IMHO, the moment a police agency is involved in a case such as this the responsibility for investigating it should be turned over to another agency, preferably from an entirely different jurisdiction. Pending getting someone on the scene who does not work with, or for, those involved in the incident the scene should be secured by officers from a local agency that is not involved in the incident.
It defies common sense to have those who might have committed errors, or crimes, or those who work with them, investigating themselves.
Situations such as this are highly charged and can be very confusing to begin with, it makes no sense for those who have a stake in the outcome of an incident do the investigation and even have control over the evidence surrounding the incident.
The average, law abiding citizen is truly caught in the middle in 21st century America. On one side is the criminal who often do as they please and then fight like hell not to be held responsible. On the other side you have officers whose hands have been so tightly tied that they feel compelled to bend the rules in order to get their job done.
As a matter of fact, it seems to me, again IMHO, that there is virtually no oversight in America these days. As budgets have gotten tighter and tighter the first thing to go has been the jobs of those who are supposed to keep an eye on things.
If I had my way, and I seldom if ever do, I would make it the law that of any agency’s budget a hefty percentage would HAVE to be used to assure oversight of it’s operation.
The unions will not allow that.
Are you saying that these episodes of police misconduct we read about today are because police's hands have been too tightly tied?
If your answer is "yes", how would you untie them?