By Chris Ison University of Minnesota

By G.W. Schulz Center for Investigative Reporting

Nearly $70,000 worth of surveillance gear left unused in its original packaging by a county north of San Francisco. A $2,300 plasma TV for university cops. More than $1.3 million spent without maintaining proper documentation to show where it went. Millions more in bomb-disposal robots and new communications systems bought from suppliers who weren’t forced to compete.

For the first time, IRE has turned its annual list of investigative books into an online database. More than 250 books published in 2009 made the list, which can be sorted by title, author and publisher. The annual list is compiled by Steve Weinberg, senior contributing editor of The IRE Journal.  A PDF suitable for printing also is available.

By Mike McGraw
The Kansas City Star

This is a "Collected Wisdom" centerpiece story from The IRE Journal, Fall 2009