ATLANTA — At the beginning of 2015, no one in Georgia could say how many people were killed by police each year.
Reporters from Channel 2 Action News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution set out to answer that question, and learn who, how and why civilians are killed by police, and how the legal system treats these cases.
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After a year-long investigation, and dozens of stories that emerged from the collaborative effort called “Over the Line,” the body of work was named a winner of the 2015 Investigative Reporters & Editors Awards, recognizing "the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year," the IRE announced Thursday.
The "Over the Line" series was awarded for innovation in investigative journalism by the IRE, a nonprofit group which supports investigative reporting.
"The team of journalists was able to encourage reluctant police, prosecutors and even grand jurors to go on the record, both in print and on camera, to break the code of silence which had kept serious issues about questionable shootings concealed from the public," the judges said in honoring the series.
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Reporters from Channel 2 Action News and the AJC compiled six years of fatal police shooting cases from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and police departments throughout the state to assemble the most comprehensive database of shooting cases ever assembled in Georgia.
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"(The series') revelations led to a reform in Georgia’s laws this spring, a revocation of the unique privileges granted to police to sit inside a grand jury room during all proceedings involving them," the judges said.
The story also earned Story of the Year honors from the Georgia Assocated Press.
Over the Line: Police Shooting Investigation Changes Georgia Law from Jodie Fleischer on Vimeo.