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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Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Ore., have been persisting for over 100 days. And now counterprotesters from the right are making their presence felt in the state.
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Oregon's governor asked other departments to help Portland police with ongoing unrest, but they refused. They say they don't want to get involved unless Portland is more willing to crack down.
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Armed civilians are showing up at protests with guns. And experts say these self-styled militias create confrontations and send the wrong message during protests.
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Being a Police Chief in 2020 is precarious. Carmen Best, Seattle's first Black female chief, has some tactics for keeping her job and protecting her department from the "defund the police" movement.
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News stories often describe anti-police protests as being "mostly peaceful," with some violence. In reality, two kinds of protests are going on, and there's tension over tactics.
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The Trump administration is defending its use of federal law enforcement officers in Portland, Ore. But the state is suing, saying the feds have overreached.
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Seattle officials swept through the area known as CHOP, ending a police-free zone born from protests over racial injustice. Recent shootings and other crimes added to its growing list of detractors.
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Recent shootings prompted Seattle officials to clear the police-free zone known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest. The police chief said she supports lawful protests, but violence is unacceptable.
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Protesters in Seattle have set up an "autonomous zone" outside a police precinct after officers largely vacated the area.
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Since the protests sparked by George Floyd's killing in police custody, many have called for overhauling police departments and policies. Efforts underway in some cities have had mixed success.