Meg Anderson
Meg Anderson is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk. She covers criminal justice issues, including how cities respond to mental health crises, the intersection of local policing and immigration enforcement, conditions behind bars, and how vulnerable populations like young people and people with cognitive disabilities interact with the criminal legal system. She extensively covered the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota in early 2026 and its aftermath. Previously, she served as a producer on NPR's investigations team, including on the Peabody award-winning series Lost Mothers. She has also reported for NPR's politics and education desks, and for WAMU, the local public radio station in Washington, D.C. She welcomes tips, and can be reached via encrypted message on Signal at mma.05.
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AI-powered surveillance tools like Flock cameras have gotten a lot of media attention and public criticism, but there are many other lesser-known tools being deployed by local police departments.
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Real-time crime-center software is a sometimes overlooked but powerful tool allowing police to aggregate immense amounts of data, significantly expanding their surveillance reach. -
The family of a woman killed during an immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota is filing two civil suits against the federal government.
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The fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal immigration agent last January in Minneapolis set off a firestorm of protests around the U.S. Her family is speaking out for the first time. -
Some communities dispatch mental health clinicians as an alternative to a police response for emergency calls. Researchers consider a program in Durham, North Carolina, to be a success.
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Programs that send mental health workers out to 911 calls instead of police have grown in recent years. But doing them right is a challenge.
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Alternative response programs, where mental health clinicians respond to 911 calls instead of police, have proliferated since George Floyd's murder. What does it take to do this work well? -
Christian Castro, a federal immigration officer, made his first court appearance in Minnesota since he was booked Wednesday into a local jail. Castro faces multiple state and federal charges in connection with a shooting during the immigration surge in Minnesota. -
As political races heat up heading into the midterms, candidates from both parties are increasingly joining the fray to voice concerns over Flock surveillance cameras. -
DHS allegedly went undercover at community meetings, subpoenaed the financial records of labor unions, and created dossiers on people at a church gathering, according to court filings.
