PHOENIX – House Democratic Leader Reginald Bolding has for years sponsored bills to require third-party investigations of police use of deadly force. Today Bolding released the following statement on HB2650, a new bill sponsored by Speaker Rusty Bowers which also requires third-party investigations of police deadly use of force incidents and creates a new 'critical incident bureau' to handle the cases.
"It's time for law enforcement in Arizona to say, 'we can do better,'" said Bolding, D-Laveen.
"The key aspect of this proposed reform must be to rebuild and restore community trust. That was my goal from the beginning. Police departments investigating themselves when an officer kills somebody doesn't work. Hopefully, this new bureau will commit to provide an independent and objective resource that will hold officers accountable when they break the law. This will help build community trust, but we must also do more. We must also ensure when prosecutors receive these investigations that the community can be confident that the facts of the case determine whether charges are introduced or not. I look forward to working with the Speaker and supporters to make this bill better and move it forward."
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