Nevin Kallepalli                                                                               

UC Berkeley California Local Reporting Fellow at Shasta Scout.




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Using Suspects’ Faces, RPD Weaves Compellingly Pro-Police Narratives. It’s a Practice that’s Known to Cause Harm. THE REDDING POLICE DEPARTMENT REGULARLY ISSUES SOCIAL MEDIA “NEWS RELEASES” ABOUT SUSPECTS THAT HAVE BEEN ARRESTED. SHASTA SCOUT’S ANALYSIS SHOWED THE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS DO MORE TO BOOST RPD’S IMAGE THAN INCREASE PUBLIC SAFETY. THEY’RE LEGAL, BUT ONLY JUST. 
    Shasta Scout

    From what can be seen in the photos of the suspects, Zendejas–gaunt, bearded, physically restrained on a hospital bed, and dampened with some kind of clear liquid–bore no visible signs of injury. McLaughlin, on the other hand, arrived at the hospital peppered with inflamed puncture wounds, each the shape of a dog’s incisor. Scabs crusted around the rim of his nostrils, while splotches of bright red blood red, fresh and not yet oxidized, speckled his blanket and pillow. In the photo, McLaughlin looks away from the policeman’s lens. Peering out of the frame now, more than two years later, he still wears the unmistakable look of anguish on his face.