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By Miriam Raftery
June 4, 2017 (San Diego) – A measure to create an independent review process for officer-involved shootings in California passed by state Assembly this week. Assembly Bill 284 by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) would empower the California Attorney General’s office civil rights division to appoint a special investigator for controversial cases of concern.
“Today is a big day for our work and commitment to fighting for police accountability in the state of California,” Rev. Shane Harris with the National Action Network in San Diego said in a press release. “It is a big day for families like the Alfred Olango family who lost their loved one to an officer involved shooting,” he said of an African-American man shot by an El Cajon Police officer in September 2016. Rev. Harris seems the measure as important to “build statewide public trust between law enforcement and the community.”
The measure next goes to the state Senate for consideration. “We urge every California to realize this bill is not anti-police but takes these investigations off their hands so that it doesn’t shine bad upon the whole department when these situations happen and give the public a transparent view when the investigation comes from an independent source.”
Harris added that California, one of the state’s most populous states, “leads the nation in officer involved shootings, so I hope our Senate will get us to leading the nation in combating that reality.”
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Standing up feels good.