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Police get cooling off period before questioned in shootings

(AP) After a police officer fatally shoots someone, it can take days or even weeks before the public or his supervisors hear the officer’s version of what happened.

In many states, that so-called cooling off period is carved out in state law or in a police department’s contract. That opportunity to take some time before undergoing questioning by investigators angers community activists and others seeking reforms of police departments around the country who believe it gives officers time to reshape their story to justify a shooting and avoid getting fired or charged. Law enforcement officials and experts say officers need to be able to collect their thoughts, so they don’t provide details that are tainted by the trauma of the shooting.

Just the latest example arose in Fort Worth, Texas, where a police officer fatally shot a woman inside her home; before he could be compelled to undergo questioning, he resigned, making it even more difficult to find out what he was thinking, why he fired his gun — and some believe, to get justice.

“We laud police in this society as our protectors and purveyors of justice, and we hold them with such high regard, but when it comes to getting a statement when they have killed one of us, they are held to a lower standard than if we killed one of them,” said Pamela Young, lead organizer for the Tarrant County Coalition for Community Oversight in Michigan. “It’s nonsensical.”

More than a dozen states have what are called Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights carved into law. Other states, especially those with unions, have similar protections as part of negotiated contracts. The amount of time afforded officers before they are questioned varies — as short as 24 hours to up to two weeks.

The grace period dates back in most places to the 1970s and has periodically been questioned in police-use-of-force cases, with watchdogs and community activists considering it another example of the thin blue line rallying around one of its own. It’s difficult to say if the lag time has allowed officers to avoid arrest or conviction, especially because the courts grant police more leeway in using deadly force than the general public.

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