The Standing Record

This is the Standing Record for August 18, 2026. We recorded 2 events from August 17, 2026 that erode our democratic ideals and added 10 more from earlier dates — 326 so far this month, bringing the total archive to 1718. If you saw something happen — yesterday, or any other day — that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

NYPD specialized units conducted unconstitutional stops at far higher rates than patrol officers, federal monitor found

Event: August 17, 2026 Location: New York, New York Jurisdiction: New-York-City-Ny Abuses: Unlawful detention, Targeting marginalized communities

A federal court-appointed monitor's Thirty-First Report, filed August 17, 2026 in the Floyd v. City of New York stop-and-frisk case, found that NYPD's specialized units -- the Neighborhood Safety Teams, Community Response Teams, and now-disbanded Public Safety Teams -- made unlawful stops, frisks, and searches at far higher rates than officers on routine patrol, based on a sample of 603 stops in 2025. Unlawful stops occurred in 17% of specialized-unit encounters versus 6% for other officers, and 91% of the people stopped were Black or Hispanic. The units missed nearly every compliance benchmark the monitor had set for the fourth quarter of 2025.

People & Organizations: - New York City Police Department

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/08/17/local-unlawful-detention-39ce8c1e/ Primary source: Latest Report: Monitor's Thirty-First Report (NYPD Specialized Units)

Michigan corrections officer altered Native American prisoner's ID with racist caricature, posted it publicly for humiliation, lawsuit alleges

Event: August 17, 2026 Location: Newberry, Michigan Jurisdiction: Michigan Abuses: Corrections abuse

A corrections officer at Newberry Correctional Facility in Michigan's Upper Peninsula digitally altered a Native American prisoner's ID to depict him wearing a feathered headdress and other stereotypical Indigenous imagery, then posted the altered image publicly, according to a state civil-rights lawsuit filed in early August 2026 by prisoner Dylan Leenheer (Gun Lake Tribe). The lawsuit, which names officers Jay Stevens and Robert Marsh and the Michigan Department of Corrections, alleges a broader pattern at the facility -- including two other prisoners, one Black and one of "Indian-national-origin," whose ID photos were similarly altered -- and that no corrections staff involved faced discipline.

People & Organizations: - Jay Stevens (Corrections Officer, Newberry Correctional Facility) - Robert Marsh (Corrections Officer, Newberry Correctional Facility) - Michigan Department of Corrections

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/08/17/mi-corrections-abuse-7fb6a611/ Primary source: State corrections officers altered prisoner's ID with racial caricature, lawsuit claims

Filling out the archive

We're steadily backfilling the archive — working backward through the record so the timeline is complete, not just current. These are older events we archived yesterday. If you know of something from months or years back that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

• September 9, 2025 — ICE detained Irish national Seamus Culleton, then blocked his green-card interview and reversed his court-approved bond during prolonged detention
• October 4, 2025 — Border Patrol agent shot Chicago citizen Marimar Martinez five times; DHS's same-day account was contradicted by its own evidence
• October 21, 2025 — ICE agent shot citizen journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias during Los Angeles arrest attempt; agency denied him counsel access and body-camera footage
• February 11, 2026 — Attorney General Bondi told the House Judiciary Committee under oath that Maxwell was not moved to a lower-security prison
• February 12, 2026 — Nebraska handed the Justice Department its full voter file, including partial Social Security numbers, while an appeal was still pending
• July 13, 2026 — ICE detained Russian national with pending accepted green card petition at Burbank Airport
• July 20, 2026 — ICE detained Russian asylum-seeker at Buffalo airport, held her nearly a month
• August 3, 2026 — Wisconsin Judicial Commission charged Winnebago County judge with threatening attorneys, demanding $28,000 payment over political support
• August 12, 2026 — Orange County audit found health director dismissed conflict warnings, steered no-bid contracts to allies
• August 13, 2026 — Defense Secretary Hegseth announced expansion of unauthorized boat-strike campaign to land operations in Latin America

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