Wisconsin Passes First State Law Requiring Independent Investigations of Police-Custody Deaths

[tblue37]

"Wisconsin Passes First State Law Requiring Independent Investigations of Police-Custody Deaths"

After relentless pressure from the families of shooting victims, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill, the first of its kind in the nation, requiring deaths in police custody to be investigated by outside organizations. Is there potential for similar bills to be passed elsewhere?

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"I have a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who was shot in the head while his hands were behind his back in handcuffs, being held down by another officer and there are five eyewitnesses, and his father is a retired Air Force colonel ... and I [was] ignored and vilified. What must it be like for people aren't in that privileged class?" Bell asked.

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Fifty-three people have died in police custody in Wisconsin between 2003 and 2009, and state police departments reported officers killed 41 people between June 2008 and April 2013, according to the Associated Press. All the reported killings were determined to be "justifiable."

"We researched the state of Wisconsin and we could not find an 'unjustified' ruling of a police-involved shooting in 129 years since the police and fire departments were first formed in 1885, and we knew that was an impossible record of perfection. Either the police officers were perfect, or there was something wrong with the system," Bell said.

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more: http://truth-out.org/news/item/23463-wisconsin-passes-first-state-law-requiring-independent-investigations-of-police-custody-deaths

[factsarenotfair]

1. Is this a story from the Twilight Zone?