Attorney General Aaron Ford on Friday asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to give his office the power to conduct “pattern and practice” investigations into the policies and conduct of law enforcement agencies in Nevada.
“The goal is not to name and shame law enforcement agencies,” he said. “Rather, this bill is about accountability.”
AB58, he said, states that, “no law enforcement agency shall engage in a pattern or practice that deprives people of their rights.”
He said the federal government already has that power but that a state law is necessary because whether the Justice Department conducts those investigations is completely up to the current presidential administration. He said there hasn’t been such an investigation by the DOJ since 2017.
He said AB58 also fixes one weakness of the federal law by giving the AG’s office subpoena power to seek documents and call witnesses.
Those investigations could be initiated by public complaints and a variety of other methods and range from use of force to civil rights violations and racist conduct as well as any other issues people want investigated. But the AG would have the ability to determine there isn’t enough evidence to move forward in certain cases.
Ford said every investigation started by the AG’s office would issue a public report on the findings at the conclusion. That report could have any of four conclusions: no violation was found, that the allegations couldn’t be substantiated, that the agency agreed to fix the problems found or that the agency refused to remedy the issues found.
In the case of the last option, he said the AG would have the ability to file a civil action in court to get an injunction ordering the agency to comply with the findings and fix the problem.
But he said no monetary penalties could be imposed and that the goal is a cooperative examination of any complaints that are filed.
He said those reports would be made public for full transparency.
“It’s one tool in the toolbox to build a better justice system in Nevada,” he said.
Ford and his top assistant Jessica Adair said law enforcement, public defenders, the DA’s and other groups including the ACLU were all part of the negotiations and have signed on in support of AB58, which passed the Assembly unanimously.
The committee took no action on the measure.
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