Van Hollen comes out against police shootings bill

Van Hollen comes out against bill setting new procedure for police-involved deaths

MADISON, Wis. — Republican Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is coming out against a bipartisan proposal to change the way law enforcement agencies investigate fatal shootings and other officer-involved deaths.

Van Hollen issued a statement Thursday calling the bill “unnecessary, unworkable and an expansion of government’s already too burdensome bureaucracy.”

He says there has been no showing of failure by the law enforcement officers and district attorneys who investigate officer-involved deaths.

The bill introduced on Thursday would require police departments to include at least two people from outside agencies on the team that investigates whether a law was violated.

It comes on the heels of public concern after police in Kenosha and Madison fatally shot two young men and another man died in the custody of Milwaukee police.