Joel Handley - In These Times

Joel Handley, a former assistant editor at In These Times, is a Chicago-based independent journalist and freelance editor.

Who Do You Protect, Who Do You Surveil?

The Chicago Police Department has spent millions on high-tech spying equipment, including cell-phone tracking technology, but is extremely secretive about its use.

Under ACLU-Drafted Bill, Illinois Police Must Forget Where You’ve Been

A new Illinois State Senate bill could end the mass collection and indefinite storage of license plate tracking data by police.

Chicago Police Tight-lipped About Use of License Plate Scanners, Despite $500,000 New Contract

A secretive contracting process—and limited responses to information requests—leave Chicagoans in the dark about how their license plate data is being collected and used.

EXCLUSIVE: New Documents Show FBI Targeted NATO Protesters

In the lead-up to the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago, federal agents teamed with local police to find and interrogate suspected anarchists.

Slip of an Officer’s Tongue Suggests Police Are Monitoring #BlackLivesMatter Protesters’ Cell Phones

Are Chicago police using 'stingrays' against activists?

Introducing ‘We Surveil and Protect’: An In These Times Investigation

A brief history of surveillance by the Chicago Police Department.

A Budget by the People, for the People

Participatory budgeting is on the menu in Chicago.

Why I Followed Rahm Emanuel to the Bathroom

Whose Budget? Their Budget.

At their first participatory budgeting vote, 5th ward residents take $1 million in municipal funds into their own hands.

A Crash Course in Citizen Budgeting

What Chicago can learn from participatory budgeting projects around the world.

Budgetary Power to the People

An experiment with direct democracy on Chicago's South Side.

Out of Order Comes Chaos

Chicago's black gangs aren't the criminal enterprises they once were, but the police won't change their story.

Illinois’ Injustice System

Budget cuts are hard on ex-cons trying to make good.

The Poverty of School Reform

In Chicago's African-American neighborhoods, schools change quickly—regardless of what families want.

Donald Rumsfeld’s Ugly Suits

U.S. citizens suing the former defense secretary for torture may finally get a day in court.

Divesting From Private Prisons

A new coalition of immigrant and labor groups tries to shame the nation's largest investment firms.

After Valentine’s Day Firing, Ill. Workers Protest for Better Severance Pay

Zee End of Blackwater?

The troubled security firm gets a makeover.