Martin Kaste

Recent presidential campaign events are raising questions about the role of police at political rallies. NPR explores whether police are there to keep the peace or to do the bidding of campaigns.

The FBI's efforts to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone is one fight in a larger global conflict: Firms face varying laws for police cooperation and say a lack of legal standards is creating a crisis.

It's increasingly likely that the next time you have an encounter with a police officer, he or she will be wearing a body camera. And depending on how things go, you may be left wondering: "Can I get a copy of that video?"

There's no single answer to that, or ...

Several states are considering legislation to make it harder for the public to get the names of police officers. Proponents say they're responding to an increased level of threat against officers.

It's hard to overstate the tech world's fascination with the legal standoff between the FBI and Apple. Laymen might look at the dispute and shrug; after all, the FBI is just asking Apple to help hack into one phone, and it's not unusual for tech companies to help the ...

Apple says it would fight a federal court order to help the FBI break into a dead terrorist's iPhone. The feds say they're being kept out by one of the phone's security features.

Apple says it will not comply with a judge's request that it help unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., attack. This legal showdown has been yea...

Court documents and an NPR interview with one of the arrested occupiers tell a story of federal agents biding their time, collecting evidence against the group occupying the refuge in Oregon.

The last four anti-government militants at the National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon appear close to surrendering to the FBI. Law enforcement began closing in on them late Wednesday afternoon.

On Friday's All Things Considered, I have a story about how a recent federal court ruling is restricting when police may use Tasers in the five Southeastern states covered by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a nutshell, police there may no longer shock a nonviolent, noncooperative suspect ...

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unexpectedly ruled to limit how officers may use Tasers or other stun guns. In states such as Virginia and North Carolina, it's no longer legal f...

Anger erupted in front of the county courthouse in Burns, Ore., Monday as anti-government protesters in town for a rally met a wall of locals sick of outsiders trying to start a movement there.

Just four militants are holding out at the national wildlife refuge, additional supporters are in town. Leaders of the occupation were arrested last week and one person was killed by law enforcement.

For three weeks, law enforcement followed a strategy of lying low and not confronting the armed militants who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. With the arrest of the lea...

Prosecutors and some police departments in the state say reducing prison sentences is having an undesired outcome: more property crime. But reform advocates say police are jumping to conclusions.

At first blush, the FBI's national crime numbers for the first half of 2015 seem like bad news: Violent crime is up 1.7 percent over the same period last year.

With crime numbers, though, you have to look at the bigger context. Last year's increase was geographically uneven. ...

The armed occupiers of a federal wildlife refuge have been free to come and go. After deadly government raids in the 1990s, such as Waco and Ruby Ridge, there's less appetite for force these days.

The scene was quiet Monday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Center in Oregon as it was occupied by more than a dozen armed, anti-government supporters.

Michael Oxley, a former Republican congressman from Ohio, died this morning at 71. His family says his death was the result of lung cancer — though they add that he was not a smoker.

Rep. Oxley's name is plenty familiar to anybody who works in finance. The Sarbanes-Oxley ...