How we report

We don't work for the cops. We cover them. We don't work for the defense bar or the bondsmen either.

The rules

• Records first. Every item comes from a jail record, a court record, an agency release, a budget, or a records request, and says which.
• Arrested is not convicted. We write "charged" and "arrested." We post the outcome when the court decides, and we follow every case to its end.
• Photos only from the source. Booking photos and pictures appear only when the agency or organization that took them released them, and every one is credited. We never copy a news outlet's photos.
• Takedowns are free. Dismissed, acquitted, expunged, sealed: show us and the record comes down. We will never charge anyone to remove anything.
• No victims, no kids. We never identify a victim, directly or by detail, and we never name a juvenile.
• Same rules for everyone. An officer, a judge or an advertiser who gets arrested goes in the log like anyone else. Fallen officers get honored. Misconduct gets exposed.
• Fast corrections. Wrong about something? Tell us; fixes within 24 hours, logged here.
• Automatic, with one check. Everything posts on its own. Agency releases naming an officer charged, a child-exploitation case, a shooting or a death in custody post on their own too. The same kinds of stories found only through news search get one look from a person first, so the wrong name never lands next to the wrong charge.

The wall

Advertisers, including bail bond companies and defense lawyers, buy a labeled slot in a random rotation. No advertiser can buy a removal, a delay, softer coverage, or a story, and no ad is ever placed next to a specific person because of who they are.

Who pays for it

Ads from local businesses and readers who share it. No grants, no agency money, no political money.

What we cannot get

Probation files, parole files, open investigations and some internal-affairs files sit outside the Public Information Act. When an agency refuses or stalls, we publish that on the tracker.

Other independent sources

We link to other independent watchdog sites when they hold public records we don't, such as Montgomery Court Watch ↗. We don't run them, we don't copy from them, and a link is not an endorsement. Check their sources the way you'd check ours.

Privacy

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