The Need for a Special Prosecutor for Questionable Police Shootings and Police Criminality Cases

Any Law Enforcement Officer who has the power to arrest and use deadly force and hasreceived comprehensive training by certified institutions of Law Enforcement and goesinto a community and abuses the authority that they have been empowered with, is inessence, a criminal themselves.

In Westchester County from a realistic perspective, police officers are often times relatedby blood, marriage or a loyal bond of friendship. Whether they want to admit it or not,the District Attorney’s office and our local municipalities are presented with thechallenge of investigating an officer who is related.

The municipality has to investigatean officer who they consider ”one of their own” and the municipality has to also decidehow they can proceed with its investigation in a manner that will preserve its relationshipwith that police officer.Based upon the challenges that municipalities encounter, the only logical choice is torequest aid in the form of a Special Prosecutor or Federal Intervention. By requestingassistance, the municipality is placed in a difficult position of having to admit thatperhaps they are incapable of handling an investigation into “one of its own” orconfirming that there is a bias.

To remove this burden, there should be a call to action with state legislation that requiresoversight. The legislation must require in the event of an investigation into policemisconduct or criminality, local authorities must contact state authorities. The legislationmust create a Statewide Independent Investigative body that will investigate any incidentfrom the onset of the collecting of evidence and the interviewing of witnesses, which aretwo of the most critical pieces of an investigation. Resources must be provided tomunicipalities to meet these standards and expectations required by the legislation.

Implementing a Statewide Independent Investigative Unit will eliminate the perception ofinjustice within the law enforcement ranks and ensure that both the officers and thealleged victims receive a fair and impartial thorough investigation, which will uncoverthe truth based on the evidence, which may resolve so many unanswered questions whilecontinuously building trust between law enforcement and the community. There havebeen too many incidents involving law enforcement with too many questions and notenough answers. We are calling for more transparency within the system to protect bothour law enforcement officers and the citizens in the community in which they serve.