An independent look at the official investigation.

Why an independent review

Internal investigations and prosecutors' reviews are conducted by people who work alongside the officers involved. They may be thorough, or they may accept the officers' account and stop. A family told that a death was justified, or an attorney handed a closed file, needs to know which it was.

What a review examines

Every report, statement, recording, and photograph is read against every other. Do the officers' accounts agree with one another, and with the video? Do the timestamps on the dispatch log match the narrative? Which witnesses were interviewed, and which were not? What evidence was collected, and what was left at the scene? The findings are set out in a chronology that separates what the evidence shows from what the report asserts.

Reinvestigation

Where the review finds gaps, they are filled: witnesses who were never interviewed are located, cameras that were never checked are identified, and records that were never requested are obtained. In wrongful conviction matters, this includes re-interviewing trial witnesses and looking for evidence favorable to the accused that was never disclosed.

An honest assessment

An independent review is useful only if it is candid. Sometimes the evidence supports the official account, and a family or an attorney is better served by learning that early. The purpose is to establish what happened.