Sweeney: State should investigate police-involved killings

TRENTON -- A special prosecutor would be required to investigate whenever someone is killed by a law enforcement officer in the state if a bill introduced by lawmakers Friday is approved.

Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney said the measure he introduced Friday is needed to help restore trust between the police and communities after the fatal police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and the sniper ambush killings of five police officers by a black man in Dallas.

The state attorney general's office already takes part in police-involved shooting investigations with a special shooting response team. Sweeney's measure would require the state, rather than county prosecutors, to conduct the full investigation. Sweeney's bill also would require that any evidence be presented in a court outside the county where the killing happened.

"We've made so many great strides in race relations in my lifetime, and I'm fearful we're starting to go backward," said Sweeney, who's white. "This is not an attack on police officers. It's far from that. It's just ensuring people that they can get justice when something happens like we've seen recently."

A spokesman for the state attorney general's office pointed to a law enforcement directive issued last July for conducting police use-of-force investigations. That policy mandated that use-of-force investigations be conducted by county prosecutors or the state, rather than local police. It also required that an investigation be presented to a grand jury for independent review "unless the undisputed facts indicate that the use of force was justified."

New Jersey NAACP president Richard Smith said that Sweeney's measure would be a victory for those who have demanded police accountability.

"Our community needs this law, this special prosecutor that reassures them that each investigation will be handled with fairness and care and impartiality," Smith said at a statehouse news conference.

Sweeney pointed to the community mistrust in Bridgeton after the investigation into the fatal shooting of Jerame Reid, who was black, by two officers, one white and one black, in December 2014. A grand jury voted not to file charges against the officers after the shooting, which was caught on dashboard camera.

"There was a lot of hostility and anger over it because there was just a lack of trust," Sweeney said. "Even in Bridgeton it was an African-American female county prosecutor, and there was just a lack of trust that the outcome was a fair outcome. So if we can provide a level of comfort that it's being done properly we need to do that."

Several civil rights groups were to gather later Friday for a social justice rally outside of the federal courthouse in Newark. Participating groups included the NAACP, the National Action Network and the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition.

They planned to call on police, politicians and residents to work together to end the violence and demand more action from police and public officials.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)