While journalists and civil libertarians have historically clamored for the release of details related to questionable police actions, the crisis of confidence in law enforcement that followed Mr. Garner’s death and the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, in Ferguson, Mo., has propelled the issue onto legislative and political agendas nationwide.
From Albany to Jefferson City, Mo., to Sacramento, elected officials and law enforcement leaders are increasingly confronting demands for police information and questions of transparency in the criminal justice system.
In Washington, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. recently invoked the issue of transparency as a key element in restoring trust between the police and those they serve.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York proposed last month that district attorneys release reports on grand jury proceedings in police killings when no indictment is returned — a striking departure from the traditional secrecy of the process.
