A request for domestic violence response policies for state police departments in all 50 states found 28 states willing to release the policies free of charge, or for a small fee. Twelve states reported having no such policy. Four - Hawaii, Kansas, New Hampshire, and South Dakota - rejected the request, arguing that granting it would compromise security, reveal confidential law enforcement techniques, or disrupt the operation of government.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Curtis Waltman was able to return to the Dakotas as part of his ongoing project on the impact of police militarization. Here’s a short travelogue of what he heard, saw, and did.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Curtis Waltman was able to return to the Dakotas as part of his ongoing project on the impact of police militarization. Here’s a short travelogue of what he heard, saw, and did.

This Sunday, I will board a plane and fly to Bismarck, North Dakota once again. I am asking readers of MuckRock to contribute either their own voices to my research, or to connect me with folks in either of the Dakotas that may be willing to speak with me - particularly people who live either on Reservations or are connected to the Indigenous communities that protested for their water source and their continued survival.

State Departments of Corrections nationwide are regularly taken to court by employees and inmates, and returns from an initial round of MuckRock requests begin to provide some insight into how prevalent those conflicts are.