Last month, a Dallas police officer claimed a mentally ill man lunged at him with a knife, to which he shot the man in response. Despite the cop's tale, video of the incident surfaced and showed the mentally ill man did nothing of the sort. Instead, he was just sitting in place and the cop shot him from a safe distance. In response to the controversy, the Dallas police chief has decided to change their policies to allow police to take 72 hours to view all evidence against them before making a statement.

From the Dallas Mourning News:

Any Dallas officer involved in a police shooting — whether the officer fired a weapon or witnessed the gunfire — will now have the right to remain silent for 72 hours under a new department policy.

 

And even before they give a statement about the shooting, the officers can watch any available video before they give a statement.

 

Previously an officer who witnessed a shooting typically would have been required to give a statement to police investigators within hours of the event. And the officer who fired, while not required to speak right away, typically did so. The new policy now requires the firing officer to wait at least three days before giving a complete statement to investigators.

 

Chief David Brown quietly made major policy change less than a month after surveillance video went public in October that showed an officer shooting a mentally ill man for no apparent reason — contrary to a witnessing officer’s account that led to a felony charge against the victim.

 

“It is my belief that this decision will improve the investigation of our most critical incidents,” Brown said in an emailed statement.

 

An attorney for the shooting victim, who survived, said the policy will give officers involved in unjustified shootings time to make excuses.

 

[...]Don Tittle, one of Bennett’s attorneys, called the policy change “maddening.” Give police officers enough time, evidence and lawyers, and all their statements will sound alike and justify a shooting, he said.

 

Plus, he said, any other witness to a crime is asked to talk to officers at the scene, he said.

 

“If the goal is to seek the truth in an incident, then why would a witness to a police shooting be treated differently than a witness to any other incident?” he said. “No other witness is told, here, you have three days to get back to us. And, by the way, here is a copy of all the video of the incident so you can get your story straight.”