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"If you don't have a free press, you don't have human rights" - wise words from a journalist who helped break the Panama Papers
Carter Walker
6,268 posts
Carter Walker
@ByCarterWalker
Pennsylvania voting/elections reporter for @VotebeatUS, in partnership w/ @SpotlightPA. Previously investigations @lancasteronline. Tips: cwalker@votebeat.org
- I am truly at a loss on this as I have never experienced anything like it. This weekend I am running a story on the rise in hate crimes in PA, which in part deals with issues in the @statepolice__ database. Overnight, after my I sent inquiry, nearly 200 hate crimes were deleted.
- NEWS: The PA Democratic Party is say 10,000 to 20,000 mail ballot voters In Erie County have not received their ballots. They are seeking a court order to force the county to fix the issue. More soon. H/T @StephenJ_Caruso
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerYesterday the Uniform Crime Reporting database showed 72 hate crimes in 2022, 284 in 2021, and 111 in 2020. I know because I checked at the end of the day to make sure our graphics were accurate. Today, those numbers are 16, 144, and 109, respectively.
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerUnfortunately the Wayback machine doesn’t do a good job at tracking this page, but here is a January press release from @GovernorTomWolf showing the number at 219 for 2021 vs. the page as it appears today.
- New: As Mastriano has traveled the state, he’s been accompanied by a personal security detail. Several members come from an evangelical church in Elizabethtown which has become increasingly politically active, and at least one has direct ties to a militia
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerI, of course, have no evidence that this is related to my inquiry, but the timing raises my eyebrows and I will certainly be asking for their communications to check. So far the state police have offered no explanation for how 200 data points went missing overnight.
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerThat press release prompted me to report on the issue, and the number for 2021 continued to rise as I did and more agencies submitted their 2021 data. I reached out to the state police on Monday on what I would consider important but not earth-shatteringly scandalous issues
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerBut this does illustrate on of the points of the story: that this data isn't a very accurate or reliable measure of the issue.
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerTagged the wrong @PAStatePolice account. I really hope they get back to me with an answer on this because I think it makes the data wholly unreliable for anyone looking to understand or address this issue.
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerwith the database. On Wednesday a spokesman got back to me and I sent him some more specifics. This morning I got this response, at which point I rechecked the system and saw that 198 hate crimes were no longer counted.
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerIt occurred to me I do have further evidence of the removal of this data, this tweet previewing the story from a while back. A few more hate crimes were added after I tweeted this:A snippet of the next story I'm working on: When I first looked at how many hate crimes there were in PA in 2021, I was surprised to find it was almost double the 2020 #. Today I looked to find the updated number, and I was shocked to see it was more than 2.5 times the 2021 #.
- Replying to @ByCarterWalkerchanged from having some crimes to zero crimes. I am still skeptical, as it seems unlikely so many agencies simultaneously amended their reports.
- BREAKING: The PA Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court ruling that held counties must count provisional ballots from voters who submit flawed mail ballots. Story soon.
