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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The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by Memphis Police's "Scorpion" team has revived a decades-old debate over whether special police units have a tendency to go rogue.
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New documents are revealing more about the case against five Memphis cops charged in Tyre Nichols' death. They are accused of not activating their body cams and sharing a photo of the injured man.
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In the wake of the killing of Tyre Nichols, the Memphis Police Department has disbanded the specialized unit known as "Scorpion." Here's a look at the concept of "hot spot policing" and why it's done.
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Policing experts are condemning the actions of Memphis officers depicted in videos of a deadly altercation with Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old man who was stopped for a traffic violation.
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California has some of the tightest gun laws in the country, but they failed to stop Sunday's massacre in Monterey Park. Here's why enforcing those laws is easier said than done.
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Police response times are taking longer in many cities and experts attribute it, in part, to staffing shortages. Departments are struggling to fill vacancies left by officers who have quit or retired.
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Suspect Bryan Kohberger made his first court Thursday in Moscow, Idaho. He faces murder charges for the killings of four University of Idaho students in November.
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The podcast, launched by the New York Police Department, examines the history behind tactics to end armed standoffs. What has and hasn't changed for hostage negotiators?
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The attacked happened in an off-campus house. Police have not yet identified a suspect and that has cast a shadow over the campus.
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An update on Red Flag Laws and their impact in light of the mass shooting in Colorado Springs.