Eric Umansky
Eric Umansky is an editor-at-large at ProPublica.
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Eric Umansky is an editor-at-large at ProPublica, where he has overseen two Pulitzer Prize-winning projects. Most recently, a series he edited on NYPD abuse of “nuisance abatement” laws won the Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service. Umansky oversaw much of ProPublica's Trump administration coverage, including the “Trump, Inc.” podcast with WNYC, which won a DuPont Award. More recently, Umansky has reported with his colleagues on police accountability in New York City. The work has won the John Jay College/Harry Frank Guggenheim Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting and the Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting. It has also been credited with helping spur reforms.
Umansky joined ProPublica when it started in 2008. Before that, he wrote a column for Slate. Umansky has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and many others. He is also a co-founder of Document Cloud.
The NYPD Is Tossing Out Hundreds of Misconduct Cases — Including Stop-and-Frisks — Without Even Looking at Them
The department has killed more than 400 cases of alleged misconduct this year that an oversight board had investigated and substantiated. It’s part of a lax attitude toward discipline under the current police commissioner, Edward Caban, critics say.
New York Lawmakers Call for Police Commissioner to Be Stripped of Power to Bury Brutality Cases
The City Council members’ call for reform comes after a ProPublica investigation revealed that NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban had repeatedly short-circuited disciplinary cases against officers accused of abuse.
The NYPD Commissioner Responded to Our Story That Revealed He’s Burying Police Brutality Cases. We Fact-Check Him.
In his five-page statement, Commissioner Edward Caban identified no inaccuracies in ProPublica's investigation but instead argued the story was unfair and that he’s “in compliance” with the guidelines. Our reporting shows otherwise.
New Yorkers Were Choked, Beaten and Tased by NYPD Officers. The Commissioner Buried Their Cases.
New York City’s Police Commissioner Edward Caban has repeatedly used a little-known authority called “retention” to prevent officers accused of misconduct from facing public disciplinary trials. Victims are never told their cases have been buried.
Liberty University Hit With Record Fines for Failing to Handle Complaints of Sexual Assault, Other Crimes
Spurred by a ProPublica investigation, the federal Department of Education found the evangelical school in Virginia had discouraged students from reporting rape and other crimes.
21 Bodycam Videos Caught the NYPD Wrongly Arresting Black Kids on Halloween. Why Can’t the Public See the Footage?
ProPublica editor-at-large Eric Umansky started investigating police oversight after an NYPD officer hit a teenager with a car in 2019. In the years since, he’s learned how police departments have undermined the promise of body-worn cameras.
How Chicago Became an Unlikely Leader in Body-Camera Transparency
The city has a long history of brutal, violent policing, but its latest approach to body-worn cameras and police oversight could serve as a national model.
NYPD Will Stop Withholding Body-Camera Footage of Police Shootings From Civilian Investigators
After questions from ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, the New York Police Department pledged to end its practice of not sharing videos in ongoing investigations with the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
How Police Have Undermined the Promise of Body Cameras
Hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent on what was sold as a revolution in transparency and accountability. Instead, police departments routinely refuse to release footage — even when officers kill.
Video Showed an Officer Trying to Stop His Partner From Shooting. Investigators Never Asked About the Footage.
We obtained the NYPD’s full investigation into the killing of Kawaski Trawick, including documents and audio of interviews with the officers. The records provide a rare window into how exactly a police department examines its own after a shooting.
How America’s Democracy Is “Ripe to Be Exploited”
Why are so many people now embracing demagogues? Barbara Walter, political scientist and author of “How Civil Wars Start,” tells ProPublica that the vital signs of healthy democracy are in decline around the world.