A “monitor” would not have helped Eric Garner get justice
[Commentary]
Response to Justice Agenda in Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address:
We applaud Governor Cuomo’s commitment to support transparency of statewide racial and ethnic data on police actions and his commitment to raise the age in New York to stop prosecuting young people as adults. We are disappointed that he did not discuss the need for a special prosecutor to investigate cases where New Yorkers are killed in police encounters. This is a step that the Governor could take immediately to help repair the growing rift between police and communities of color and restore faith in the criminal justice system.
We agree with Cuomo on the need for greater transparency of grand juries but his proposed independent monitor doesn’t address the inherent conflict of interest that arises whenever District Attorneys must investigate the police officers they rely upon and work with every day, or the historical failure of local District Attorneys across the country in holding police officers accountable when civilians are unjustly killed. The only way the criminal justice system can truly hold officers accountable is through the creation of a special prosecutor. Real police accountability is still so painfully lacking, and Cuomo must do more to help our communities achieve it.
Priscilla Gonzalez
Organizing Director of Communities United for Police Reform
