Gov: Need law for slay-by-cop prober office

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo threatened to pull the plug on the state’s special prosecutor tasked with investigating police killings if the office is not enshrined into law.

The governor urged lawmakers on Monday to pass legislation that would fully fund a separate office that would investigate police-relate deaths of unarmed civilians. Cuomo named the state attorney general as a special prosecutor in 2015

“That executive order was a temporary measure,” Cuomo said. “Until we can pass a real bill, the executive order is done by the authority of the governor, but it dies with the governor. I fall over, bing, have a heart attack today, that goes away.”

Cuomo’s executive order removed local district attorneys from investigating and prosecuting police officers who kill unarmed civilians, placing the power in the hands of the state attorney general.

The measure was introduced a year after calls for police oversight surged in the wake of the death of 43-yearold Eric Garner, who was placed in a chokehold by a police officer on Staten Island, and the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, Mo. Grand juries chose not to bring criminal charges against either of the officers involved.

Police unions and prosecutors have pushed back on the executive order, arguing that local district attorneys would be better equipped to handle investigations into deaths involving police than the attorney general or a special prosecutor.

The governor said at the time that the setup was only temporary and called on the Legislature to pass a law making the measure permanent. He repeated that call Monday.

“We were supposed to pass a law that enshrines a special prosecutor for police misconduct, that has never happened,” he said. “I’m not going to continue to do this under executive order. I want a real office set up, with real funding and real expertise.”