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Tell us: What details should be released when an NC police officer shoots someone?

By Mandy Locke North Carolina News Collaborative

Updated April 7, 2022 8:49 AM

In the Dark

When Brandon Smith was shot to death by New Hanover County Sheriffs’ deputies in 2013, his family learned about it on Facebook. Georgia Davis, Smith’s sister, believes that every time a law enforcement uses dangerous physical force on anyone, the public has a right to know every detail. A provision in a NC bill passed last year blocks local agencies from releasing that data, but now some are trying to get back the information they feel is owed. This is their story, in our latest special report.

Part 1: Despite calls for transparency, NC hides details on officer killings and serious assaults

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat and longtime prosecutor, created a task force to study racial inequities in policing in June 2020. He called on the State Bureau of Investigation to create a center to study use of force by law enforcement.

The governor’s order was clear: ”promote transparency” about officers’ use of force.

Legislators, with Cooper’s sign off, did the opposite one year later. All information on events where officers kill or badly injure people will be stored in a confidential database.

Tell us in this poll what you think should be released to the public in these cases.

This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Tell us: What details should be released when an NC police officer shoots someone?."

In the Dark

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