On Monday, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman asked the governor’s office to grant his office permission to investigate and possibly bring charges against law-enforcement officials who have killed unarmed civilians, the New York Times is reporting.
“Mr. Schneiderman also challenged state legislators to pass new laws to repair public confidence in the criminal-justice system, which he said was badly damaged after grand juries in Missouri and on Staten Island declined to bring criminal charges against officers in fatal encounters with unarmed black men,” the Times report explains.
However, the Times describes how the attorney general doesn’t have enough political muscle on his side to enact the kind of changes he seeks. “While the Assembly, dominated by Democrats, has passed bills in the past allowing the attorney general to investigate and prosecute alleged police misconduct, similar measures have failed to advance in the Senate, where Republicans were recently elected to a clear majority,” the Times reports.
According to the Times, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office issued a measured response to Schneiderman’s request, saying that the governor was pursuing a “broader approach that seeks to ensure equality and fairness in our justice system.”
Read more at the New York Times.