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Activists call for system reforms after acquittals in Sean Bell case

BY STEVE RITEA | steve.ritea@newsday.com

3:40 PM EDT, April 27, 2008

The acquittal of three officers Friday in the shooting death of Sean Bell lays bare the flaws in a system desperate for reforms, civil rights activists said Sunday, calling for a special prosecutor to handle such cases.

"It is difficult, almost impossible, to prosecute on-duty police officers in police misconduct cases, especially those involving homicide allegations," said civil rights lawyer and former New York Civil Liberties Union head Norman Siegel. "The verdict underscores the need for systemic change."

Flanked by Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and members of the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care at a news conference outside One Police Plaza in Manhattan, Siegel called on Gov. David A. Paterson to help bring about such reforms.

Chief among those changes, they said, is the need for a special statewide prosecutor to handle any serious shooting or corruption by a police officer.

The governor's office and NYPD had no immediate comment.

"We would like to believe that the prosecutor's office, the police department and the various arms of the criminal justice system are separate bodies, but in reality they are not," Adams said. "When a member of that body does something that is wrong... it is difficult for another member of that body to successfully prosecute."

They also called for reforms in the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the agency empowered to investigate allegations of police misconduct, including requiring it to hold regular town hall meetings. And they want police officers to receive periodic psychological reviews, and called for a pay increase, starting with a hike in starting pay for officers.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, said he is also working on legislation that would give the state Attorney General responsibility for crime scenes after any police shooting, not the department involved.

Bell was shot Nov. 25, 2006 by three officers outside the Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica.

"Those officers may have discharged the bullet, but our failures loaded the gun," Adams said.