[dropcap]A[/dropcap]llen Witt’s handcuffs, pepper spray, and .45 caliber Springfield fit snugly along the officer’s thick, black belt. His large frame, cropped grey hair and dark sunglasses cut an imposing figure against a sandy California dusk.
He pointed north. A surfer in a wetsuit and long hair had just skipped across the double railroad tracks — a few hundred feet from the ocean in the sleepy community of Cardiff-by-the-Sea.
“That’s illegal,” Witt said calmly. “But what am I gonna do, cite the guy?”
He had bigger issues on his mind.
A “Screamer” ripped through the tranquil scene — more than a million pounds of train flashing past at speeds up to 90 miles per hour.
Witt guessed at the numbers.
Hundreds of passengers per train. Thousands per day. Millions per year.
If they only knew.
Witt and his colleagues at the private firm Universal Protection Service are the front-line security in San Diego County’s leg of the second-busiest rail corridor in the country, which runs through Los Angeles, up to San Luis Obispo.
It’s a low-paying job, with long hours, lots of risks and a wide net of responsibility.
Witt and his fellow officers worry. They worry everyday about how ill-equipped, untrained and unprepared they are to respond to even relatively routine emergencies, let alone a train collision or terrorist attack.
Throughout the past several months, inewsource examined hundreds of pages of government contracts, employee handbooks and hazard mitigation plans, interviewed law enforcement agents and security professionals at the federal, state, and local levels, and talked with dozens of current and past employees within Universal Protection Service — men who risked their jobs, and some of them say their lives, to bring these issues to light.
“This is a Homeland Security issue that’s been going on way too long and been ignored,” Witt said.
Universal Protection Service is a national company that’s responsible for living up to the terms of its local contracts. Two San Diego government transit agencies are responsible for enforcing those terms.
Universal is appealing a $20,270 fine for worker safety violations and is the subject of an ongoing state investigation. The company did not acknowledge phone messages.
The transit agencies denied multiple requests for interviews. In an email, one agency said officer training was adequate. The other agency left a partial voicemail that did not address training.
Guarantees
Shortly after its formation in 1975, San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System contracted out its security to a local company called Heritage Security Services. The North County Transit District, formed in 1975 as well, followed Metropolitan’s lead and hired Heritage in 1997.
Both districts provide transportation services to 94 million passengers every year by way of 19 locomotives, 667 buses and 134 trolleys that crisscross between Mexico’s border, downtown San Diego, Escondido and Oceanside.
To protect its passengers, the San Diego County transit districts hired Heritage to patrol, protect, and arrest as “pro-active enforcement” officers.
North County requires officers to “Act as Primary Responders to Terrorist threats and incidents.” Metropolitan Transit System requires them to “Perform first aid, maintain order, and assist rescue operations at the scene of accidents and train/bus disasters,” among many other things.
The contracts are always the same — the private security company guarantees that its officers come prepared for the jobs at hand, and in turn, are awarded lengthy contracts worth millions of dollars.
On May 1, 2012, a rapidly-expanding national security company called Universal Protection Service bought Heritage Security Services. All of the company’s officers and contracts came with it.
According to these contracts, all officers are required to pass basic and advanced training curriculums, be licensed in first aid and CPR, able to conduct bomb searches and building evacuations, and prepared to act as primary responders to terrorism threats.
For more than $9 million a year, the districts hired officers to respond to fatality scenes involving train vs. pedestrian accidents, suicides, and automobile collisions; to react to calls for fainting, shortness of breath, heart attacks and seizures; and to assist in collision investigations, help during power outages and maintain crowd control when needed.
Yet multiple interviews have revealed that much of the contractually-obligated training — which would enable them to do all of those jobs — hasn’t happened for at least the past five years.
While the officers are not your standard “rent-a-cops” — many come from the military, police or private security fields — according to them, little of their past is applicable to San Diego’s relatively unique transit setting.
“As a police officer,” said Universal Officer Mo Hahn, speaking about his 27 years as a San Diego police officer, “if I went to a train crash, I would have no clue how to open doors, windows, escape routes. I’d know nothing about — and I don’t ever remember having any training as a law enforcement officer — on how to deal with a train crash.”
“So,” he said, “law enforcement can be just as lost at a train crash as we would be arriving with lack of information and training.”
Aside from a brief bit of press in 2009, Heritage and Universal have largely escaped the public spotlight for the 31 years they’ve operated within the county.
“It’s something that, I’m afraid, the public doesn’t know — and needs to know,” said Witt.
James Marrs elaborated.
“If a bomb goes off on one of our trolleys,” he said, “not to be negative — but oh well.”
“You’re looking at mass casualties, you’re looking at the hysteria, the madness that’s going to come right after that,” he said.
Boyd Long, the assistant chief of police for the San Diego Police Department, said he spent most of his career around “trolley guys,” and sees them as gap-fillers — able to provide services that his department can’t, such as maintaining a highly-visible presence along the tracks to ward off crime.
But Long says he wouldn’t expect them to be completely prepared for a national security situation.
“I think that’s our job,” he said.
San Diego Sheriff’s Department Commander Mike Barletta said Universal’s officers have been “adequate” in helping the department during accidents and arrests over the years. Their lack of training, according to Barletta, “really hasn’t been an issue for us” — nor has he heard any complaints among officers.
The San Diego Police Department, as well as the County’s Sheriff’s Department, competed against Heritage for the Metropolitan Transit System’s first contract in 1981 — and lost.
inewsource has found that San Diego is one of only a handful of locations in the country where the responsibility for guarding a mass transit system is contracted out to an armed, private security force, instead of a police force.
“We’re wearing tactical gear, carrying a baton… a firearm, and a badge,” said Universal officer Mike Quattrochi. “If anyone puts themselves in that situation where maybe a train’s derailed or a terrorist act or a madman or whatever, the first person you’re going to look to is most likely going to be a uniformed officer who’s armed and has body armor and the tools to protect you.”
“So,” he said, “observe and report is out the window at that point.”
Disaster
Around 10:00 a.m. on Dec. 12, 2012, fire departments throughout seven cities received an alert describing a collision between a fully-loaded freight train and a passenger train near Camp Pendleton — about an hour and a half south of Los Angeles. Nineteen bodies were pulled from the light rail vehicle between 10 a.m. and noon that sunny Wednesday morning.
There were no screams, shouts, moans or tears; no smoke, fire or explosions; no trails of blood or broken limbs.
Even more noticeably absent was the freight train.
Everyone attending the emergency training exercise was asked to come wearing sturdy, close-toed footwear — the safety hats and vests were provided to all members of the media as a safety precaution.
Observers arrived from the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, Red Cross, and Office of Emergency Services. Also watching over the scene were representatives from the Federal Railroad Administration, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the event’s hosting organization — the North County Transit District.
Yet Universal officers weren’t in attendance — they weren’t even invited.
Deborah Castillo, spokesperson for North County, said the officers weren’t invited because, “they are not allowed to be on the base in uniform.”
“Normally,” she said, “they are part of our emergency drills.”
“I’ve been here for a little over four years,” said Witt, “and we’ve never been on any drill. Ever.”
Universal employees are called upon to assist the San Diego Sheriff’s Department in midnight searches of train-hoppers and felons, and are required to arrest and detain when necessary.
They are almost always the first on scene at any passenger-rail incident between Mexico’s border and the southern edge of Orange County.
According to his colleagues, Witt has the most dangerous assignment — patrolling the rail’s main line, alone and at night, often without communication. Although he carries an assuming presence at 6’3″ and 230 pounds, his heightened vigilance during an afternoon sweep of a homeless camp alongside the tracks in Cardiff highlighted what he and his colleagues call a “360-degree threat level” — anyone from anywhere at any time for any reason.
“It’s very conceivable that in a moment’s notice you’re fighting for your life,” Witt said.
It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.
A History of Violence
Heritage’s training was first questioned in 2009 after a rash of violence befell its officers.
In one month, three officers were attacked — two had their guns stolen, one was shot.
Metropolitan Transit System Spokesman Rob Schupp, speaking on behalf of the contractor at the time, labeled the assaults isolated incidents, and said that Heritage has “a certified tactic specialist on their team” and “every week they retrain people and teach them the latest techniques.”
Then-president of Heritage Security Services Ken Moller, now vice president of Universal’s regional operations, claimed officers received 164 hours of training.
Marrs, who has been with the security company for nearly five years, says that wasn’t the case then and isn’t now.
“There’s no structured, formalized training,” Marrs said, the capillaries in his left eye still bloodshot nearly a month after being assaulted at a bustling downtown rail station in November 2012. He was trying to diffuse a rapidly-escalating situation between an officer he was training for the job and a few angry men when a punch to his left jaw put him down on the ground, and an hour later, in the hospital with a fractured jawbone.
Marrs lost ten pounds during his first week of recovery, eating only soup and small pieces of banana.
“I can’t emphasize enough — had we gotten some of these trainees better training, this probably wouldn’t have happened,” he said, pointing to the bruises on his face.
Similar words had been spoken before.
In Sept. 2009, a Heritage guard for the North County Transit District shot and killed a 20-year-old Oceanside resident named Anthony Wacker after a verbal argument became physical at the Vista Transit Center. The plaintiff claimed the officer responsible was “under-trained, incompetent and un-supervised.”
Wacker’s family ultimately received more than a million dollars in damages.
On Nov. 22, 2011, a suicidal woman held a Heritage officer hostage at gunpoint in a homeless encampment just west of Miramar Corps Air Station. It took the San Diego Police Department — along with assisting units from all over the county — four hours to take control of the situation and to get the woman into custody.
According to current Universal officers — not much has changed over time.
“Forget outside-the-box thinking,” said Witt, “we don’t even have inside-the-box thinking.”
He and other officers laughed when asked if they had completed the mandatory 164-hour training regime. Most hadn’t heard of the courses required by the contract, hadn’t spent one second in “defensive tactics” classes, and hadn’t learned a shred of counterterrorism techniques under their employer.
They carry guns, but the officers said they are given no formal shooting instruction beyond how to hit a target. They are certain they would be fired if they ever used the weapon.
Asked if he and his colleagues were prepared for any kind of emergency, Marrs declared, “Absolutely not.”
It’s not just the public’s safety that’s in jeopardy.
In response to Universal employee complaints, the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety inspected Universal’s practices over the course of six months in 2012.
The inspection resulted in a $20,270 fine against the company.
Among the “serious” violations were a lack of required Hepatitis-B vaccinations and blood-borne pathogen training — necessary for officers who routinely find themselves among “debris fields,” or scattered remains of pedestrians struck by trains.
Cal/OSHA also cited Universal for a lack of personal protective devices, such as reflective vests and flashlights, and after evaluating the company’s health and safety program, graded the areas of training, responsibility, and employee participation as “poor.”
Universal is currently appealing the fines.
Cal/OSHA representatives also confirmed that a separate investigation into Universal was under way, although they could not disclose details.
Todd Gloria, San Diego council president and MTS member, and Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood, a veteran of his city’s police department and a current North County Transit District board member, said they were unaware of the security situation before conversations with inewsource.
In a statement, Gloria said, “… the severity of the allegations is worthy of discussion… I have discussed my concerns with MTS leadership, and will follow up. Our transit system must be efficient, but it also must be safe for passengers and for the people expected to protect it.”
“I would be very concerned if those were accurate complaints,” Wood said about the officers’ statements.
Wood recommended speaking with North County Transit District’s Chief of Security, Tom Zoll, or the agency’s Executive Director, Matthew Tucker, for answers.
Both Zoll and Tucker refused to speak with inewsource, as did the responsible parties within the Metropolitan Transit System. Instead, both districts asked that specific questions be addressed in writing to their public relations departments.
<click here to see their responses>
inewsource attempted to reach someone within Universal Protection Service in San Diego, but was told the only person to speak to is the company’s Regional Vice President, Ken Moller.
Moller did not respond to multiple phone calls and messages.
“Why are you here today?”
On Dec. 12, 2012, five angry men shuffled into the KPBS television studios.
There was Marrs, his eye still bloodshot but much improved.
Accompanying him was Hahn, the veteran of the San Diego Police Department.
The two others — Michael Quattrocchi and Jerome Mundy — came from a management and defense background, respectively.
Witt, who over the last few months had helped prod his colleagues into the spotlight, was there as well.
Camera angles were adjusted as the men took their seats; the audio fine-tuned as they exchanged jokes back-and-forth.
Papers were placed on the ground, hands were crossed, glasses adjusted.
A hush fell over the group as the cameras started rolling. The officers were asked why they were speaking out, and whether or not they feared retribution for their actions.
“I’ll speak for myself on this one,” said Quattrocchi.
“As far as fear of retribution — of course. I intentionally sought out this line of work and discovered quickly that I loved it, that it suited me perfectly and I’m very happy doing the job I do. What comes into play is something bigger than that — and that’s why we’re here.”
“We have our morals and more importantly our ethics,” he continued, “we can’t allow ourselves to sit back and be silent on these issues any more than I could stand and watch somebody be beaten and not step in and help them. This is just as important, because the safety issues we’re bringing to your attention — and to the public’s attention — are real, live, concerns.”
“The retribution could be inevitable,” he continued, “I don’t know. It depends on how companies view this, how the public views this — if at all.”
“But we’re here,” he said, “just the same.”
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Editorial Standards Page
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Our Mission
inewsource is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to improving lives in the San Diego region and beyond through impactful, data-based investigative and accountability journalism.
Our Vision
Betrayals of the public trust are revealed and rectified, wrongdoing is deterred, and inequities are illuminated thanks to inewsource’s deep, dogged, fact-based reporting.
Our Values
Truth: Above all else, we value the importance of a free and credible press. Truth is the cornerstone of democracy and the core value for inewsource.
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Ethics Policy
inewsource will conduct its business with the highest standards of decency, fairness and accuracy. These standards shall apply equally to inewsource employees, freelancers and all others engaged in gathering information on behalf of inewsource. All receive a copy of these ethical standards.
In the course of our reporting, we will consistently:
● Identify our organization and ourselves fully and avoid false representations of any kind to any source.
● Obtain consent from all parties before electronically recording any interview or conversation except in extraordinary cases authorized by the Managing Editor and Editor. If a source refuses to be taped, that must be honored; no recordings are to be made without consent.
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● Any source we describe or write about in any significant manner must be contacted. The employee should document all efforts to contact the source, and if unsuccessful, should summarize these efforts at contact in the body of his/her writing.
In addition, inewsource follows the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists. The latest version, revised in 2014, can be found here.
Editorial Independence Policy
We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) as follows:
Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We will maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.
We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Our organization also may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.
Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $1,000 or more. We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.
Diversity
Diverse Voices
Inclusiveness is at the heart of thinking and acting as journalists, and it supports the educational mandate of inewsource. Race, class, generation, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and geography all affect point of view. inewsource believes that reflecting societal differences in reporting leads to better, more nuanced stories and a better-informed community.
inewsource is committed to employment equity and diversity.
Diverse Staffing Report
Below is a breakdown of staffing data at inewsource. We determine the composition of our staff by asking them to self-identify. It is based on a newsroom of 11 and a total staff of 15 as of August 2020. Percentages are based on 15 total survey responses. The numbers include full-time and part-time staff, full-time fellows and full-time and part-time interns.
| All Staff Percentages are based on 15 total survey responses. The numbers include full-time and part-time staff, full-time fellows and full-time and part-time interns. | Newsroom Percentages are based on 15 completed survey responses to this question. | Business Percentages are based on 15 completed survey responses to this question. | |||
| Gender Identity | Gender Identity | Gender Identity | |||
| Women | 80% | Women | 82% | Women | 75% |
| Men | 20% | Men | 18% | Men | 25% |
| Sexual Orientation | Sexual Orientation | Sexual Orientation | |||
| Straight | 87% | Straight | 82% | Straight | 100% |
| LGBTQ-identifying | 7% | LGBTQ-identifying | 7% | ||
| Not specified | 7% | Not specified | 7% | ||
| Speak a language beyond English at home | 33% | Speak a language beyond English at home | 18% | Speak a language beyond English at home | 75% |
| Race/Ethnicity | Race/Ethnicity | Race/Ethnicity | |||
| White | 67% | White | 73% | White | 50% |
| Hispanic or Latinx | 20% | Two or more races | 18% | Hispanic or Latinx | 50% |
| Two or more races | 13% | Hispanic or Latinx | 9% | ||
| Age | Age | Age | |||
| 20-29 | 40% | 20-29 | 45% | 20-29 | 25% |
| 30-39 | 47% | 30-39 | 45% | 30-39 | 50% |
| 60 or older | 13% | 60 or older | 9% | 60 or older | 25% |
* The percentages in the charts have been rounded and may not add up to 100.
Ownership Structure, Funding and Grants
inewsource is a nonprofit organization, whose legal name is Investigative Newsource. It does business as inewsource. The business was incorporated on Aug. 4, 2009 in the state of California. Tax-exempt status as a 501c3 was granted by the IRS on Sept. 15, 2010. inewsource is funded primarily by individual contributions and foundation grants. We are guided by a board of directors.
Editorial independence: Journalists employed by inewsource take no editorial direction from donors whose contributions may support the organization. inewsource will not hesitate to report on its donors when events warrant. Our Editorial Independence Policy details the firewall between journalism and revenue.
To be transparent with the public, inewsource lists its donors on its website. In cases where a donor is the subject of an inewsource story, additional disclosure will be made.
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We do our due diligence to earn your trust in our reporting, as well as in our governance and financial sustainability. All of our financial documents are made available to view so that our supporters can trust we are sound stewards of your philanthropy. Review our IRS Form 990s, audited financial statements and annual reports:
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Fact-checking and Verification Standards
Transparency is one of our core values. Today, there is a need to build trust with our audience because new media and ways of communicating spread lies and slanted news faster than “real” news. At the same time, this era of new technologies makes it easier than ever for news organizations to be transparent. People don’t just have to believe us, they can investigate our investigations with our source materials.
Transparency is key to building credibility.
inewsource reporters have primary responsibility for reporting, writing, and fact-checking their stories. But before a story is published, the reporter reviews all facts and sources with an editor or another reporter. Facts must be traced to a primary source.
In addition, we “transparify” certain investigative stories. This process involves publishing a version of the web story with hyperlinks to all the story’s facts. This is proof that all facts have been documented with primary evidence. We do this to build trust with our readers and to be as transparent as we hope the public figures and institutions that we hold accountable will be.
Unnamed Sources
Not all sources are created equal. Some sources cannot speak authoritatively, provide proper analysis or speak specifically to every inquiry placed before them. To maintain the integrity of our reporting, inewsource reporters must select sources who can speak with validity to the topic at hand, and avoid presenting unqualified or underqualified sources as experts.
If an interviewed source has a conflict of interest, or whose qualifications may be tangential or limited, reporters will note that within the context of the story.
It is incumbent upon reporters to fully background their sources to uncover conflicts of interest or slant prior to using them in a story.
Unless discussed prior to an interview, all subjects talking to inewsource journalists are on the record. Specifically, the source is identified by name and title, and their exact or paraphrased words are attributed to them for publication. If journalists speak with sources who are not politicians, public figures or those not commonly interviewed by journalists, staff should explain clearly that information discussed will be on the record and for publication.
There are times, however, when information may be critical for a story but cannot be found or verified by other means. For example, a source may be able to confirm specific information about a series of events they may have witnessed, but have legitimate concerns about using their name or title. The repercussions to the source could be legal, job-related retribution or personal safety. The source and journalist must discuss these potential dangers and terms of use should be agreed upon by both parties.
If inewsource publishes information from an anonymous source, inewsource will explain to readers, in as much detail as possible, why we agreed to anonymity.
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inewsource strives for accuracy in everything we do, which is why we are committed to fact checking our content. But sometimes we make errors. When that happens, we correct them. We also clarify stories when something we’ve written is confusing or could be misinterpreted.
We endeavor to always be transparent about our commitment to correcting errors and clarifying misperceptions. When staffers see, hear or read about a possible issue with the accuracy of any inewsource content, they are expected to bring it to the attention of an editor and the web producer so it can be evaluated to determine how to proceed.
Including the web producer is key because inewsource is a multimedia news organization and shares its content with multiple partners on multiple platforms. The web producer must alert these partners about corrections and clarifications.
Corrections and clarifications should be included at the bottom of stories and dated.
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Our audiences know the region we cover and have a stake in maintaining and improving the quality of life in San Diego and Imperial counties. We know your knowledge and insights can help shape what we cover and how we cover it. We invite your comments and complaints on news stories, suggestions for issues to cover or sources to consult. We rely on you to tell us when we get it right and when we need to keep pushing.
Your comments, questions and suggestions can be sent to the team as a whole at contact@inewsource.org or you can contact a specific member of our staff.
Masthead
CEO, Editor and Founder: Lorie Hearn, loriehearn@inewsource.org
Lorie Hearn is the chief executive officer, editor and founder of inewsource. She founded inewsource in the summer of 2009, following a successful reporting and editing career in newspapers. She retired from The San Diego Union-Tribune, where she had been a reporter, Metro Editor and finally the senior editor for Metro and Watchdog Journalism. In addition to department oversight, Hearn personally managed a four-person watchdog team, composed of two data specialists and two investigative reporters. Hearn was a Nieman Foundation fellow at Harvard University in 1994-95. She focused on juvenile justice and drug control policy, a natural course to follow her years as a courts and legal affairs reporter at the San Diego Union and then the Union-Tribune.
Hearn became Metro Editor in 1999 and oversaw regional and city news coverage, which included the city of San Diego’s financial debacle and near bankruptcy. Reporters and editors on Metro during her tenure were part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stories that exposed Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham and led to his imprisonment.
Hearn began her journalism career as a reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times, a small daily outside of Philadelphia, shortly after graduating from the University of Delaware. During the decades following, she moved through countless beats at five newspapers on both coasts.
High-profile coverage included the historic state Supreme Court election in 1986, when three sitting justices were ousted from the bench, and the 1992 execution of Robert Alton Harris. That gas chamber execution was the first time the death penalty was carried out in California in 25 years.
In her nine years as Metro Editor at the Union-Tribune, Hearn made watchdog reporting a priority. Her reporters produced award-winning investigations covering large and small local governments. The depth and breadth of their public service work was most evident in coverage of the wildfires of 2003 and then 2007, when more than half a million people were evacuated from their homes.
Managing Editor: Laura Wingard, laurawingard@inewsource.org
Laura Wingard is the managing editor at inewsource. She has been an editor in San Diego since 2002, working at The San Diego Union-Tribune, KPBS and now inewsource. At the Union-Tribune, she served in a variety of roles including as enterprise editor, government editor, public safety and legal affairs editor, and metro editor. She directed the newspaper’s award-winning coverage of the October 2007 wildfires and the 2010 disappearance of Poway teenager Chelsea King. She also oversaw reporting on San Diego’s pension crisis.
For two years, Wingard was news and digital editor at KPBS, overseeing a team of four multimedia reporters and two web producers. She also was the KPBS liaison with inewsource and collaborated with inewsource chief executive officer and editor Lorie Hearn on investigative work by both news organizations.
Wingard also worked at the Las Vegas Review-Journal as the city editor and as an award-winning reporter covering the environment and politics. She also was the assistant managing editor for metro at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside. She earned her bachelor’s degree at California State University, Fullerton, with a double major in communications/journalism and political science.
Assistant Editor and Senior Reporter: Brad Racino, bradracino@inewsource.org
Brad Racino is the assistant editor and a senior reporter at inewsource. He has produced investigations for print, radio and TV on topics including political corruption, transportation, health, maritime, education and nonprofits.
His cross-platform reporting for inewsource has earned more than 50 awards since 2012, including back-to-back national medals from Investigative Reporters and Editors, two national Edward R. Murrow awards, a Meyer “Mike” Berger award from New York City’s Columbia Journalism School, the Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism, San Diego SPJ’s First Amendment Award, and a national Emmy nomination.
In 2017, Racino was selected by the Institute for Nonprofit News as one of 10 “Emerging Leaders” in U.S. nonprofit journalism.
Racino has worked as a reporter and database analyst for News21; as a photographer, videographer and reporter for the Columbia Missourian; as a project coordinator for the National Freedom of Information Coalition and as a videographer and editor for Verizon Fios1 TV in New York. He received his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 2012.
Byline Policy
Most of our articles carry a byline to identify the author. In some cases, inewsource will use a brand byline such as “Staff” or “inewsource” for internal or editorial information about the newsroom. In these instances, inewsource‘s Editor and Managing Editor are responsible for content that uses a brand byline.
The Trust Project
inewsource is proud to be a member of The Trust Project and support efforts to increase transparency in journalism by displaying the 8 Trust Indicators on our stories. We launched the Trust Indicators on Sep. 16, 2020.
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- Stripe, which allows us to accept donations through our website.
- Salesforce to manage newsletter subscriber, donor, and other identifiable user data.
- Mailchimp, to manage newsletter distributions. We collect your email address if you choose to subscribe to one of our email newsletters or email news alerts. Other optional information that you enter when subscribing – such as your first and last names or city are simply so that we can deliver more personalized email newsletters. We DO NOT sell, rent or market your information to any other parties. We retain your information only as long as necessary to provide your service. When we send emails, it collects some data about which users open the emails and which links are clicked. We use this information to optimize our email newsletters and, as aggregate information, to explain what percentage of our users open and interact with our newsletters.
Personal Data
We only collect personally identifiable information such as your name and email address when you sign up for a newsletter, donate to our organization, or otherwise submit it to us voluntarily. We do not share your personal data with any third parties other than some common service providers, whose products use your information to help us improve our site, deliver newsletters, or allow us to offer donation opportunities.
inewsource limits access to all user data for the purposes of newsletter, fundraising, and customer service only. User data is not sold to or otherwise shared with anyone not working with or for the inewsource.
You may unsubscribe or opt-out of our email and mail communications at any time by hitting the “unsubscribe” button in any email you receive from inewsource, or by emailing us at contact@inewsource.org or calling us at 619-594-5100.
Donor Information
The identities of all donors will be listed on our website. inewsource does not share, trade, sell, or otherwise release donors’ personal information to any third parties.
Refunds
If you encounter errors when donating on the website, please contact us at members@inewsource.org. For example, if you submit a donation for an incorrect amount or make a duplicate transaction please email us immediately so we can reverse the charges.
Cancellation of Recurring Donations
You can cancel your monthly recurring donations free of charge by notifying us at members@inewsource.org.
Links to Other Websites
Our site may contain links to documents, resources or other websites that we think may be of interest to you. We have no control over these other sites or their content. You should be aware when you leave our site for another, and remember that other sites are governed by their own user agreements and privacy policies, which should be available to you to read.
Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability
Although we take reasonable steps to prevent the introduction of viruses, worms, “Trojan Horses” or other destructive materials to our site, we do not guarantee or warrant that our site or materials that may be downloaded from our site are free from such destructive features. We are not liable for any damages or harm attributable to such features. We are not liable for any claim, loss or injust based on errors, omissions, interruptions or other inaccuracies on our site, nor for any claim, loss or injust that results from your use of this site or your breach of any provision of this User Agreement.
Contact Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, please contact us at contact@inewsource.org or call us at 619-594-5100.
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