Andrew Ryan

Anytime you want to talk about this, we'd love to. We'd love to hear the DA's perspective because we're, I think it's an important one because you guys are the most powerful actors in this whole system.

Anytime you want to talk about this, we'd love to. We'd love to hear the DA's perspective because we're, I think it's an important one because you guys are the most powerful actors in this whole system.

Is there anywhere we can go like back in the corner to try to cut the window a little bit?

Is there anywhere we can go like back in the corner to try to cut the window a little bit?

I assume that the district attorney's office is going to investigate that now, right?

I assume that the district attorney's office is going to investigate that now, right?

I went to local courts across Massachusetts and went through over 2,000 search warrants, many of which were from the year 2023.

I went to local courts across Massachusetts and went through over 2,000 search warrants, many of which were from the year 2023.

My analysis found that nearly 9 out of 10 drug raids hinged on confidential informants whose identities were only known to police. Of those, a large majority were based on a single unnamed source.

My analysis found that nearly 9 out of 10 drug raids hinged on confidential informants whose identities were only known to police. Of those, a large majority were based on a single unnamed source.

What we found is that there were only records of three rejected applications. That's three among the nearly 2,000 warrants we examined. That's an approval rate of about 99.8%.

What we found is that there were only records of three rejected applications. That's three among the nearly 2,000 warrants we examined. That's an approval rate of about 99.8%.

A cop's word is treated as gold. The courts here are not verifying if the informant is truthful or even exist beyond an officer's sworn statement. Essentially, as long as an officer raises his hand or her hand and promises that they're telling the truth, that's good enough for the court.

A cop's word is treated as gold. The courts here are not verifying if the informant is truthful or even exist beyond an officer's sworn statement. Essentially, as long as an officer raises his hand or her hand and promises that they're telling the truth, that's good enough for the court.

So we'll go knock on the door and try. Yeah. All right. Let's give it a whirl.

So we'll go knock on the door and try. Yeah. All right. Let's give it a whirl.

All of our reporting has been built on documents. Human sources are really important, but records are the lifeblood of all investigative reporting because records capture moments in time. And so with Chief Oliveira, one of the things that we wanted to do very early was to look at all of the records about him.

All of our reporting has been built on documents. Human sources are really important, but records are the lifeblood of all investigative reporting because records capture moments in time. And so with Chief Oliveira, one of the things that we wanted to do very early was to look at all of the records about him.

There's a million different things that you can learn from internal affairs records. It can show us what kind of officer he was. It can point us towards other people who knew him, who might have gotten in trouble with him, or who may have investigated him. But these documents have proven difficult to shake loose.

There's a million different things that you can learn from internal affairs records. It can show us what kind of officer he was. It can point us towards other people who knew him, who might have gotten in trouble with him, or who may have investigated him. But these documents have proven difficult to shake loose.