DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has issued new guidelines for how his office will handle police-involved shootings and in-custody deaths.
"The objective is to assure the DAs Public Integrity Division and Civil Rights Unit, receives all case evidence and information from detectives and police agencies in a timely manner, so that all officer-involved-shootings, security guard shootings and in-custody death investigations are treated justly and fairly," Creuzot said.
The new policy calls for investigators from the DA's office to arrive on the scene of a shooting involving a police officer within two hours, and to return to the scene within 24 hours to seek out any additional evidence.
Cruezot also wants law enforcement agencies to hand over any dash-cam or body-cam footage within 12 hours of a shooting and to submit the case to the DA's office within 45 days, unless there are reasons to support a delay.
"I think it's very difficult when you put an exact date -- 45 days. I think there might be some issues with that later on, down the way," Dalls Police Association President Mike Mata told NBC 5. However, Mata does support the goal of getting cases to the grand jury sooner rather than later. "We have officers that have been waiting to go to a grand jury for six to eight months," he told NBC 5. "I think that's ridiculous".
Sara Mokuria with the group Mothers Against Police Brutality sees some positive aspects to the new policy - along with some room for improvement. She tells NBC 5 that setting a time frame for turning over evidence and presenting the case to the DA's office is "a huge change. We have not had a time frame for how that information is shared between the law enforcement agency and the District Attorney's Office."
But she also criticized some areas the new policy does not address. "Not spelling out how information will be released to family members and what time frame...and into the general public is still not transparent enough," she said. But overall, she told NBC 5 the policy was "a step forward."