Sammy Sussman
Sammy Sussman is a law enforcement reporter at Streetsblog New York City who covers the politics of policing, traffic enforcement and public safety on the streets of New York. His work follows how police decisions, prosecutorial choices and enforcement data translate into concrete consequences for people walking, cycling and driving. He combines beat reporting with investigations that trace misconduct inside law-enforcement agencies and the systems meant to oversee them.
Police misconduct and accountability
Sussman’s core beat is misconduct within police forces and the gaps in oversight that allow it to persist. His recent coverage includes cases where officers are accused of abusing authority, such as a sheriff who defaced his license plate and misused his parking placard, and a cop who struck a cyclist with a squad car in a protected bike lane and then showed little concern for the injured rider.
In another story, he reports on a state police troop that skipped patrol duties to pursue personal activities, including a high-profile incident ending in a strip club arrest. He tracks internal investigations and disciplinary decisions, including reports that an NYPD commissioner declined to punish officers who used force so colleagues could keep illegal parking spots.
Across these pieces, he focuses on the institutional response: whether supervisors, internal affairs units and oversight offices investigate, sanction or ignore misconduct.
His background reinforces this focus.
Before joining Streetsblog in May 2026, he spent three years reporting on misconduct in local police departments around New York State, first for New York Focus and then through a fellowship at The New York Times. He has also examined allegations of misconduct and abuse in the performing arts at institutions such as the Juilliard School and the New York Philharmonic, applying similar investigative techniques to other powerful, insular organizations.
Traffic enforcement and dangerous driving
A large share of Sussman’s Streetsblog work digs into traffic enforcement practices and the behavior of dangerous drivers. He has covered hit-and-run crashes in detail, including a dump truck driver who killed a cyclist on 34th Street without facing charges, a school bus driver who killed a nine-year-old boy, and a month in which nine people were killed by hit-and-run drivers.
He looks beyond individual tragedies to enforcement patterns, reporting on the NYPD’s elite Collision Investigation Squad and how few crashes it investigates relative to its mandate, and on a single unmarked police car with hundreds of speed-camera tickets and no documented justification.
He also scrutinizes how tickets are written and where enforcement falls short.
In one piece, he shows that across thousands of miles of city streets, police issued only 32 tickets in a week to drivers blocking bus and bike lanes. In another, he reports that traffic summonses are rising citywide but remain weak in Manhattan’s “placard zone,” where official parking privileges are concentrated. His stories on out-of-state toll dodgers portray these drivers as reckless super speeders whose unpaid tolls and dangerous habits carry a broader public-safety cost.
The common thread is a data-informed examination of whether enforcement strategies match the scale and nature of the risk.
Parking placards, ghost plates and everyday corruption
Sussman has an ongoing line of coverage on placard abuse, fraudulent license plates and the informal systems that let certain drivers flout rules. His reporting includes stories about a Manhattan district attorney revoking the parking placard of an employee with a bent license plate, a transit agency superintendent caught using a DIY placard, and Bronx officers who illegally park around a memorial to fallen cops despite a brief attempt to rein them in. He connects these episodes to broader questions about who controls curb space and how official privileges distort that control.
He extends this scrutiny to “ghost plates” and temporary tags, covering federal charges against fraudulent dealers who sold more than 100,000 fake tags linked to significant tax losses and multiple homicides. In these pieces, he documents how obscure paperwork, doctored plates and lax oversight create what amounts to a shadow fleet of unaccountable vehicles. The coverage treats these practices not as isolated scams but as a form of everyday corruption that shapes street safety and public trust.
Public space policing and political decision-making
Another strand of Sussman’s reporting looks at how political decisions and police tactics shape public space during high-profile events. His story on Knicks watch parties examines how NYPD shutdowns outside Madison Square Garden ended the massive outdoor gatherings, while alternative watch events continue elsewhere. He has written about “Summer Streets” car-free events, documenting NYPD’s earlier “overkill” presence that created congestion for runners, walkers and cyclists, and a later de-escalation after a week of criticism.
He covers plans to increase foot patrols, presenting them as evidence of a shift toward officers on the beat rather than in cars.
Across these stories, he tracks the actions of elected officials and agency leaders, including pieces on a mayor who has not staffed up an NYPD oversight office and on a commissioner’s approach to discipline. The focus is on how political choices and policing strategies interact, and how those interactions affect access to public space, safety at major events and the everyday experience of city streets.
Sussman’s work is recognized within investigative journalism circles: he is a 2026 Livingston Award finalist and the 2025 recipient of ASJA’s Donald Robinson Memorial Award for Investigative Journalism. He brings that investigative rigor to a daily law-enforcement beat, using documents, data and individual cases to show how power operates on the street level.
4 more politics journalists.
A.D. Quig
A.D. Quig follows money and power through Chicago and Cook County government, showing how political decisions, taxes and public spending affect residents and businesses. At the Chicago Tribune, she covers city and county politics, municipal finance, tax policy, budgets and the structures shaping mayoral and council authority. She joined the Tribune in 2022 after covering politics for Crain’s Chicago Business and The Daily Line. Her work examines council power, ethics rules, police leadership, tax incentives, public agencies and pandemic aid. She has reported on data center tax breaks, property tax errors, federal relief spending and the fiscal effects of major development proposals. Quig combines insider government reporting with public accountability journalism. She uses public records, data and budget documents, follows committees and staff negotiations, and explains complex decisions in plain language with precise numbers and a direct link to everyday consequences.
Adam Daly
Adam Daly covers politics for amNewYork with a focus on the inner workings of city and state government and the low-profile forums where power is exercised and negotiated. He reports on commissions and panels that shape how New York is governed, treating charter reform and government efficiency as central political terrain. His coverage of moves to replace an Adams-era charter commission with a new government efficiency panel foregrounds mandate, authority, and what “efficiency” means in practice for agencies and services. He tracks who gains and loses influence when one commission supplants another and which constituencies are being answered to. Daly explains dense procedural questions in clear, reader-facing terms, using specific institutional details and occasional wordplay to connect jargon-heavy reforms to public spending, service delivery, and mayoral power.
Adam Pack
Adam Pack covers Capitol Hill through power struggles, investigations and ideological fights, focusing on how Congress intersects with Donald Trump’s agenda. He is a politics writer on Fox News Digital’s Capitol Hill team, covering Congress, federal elections, legislative battles, election rules, war powers, primaries and intraparty fights. He previously wrote for the Daily Caller News Foundation. His reporting examines deadlines, vote counts, bill language, campaign spending, court rulings, oversight reports, culture clashes and emerging issues such as AI-backed political groups. He has covered FISA reauthorization, defense spending, the SAVE America Act, housing policy, redistricting, candidate absences, primary spending and disputes over sex, gender, religion and race-based caucuses. He reports primarily through news features and investigative-style pieces built around documents, committee reports, court records, unearthed video and specific legislative details. He often co-writes complex Capitol Hill stories and publishes “FIRST ON FOX” exclusives.
Adam Sullivan
Adam Sullivan is a veteran politics reporter for WCAX who connects elections and party disputes to everyday life. He covers statewide races, party primaries, federal representation, political rhetoric, extremism, and accountability across the Upper Valley and neighboring states. His reporting includes Becca Balint’s victory over Molly Gray in the Democratic U.S. House primary to replace Congressman Peter Welch. He also reports when political controversies affect public safety, political culture, towns, and institutions, including a New Hampshire Libertarian Party post endorsing violence against elected Democrats. Sullivan follows cultural stories with civic consequences, such as Noah Kahan’s appeal to fans to stop stealing a Strafford road sign linked to his music. He writes straight news centered on concrete events, official reactions, political context, community impact, and what comes next.