Martin Kaste
Martin Kaste is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk. He covers law enforcement and privacy. He has been focused on police and use of force since before the 2014 protests in Ferguson, and that coverage led to the creation of NPR's Criminal Justice Collaborative.
In addition to criminal justice reporting, Kaste has contributed to NPR News coverage of major world events, including the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the 2011 uprising in Libya.
Kaste has reported on the government's warrant-less wiretapping practices as well as the data collection and analysis that go on behind the scenes in social media and other new media. His privacy reporting was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court's 2012 United States v. Jones ruling concerning GPS tracking.
Before moving to the West Coast, Kaste spent five years as NPR's reporter in South America. He covered the drug wars in Colombia, the financial meltdown in Argentina, the rise of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and the fall of Haiti's president Jean Bertrand Aristide. Throughout this assignment, Kaste covered the overthrow of five presidents in five years.
Prior to joining NPR in 2000, Kaste was a political reporter for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul for seven years.
Kaste is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
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A University of Cincinnati officer faces murder charges for the traffic stop death of Samuel DuBose, and now critics are questioning the growing trend of giving campus cops weapons. -
California is trying to do just that, though police and advocates for ex-offenders are at odds over whether it will work. The debate is playing out as President Obama is calling for nationwide change. -
Violent crime has ticked up in certain metro areas. Police are scrambling to hold the line while at the same time trying not to appear overzealous. -
Police cams have suddenly become a big business. But the real money is in selling departments a way to store each day's video. Firms are offering easy uploads to the cloud but costs are bound to grow.
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President Obama announced restrictions on military-style hardware police may get from the federal government. Critics say the rules will have little impact on the trend toward military-style raids.
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An officer's body camera captured his decision not to shoot a possibly armed suspect. He was praised for brave self-restraint, but some law enforcement officers say his reluctance was irresponsible.
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Six police officers face charges, including murder and involuntary manslaughter, for Freddie Gray's death. Some worry they're losing the benefit of the doubt from both prosecutors and the public. -
Baltimore police and the mayor are under fire for being slow to respond to Monday's violence. Crowd control is a sensitive matter in the U.S., especially since this summer's protests in Ferguson, Mo.
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The fatal shooting of a suspect by a volunteer deputy in Tulsa, Okla., raises the question that some have already been asking: Why are nonprofessionals allowed to wear badges and carry guns? -
A funeral was held Saturday in North Charleston, S.C., for Walter Scott, the man shot and killed while fleeing a police officer. That officer, Michael Slager, has been fired and charged with murder.
