InvestigateTV - Season 3; Episode 11
(InvestigateTV) — This Week on InvestigateTV: Drug agents are searching innocent people boarding flights at airports across the nation. The DEA and local police aren’t making many arrests but they are seizing money from passengers, even when no drugs are found. Brendan Keefe tracked down plain clothes agents as they searched passengers at the gate. Plus, A criminology expert says the homicide clearance rate in the U.S. is the worst in the western world. We investigate what can be done to reverse the trend, and we take you inside a state lab to see how detectives use unique markings on bullet shells to bring criminals to justice.
WHERE TO WATCH ICYMI – Watch last week’s episode.
In Plane Sight: Drug agents are searching passengers at airline gates and jetways without probable cause. They’re not making arrests or even finding drugs in most cases — the agents are looking for cash. When they find it, they seize the money under civil forfeiture laws that allow them to take cash with no actual evidence of drug trafficking. For example, in Atlanta, most of the supposedly random targets are people of color. Merely traveling to Los Angeles on a one-way ticket is enough to cause a search, and if agents find any significant amount of money, the passengers have to prove — on the spot — that the money didn’t come from drug dealing. TSA alerts officers when the screeners see cash, even though it’s not illegal to travel domestically with any amount of money. We investigate this practice at airports, speak to people who’ve had this experience, and take the questionable practice to Washington, D.C.
Fight for Justice: FBI data found in 2021 that nearly 23,000 people were killed. Criminology experts estimate that nearly half of those cases won’t be solved, leaving the killers free and families without justice. Some experts say the clearance rate in the U.S. is the worst in the western world. We dig into the data and find out what can be done to reverse the trend.
Stolen Guns: Tens of thousands of guns are reported stolen every year across the country, according to an analysis of FBI data. And the feds believe the number of stolen firearms in the U.S. is likely higher because many gun thefts go unreported. We uncover a growing trend – guns stolen from parked cars –
and share tips on how to prevent theft.
Watching Your Wallet – Phantom Debt: Every year thousands of consumers are conned into paying debts they don’t really owe. It’s called “phantom debt” and in this Watching Your Wallet Consumer Investigator Rachel DePompa talks to a federal agency about how you can avoid falling victim.
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