Springfield NAACP branch issues position paper calling for mandatory independent investigations of all city police shootings

By Greg Saulmon, The Republican, December 16, 2011

 SPRINGFIELD — The local branch of the NAACP on Friday issued a “position paper” calling for mandatory independentinvestigations of all police-involved shootings, a day after renewing its request for an outside probe into the November death of a city teenager after a confrontation with officers responding to a stolen car report.

“We feel strongly that any time an officer discharges his firearm and it results in the death of a citizen of our city, or a serious injury, that independent eyes should look at that particular case,” said Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, president of the NAACP’s Springfield branch. Swan spoke during a press conference at Spring of Hope Church on Alden Street, where he serves as a pastor.

The position paper comes on the heels of Swan’s call on Thursday for an independent investigation of the shooting of 18-year-old Tahiem Goffe. Police said Goffe was driving a stolen vehicle and that he attempted to run down an officer when cornered in the early hours of Nov. 6.

Goffe died of his injuries two days later.

In his remarks on Friday, Swan echoed the position paper in noting that his request for an outside review does not imply any wrongdoing by officer Matthew Benoit, who fired the shot that killed Goffe — and who was injured after being struck by the car Goffe was driving. “The facts detailed in this paper neither presume nor insinuate that Springfield Police Officer Matthew Benoit’s actions in the shooting death of Tahiem Goffe were improper or racially motivated,” reads a passage in the section of the paper labeled “Disclaimer.”

At the core of the four-page document is a recommendation that any case in which a police officers shoots and kills or wounds a citizen should trigger a “very specific protocol.”

“It is important that the very specific and formal protocol include mandatory independent investigations,” the document reads.

Because prosecutors often rely on police cooperation in the courtroom, the paper argues, a potential conflict arises when a district attorney’s office is called upon to review or prosecute police misconduct. That conflict is compounded when the only witnesses to potential police misconduct are themselves charged in the same incident.


Rev. Talbert W. Swan II discusses call for independent investigations into police shootings In a Friday Dec. 16 press conference, Rev. Swan discusses a “position paper” issued by the Springfield branch of the NAACP that recommends a mandatory investigation by an outside agency any time a city police officer shoots and kills or wounds a citizen. Watch video


According to the NAACP’s position paper, an investigation by an outside agency circumvents those conflicts: “The appointment of a neutral entity outside of the Springfield Police Department to pursue investigations in police-involved shooting cases will help to eliminate the conflict of interest that is inherent in a district attorney’s review of a police departments’ investigation into its own conduct.”

Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastrioanni told The Republican on Thursday that he had met with Swan earlier in the day to discuss the NAACP branch’s latest request for an independent investigation of the Goffe shooting.

In a Nov. 17 letter to Swan responding to the branch’s initial request for an independent probe, Mastrioanni explained that two “parallel” investigations into the shooting are underway: a standard investigation by the city’s Detective Bureau and an investigation by the Internal Investigations Unit of the Springfield Police Department. The state police ballistics team is assisting the Internal Investigations Unit in the latter review of the incident.

Following Thursday’s meeting with Swan, Mastroianni said his office may conduct a further investigation and will make all findings public.

“I will review Rev. Swan’s request for an independent investigation, and will respond,” Mastroianni said, adding: “I think we have a fair investigatory review process in place, but I am not closing the door to his request.”

Swan on Friday reiterated his claim that even two investigations by the Springfield Police Department are not enough: “I believe that the community stands where we stand — that we believe that especially in serious cases like this, that it is not good public policy for the police to investigate the behavior of the police.”

In Swan’s view, only an independent agency with no ties to the department could deliver a report that would allow Mastroianni’s office to sufficiently assess the incident. “That should be the case that the district attorney is reviewing — not a review of the police reviewing the police,” Swan said.
Springfield NAACP recommendation: Officer-Involved Shooting Policy
Staff writer Suzanne McLaughlin contributed to this report.


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