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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Some sheriffs in Washington state say they won't enforce a new gun law. It's the latest example of sheriffs exercising what some regard as their duty to resist "government overreach." -
By refusing to enforce the gun-control law, it's the latest example of sheriffs who claim they have a special duty to resist "bad" laws in the name of the people who elected them.
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The federal ban on bump stocks announced in December takes effect March 26. Sellers and gun rights groups are taking advantage of that extra time to boost sales, despite the upcoming ban. -
Prisons are already understaffed, but employees there are considered essential and must work without pay as the federal government shutdown continues.
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New regulations will bar the sale of the accessories that enable rifles to fire faster, and will require current owners to turn them in or destroy them. -
Germany is seeing the return of wolf packs, and with them growing political tension over whether the animals pose too much of a threat. -
A hot job market and skepticism about law enforcement are making it harder for police departments across the country to replace officers who are retiring. -
Ten times a day, on average, Facebook's AI-driven self-harm detection system alerts authorities to people who may be about to hurt themselves. -
As details are put together of the police response to the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif., there are questions about whether the alleged gunman could have been stopped sooner.
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On Wednesday night, in Thousand Oaks, Calif., 12 people, including a sheriff's sergeant, were shot and killed during college night at a bar. The gunman is also dead.
