversight of law enforcement?
        Yes – 18 | No – 3 | Did not answer – 61  

• Newsday analysis: Nassau, Suffolk conceal court records of alleged police misconduct - Newsday

Long Island / Investigations

Inside Internal Affairs
Newsday’s series of case histories, Inside Internal Affairs, looks at how cloaked in secrecy by law, the systems for policing the police in both counties imposed no, or little, penalties on officers in cases involving serous injuries or deaths.

• 4 dead, 4 seriously injured, little or no discipline: What a 2-year investigation into Long Island police found.

• 2 mentally impaired men died after Suffolk police subdued them. No officers were held accountable.

• SCPD let off-duty cop go without alcohol testing after crash that fractured 2-year-old’s skull.

• Cops let a deli owner go after a drunken-driving crash. He got back behind the wheel and died at 100 mph.

• Suffolk DWI police officer drank, drove, crashed, injured driver, refused breath test - yet excaped arrest.

• Secret file reveals ‘cover-up of a cover-up’ in unjustified police shooting, arrest of innocent man.

• Watch: ‘Cover-up of a cover-up’ in unjustified police shooting, arrest of innocent man.

• Understaffed, undermined: Ex-Suffolk internal affairs commander describes how he was driven out.

• Hidden tile reveals police failed to protect Jo’Anna Bird from violent ex-boyfriend.

• Inside Internal Affairs: ‘Jo’Anna’s Story.’

• Inside Bird’s final months: ‘She really felt like she was going to die.’

• Domestic violence policing on LI has evolved since Bird case, experts say.

• An officer failed to monitor a prisoner’s safety on the day his partner sexually assaulted her.

• ‘Whatever I felt I need to do to survive.’ The woman describes her trauma.

• Nassau, Suffolk police bar access to most disciplinary files, despite repeal of secrecy law.

Traffic Enforcement

• Newsday analysis: Suffolk police stopped, searched minority drivers at higher rates (Oct. 2020) https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/police-traffic-stops-1.50041710

• Unequal justice: Racial disparity in arrests, sentencings . . . (Oct. 2017)

  • Part 1:  Nonwhites on LI nearly 5 times as likely as Whites to be arrested on charges typically resulting from traffic stops, records show
    https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/unequal-justice-part-1/

  • Part 2: Whites on LI are far more likely than minorities to receive a lighter charge and penalty in drug cases, records show (Oct. 2017) 

    • See All Of The Data: Racial Disparities in arrests and prosecutions on Long Island
      https://projects.newsday.com/databases/long-island/racial-disparity/

    • Breaking down arrests. How outcomes differ by race:  Minorities were more likely to land behind bars than Whites for the same charge, data show – even when more Whites were arrested 
      https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/unequal-justice/

    • How we analyzed the data.  Unequal Justice: How Newsday did its data analysis https://www.newsday.com/long-island/unequal-justice-how-newsday-did-its-data-analysis-1.14524422

Police Compensation

• Suffolk County 2020 payroll
  Suffolk County paid 12,359 employees or former employees a total of $1,087,665,098 in 2020, an increase of 3.6% from 2019, according to gathered from a public website maintained by the county.
  There were 1,496 county workers who earned more than $200,000, an increase of 25.9% from the 1,188 who did in 2019.
  Search for individuals by name, title or department.
  https://projects.newsday.com/databases/long-island/suffolk-county-payroll-2020/

• Suffolk County 2018 payroll
  Suffolk County paid 12,777 workers a total of $1.068,566,930 in 2018, an increase of 2.5 percent over 2017.  The number of people making $200,000 or more a year working for Suffolk County in 2018 rose by 23.5 percent. This database was posted on March 29, 2019.  Search for individuals by name, title or department.
  https://projects.newsday.com/databases/long-island/suffolk-county-payroll-2018/

• Suffolk government’s $200G earners up 25% in past year
  by Candice Ferrette and Rachelle Blidner candice.ferrette@newsday.com; rachelle.blicner@newsday.com; @candiceferrette
  Updated April 1, 2019 6:00 AM  
  https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/nassau-suffolk-police-salaries-1.29141090

• Suffolk PD employees lead list of top county earners
  https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/suffolk-police-top-salary-overtime-and-other-pay-list-1.10048150

• LI taxpayers on hook for $2.1 B in severance pay
  https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/severance-pay-public-employees-1.45867427

• Nassau County 2018 payroll – NMBDG
  https://projects.newsday.com/databases/long-island/nassau-county-payroll-2018/

Racial Discrimination In Housing

• Long Island Divided (Nov. 2019)  https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-agents-investigation/

  • Part 1: They Call It Steering 

  • Part 2: The Perils Of House Hunting While Black

  • Part 3: Privileges Of House Hunting While White

  • Part 4: They Looked Almost Everywhere Else

  • Part 5: Hispanics Face Hurdles As Population Grows

  • Part 6: Fewer Hurdles For Asian Buyers

  • Part 7: Agents’ Top Choices For Hispanics

  • Part 8: Almost Exclusively For Whites

  • Part 9: The Challenges Facing Enforcement

  • Part 10: Dividing Lines, Visible and Invisible

  • Part 11: Schools As A Selling Point

  • Part 12: Inside LI Agents’ Training

  • Part 13: How We Did It – Behind The Scenes

    • TESTING the DIVIDE – VIDEOS https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-investigation-videos/

      • Documentary https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-investigation-videos/

      • The Investigative Team Explains

        • Evidence of Steering 

        • The Black Experience

        • Denial of Service

        • Bypassed Communities

        • Hispanics to Huntington

        • Agents and Schools

        • Behind the Scenes

        • Analyzing the Data

      • Long Islanders’ Stories

        • Veteran denied a Levittown Home

        • Long Island’s most diverse school

        • She was forced out of her Rockville Centre Home

      • More Coverage

        •  LI real estate agents face discipline since landmark Newsday series (April 2021) https://www.newsday.com/business/long-island-divided-housing-bias-agents-1.50209901

“Feeling The Squeeze” on Long Island

• Long Island's cost of living crisis: Complete coverage - Newsday

• Feeling the Squeeze - YouTube