Delaware County DA Announces Task Force To Strengthen Connections With Police
DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) - The Delaware County district attorney announced Tuesday the creation of a task force to strengthen connections with local police. It comes as Pennsylvania lawmakers look to change how police are hired and trained.
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer says that it's time for a discussion about what public safety means.
"There's a lot of activity going on in our community asking for a change. Today is a day when we start taking that activity and that energy and putting it into concrete action," he said.
"We know that this type of work doesn't happen overnight. But this is where we can start. This is the beginning of much-needed and long-overdue change," Delaware County Council Vice Chair Dr. Monica Taylor said.
The task force will focus on what it calls "21st century policing and prosecution."
It will include members of the community and all parts of the criminal justice system.
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In Harrisburg, two bills aim to address potential instances of post-traumatic stress disorder among police candidates, as well as creating a database for disciplinary records.
"What we found is that this is a national model that other folks are using because police officers are able to go from district to district and when they are getting hired, you can't find out what happened in the last department they were in," State Rep. Jordan Harris said.
The bills have made it out of the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee with unanimous bipartisan support.
