Opinion | Police misconduct needs to be tracked by prosecutors and acted on. - NBCNewsTHINK
Unfortunately, most prosecutors don’t track police misconduct in an organized, systematic way. Instead, line prosecutors primarily share information with one another about police officers by word of mouth and anecdotally, if they share it at all. This approach risks having prosecutors pursue cases involving officers with credibility problems without being aware of the officers’ histories — let alone disclosing that information to the defense.
One way prosecutors can effectively fulfill their ethical obligations and hold officers accountable is by keeping officewide databases of police officers whose credibility has been questioned. A small but growing number of prosecutors are creating police disclosure lists that help prosecutors demonstrate to their communities that they are independent of the police and are taking steps to ensure the integrity of their cases by disclosing problematic behavior to the defense.
To help prosecutors develop their own police disclosure lists, the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York recently published its. The guide details 11 recommendations to create and maintain police disclosure lists that are fair to defendants and protect the due process rights of police.
For example, prosecutors working on criminal cases don’t have to accept the participation of police who’ve engaged in misconduct simply because police departments are unwilling or unable to remove them from the force. Instead, prosecutors should use their police disclosure lists to identify highly problematic officers and prohibit them from testifying. Prosecutors can even decline to prosecute cases involving officers with histories of severe wrongdoing altogether.
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