CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A major policy change coming to Mecklenburg County is all about who investigates Charlotte Mecklenburg Police officers involved in a shooting.
On Tuesday, the Mecklenburg County district attorney sat down with NBC Charlotte to talk about the decision.
District Attorney Spencer Merriweather says CMPD will no longer conduct criminal investigations on its own officers. Instead, those investigations will be done by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
The announcement comes weeks after the DA’s office announced no criminal charges would be filed in the death of Danquirs Franklin. He was shot and killed by a CMPD officer at a Burger King in north Charlotte.
District Attorney Merriweather told NBC Charlotte he has been looking into the policy change for more than a year, so it has nothing to do with any recent cases.
He said the policy change is an important step for accountability in officer-involved shootings.
“Frankly, it requires making sure we have checked every single box we can in the area of accountability,” Merriweather said.
Following the shooting death of Franklin, several community leaders called for looking into a new policy, from the head of the local NAACP to members of Charlotte’s citizen review board.
NBC Charlotte asked the district attorney if his decision is meant to improve the accuracy of investigations, or if it’s more about public perception.
“I believe perception is extremely important, I believe the perception of having one agency sort of investigating its own carries with it some problems,” Merriweather said.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney responded in a video, touting how his department has handled the difficult cases.
“It’s no secret I continue to have confidence in the way we've conducted investigations,” Chief Putney said in the video.
“I believe CMPD has done an extraordinarily professional job over the years of investigating these cases,” Merriweather said.
However, CMPD is the only police department in Mecklenburg County to investigate its own officers in such cases. Merriweather says it’s time for a change.
“I believe this is an improvement, that said it is also a policy change, and will come with some unforeseen obstacles I'm sure,” Merriweather said.
Merriweather said the new policy will be ready to execute in the next ten weeks or so, after all the agencies involved are brought up to speed.