Abinanti to Propose Bill to Have AG Prosecute Police Offenses
Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Pleasantville) said he plans to introduce legislation next session that mandates the state Attorney General’s office to investigate and prosecute any criminal allegation made against a police officer rather than the district attorney.
Abinanti, whose bill would call for a uniform statewide standard, said while public confidence in the criminal justice system involving police officers has been shaken with the high-profile cases in Ferguson, Mo. and Staten Island last summer, the issue has been simmering well before those incidents.
He said a district attorney’s office which works closely with its local police agencies shouldn’t be expected to investigate and prosecute when there is an accusation of a crime.
“There is an appearance of a conflict of interest – if not an inherent actual conflict of interest –– every time a local district attorney is called on to handle a matter against a local police officer with whom the DA must work in the normal course of their duties,” Abinanti said.
The current law allowing the governor the latitude to take a case away from a county’s district attorney’s office has been insufficient to maintain the public’s faith in the system, the assemblyman said. He also said it would protect the cops because while recent incidents have appeared to favor police officers, there can be situations where juries or grand juries are biased against cops.
Under Abinanti’s proposed legislation, the automatic referral would take place whether the offense stems from an incident in the line of duty or while the officer is not at work.
“I think the public and the police officer deserve a fair review, whether an allegation is from an on-duty (incident) or is a non-line of duty situation,” he said.
Calls placed to the office of Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore were not returned last week regarding Abinanti’s proposal. Representatives of the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police declined to comment directly on the assemblyman’s proposal because it has not been reviewed. However, the organization referred The Examiner to its recent statement in response to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s request to Gov. Andrew Cuomo that his office be temporarily granted the authority to investigate any case that results in the death of an unarmed person at the hands of a police officer.
The correspondence chided Schneiderman for citing the lack of public confidence in justifying the change in the criminal justice system and for the attorney general’s lack of accountability in a particular jurisdiction.
“Local District Attorneys have been elected by their constituents and are held accountable by the same to prosecute all crimes, including police misconduct,” a portion of the statement read. “It is very common for District Attorneys to work side-by-side with Police Officials when prosecuting police officers for illegal acts. We do not feel it will bode well for our profession to have the State Attorney General conducting investigations…in our local jurisdictions when he has no accountability to the local populace nor is he necessarily vested in that community.”
State Sen. George Latimer (D-Rye) said there are numerous proposals that are likely to be submitted in the upcoming session by legislators from across the state. Latimer suggested that the state form an impartial body or committee consisting of a wide range of stakeholders to not only review potential legislation but to discuss whether any changes in the system should be made.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/