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Congressman Cohen: Remove Conflict of Interest in Prosecution of Officer-Involved Deaths

October 16, 2015

[Washington, D.C.] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, today released the following statement regarding the announcement that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) will now handle all inquiries into officer-involved deaths for the Memphis Police Department and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t solve the problem,” said Congressman Cohen. “Even if TBI investigates an officer-involved death, the decision about whether to prosecute the officer involved is still being left to the same local District Attorney with whom that officer works on a regular basis. This is a conflict of interest. The decision about whether to prosecute should be made by an independent prosecutor from a different jurisdiction.” The Congressman added, “We also need transparency, and this doesn’t advance that because TBI investigations are sealed under state law.”

Congressman Cohen introduced legislation in May, the Police Training and Independent Review Act, with Congressman Lacy Clay (MO-01, which includes Ferguson, Missouri) to encourage states to require independent investigation and prosecution of incidents in which police use of deadly force results in a death or injury. To date, it has 36 cosponsors in the House and is supported by the NAACP.

Currently, police-related civilian death cases are rarely prosecuted. The legislation would remove an obvious conflict of interest between local police and the prosecuting District Attorney, who relies on a close working relationship with those same police officers to carry out other prosecutorial duties.

In July, Congressman Cohen wrote a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling on the Department of Justice to open an independent investigation into the shooting death of Darrius Stewart, a 19 year old African American man killed by a white Memphis Police Officer following a routine traffic stop. A copy of the letter can be found here.