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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Authorities are investigating the background of Sayfullo Saipov, the man accused of driving a truck through a bike path in New York City. The act of terror in lower Manhattan killed eight and injured 11.
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Dispatch audio recorded from the New York Police Department as Tuesday's attack unfolded in the city reveals a dramatic — and often tense — response. -
After a series of violent political protests, police feel pressure to err on the side of caution, but too much crowd control can curb free speech. One former police chief calls it a "guessing game." -
Many Americans believe that convictions of law enforcement officers for shooting someone while on duty are too rare. But experts say jurors are hesitant to convict cops for making mistakes on the job. -
Two Seattle police officers shot and killed Charleena Lyles on Sunday. Her family is accusing the officers of not doing enough to de-escalate an encounter with a person known to have mental problems. -
Winner's lawyer would not confirm that his client was the source of the bombshell leak of a report about efforts by Russian military intelligence to cyberattack American election software. -
Across the U.S., some conservatives say they're losing their right to free speech. Opponents accuse them of using hate speech that should be silenced. Sunday in Portland marked the latest flare-up.
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The vast majority of gun deaths in America are either suicides or one-on-one shootings.
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There is a growing perception that body cameras, now generating millions of hours of footage, are there less to keep tabs on police, and more to keep tabs on the public. -
There's very little law enforcement can do to catch purveyors of ransomware — unless they slip up. The criminals behind the WannaCry attack may have done just that.
