Chronicle named Pulitzer Prize finalist for a pair of investigations

San Francisco Chronicle​

05-05-2025

The San Francisco Chronicle was named a finalist Monday for two Pulitzer Prizes for investigations it published into different aspects of law enforcement. The 160-year old publication has garnered five finalists over the past four years, the best performances by a newsroom its size in the country.
Journalism's most prestigious awards honored the Chronicle in 2025 for its reporting on the deadly toll of high-speed police pursuits and for uncovering the secret deals that allow police officers with records of misconduct to be rehired in law enforcement.
Reporters Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson were recognized in the National Reporting category for ' Fast and Fatal,' a series of stories that revealed the devastating consequences of police chases. The pursuits often begin with low-level offenses or traffic infractions and end with horrifying crashes that have killed thousands of people in recent years, many of them bystanders or passengers and a disproportionate number Black and Latino. The toll of high-speed chases has continued to rise, even as officials and agencies promise to curtail it.
The Chronicle was also honored as a finalist in the Local/State Reporting category for ' Right to Remain Secret ' by reporters Katey Rusch and Casey Smith. Published in collaboration with UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program, the project exposed a system of hidden legal settlements that enables police officers with documented histories of misconduct to be rehired by new law enforcement agencies that have no knowledge of their past misdeeds. Rusch and Smith found that at least 163 California police agencies had used 'clean-record agreements' over a decade to bury misconduct allegations against 297 officers and deputies, 52 of whom went on to find new jobs in law enforcement.
'Our goal is to prove our value to subscribers every day by producing journalism that covers our community better than anyone,' said Editor in Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz. 'These awards show that we are among the very best in achieving that goal while competing against newsrooms much bigger than us.'
The Pulitzer Prize honors the best reporting, photography, commentary and criticism each year and is among the most revered awards given in journalism annually. The Chronicle was a finalist in 2023 for investigative reporting for its examination of the dire conditions and concentration of overdose deaths inside city-funded SROs and for feature photography for its coverage of the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco. The Chronicle was also a finalist in feature photography in 2022.
Reporters Gollan and Neilson worked on 'Fast and Fatal' for more than a year, compiling statistics from numerous sources into a first-of-its-kind national database that revealed the vast toll of police pursuits. They discovered 3,336 deaths from chases from 2017 through 2022, including 15 police officers and at least 551 bystanders. Thousands more people were injured by the pursuits, and the officers involved rarely faced consequences.
Following the report's publication, lawmakers and experts have called for better tracking of pursuit data and new national standards for chases.
A large team across the newsroom helped bring the story to fruition. Gollan and Neilson worked closely with Guy Wathen, who analyzed and edited hours of disturbing police video for the project, and with editors Jesse Marx, Dan Kopf, Bulwa and Lisa Gartner.
For 'Right to Remain Secret,' Rusch and Smith embarked on an immense public records effort. Under the California Public Records Act, they filed requests to 501 police agencies across the state, teasing out the existence and prevalence of the long-hidden 'clean-records agreements' over the course of five years. The deals not only often reversed an officer's firing and hid their misconduct from future employers, some officers with histories of brutality or dishonesty were also given cash payments or lifetime disability pensions.
The reporters uncovered 49 officers receiving disability pensions as part of the agreements who had collectively received nearly $24 million in payments.
'Right to Remain Secret' was co-edited by IRP's David Barstow and Bulwa with data editing by Kopf. Visuals were by Chris Kaufman and Laura McDermott and visuals editing by Ramin Rahimian and Frugé. Blanchard contributed illustrations with collages by D'Amato and graphics, design and development by Jenny Kwon. Graphics, design and development editing were by Erin Caughey, Fong and Alex Tatusian.
'Fast and Fatal' was copy edited by Michael Mayer. Visuals were by Stephen Lam, Jon Cherry and Liz Sanders. Chronicle Deputy Director of Visuals Emily Jan commissioned photographers across the country, and Visual Director Nicole Frugé edited the visuals, with video production and annotations by Daymond Gascon and icons by John Blanchard. Alex K. Fong and Sophie D'Amato provided design and development, with additional development from Hearst DevHub's Danielle Rindler and Janie Haseman. Danielle Mollette-Parks, the Chronicle's former creative director who passed away in December 2023, contributed to the project's design.
The San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfchronicle.com) is the largest newspaper in Northern California and the second largest on the West Coast. Acquired by Hearst in 2000, the San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 by Charles and Michael de Young and has been awarded six Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence. Follow us on Twitter at @SFChronicle.