Editorial: No secrecy for police shootings

Thursday, May 6, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

Asuspect was killed last week as North Las Vegas Police officers served a search warrant at an apartment complex as part of a drug investigation. Police say the suspect, Cipriano Gerardo Lopez, fired a shot at the officers and that he was killed when a hooded undercover officer fired back. An officer-involved shooting is rare in North Las Vegas -- there were only three last year and just one resulted in a death. But another aspect that makes this shooting extraordinary is that the North Las Vegas Police Department won't identify the officer who killed the suspect.

Normally, police departments in Southern Nevada release the name of police officers involved in shootings within 48 hours of the incident. But as the Las Vegas Sun reported last week, the North Las Vegas Police Department is refusing to identity the officer and is seeking to keep the officer's name secret even during the traditionally open Clark County coroner's inquest. Officer Tim Bedwell, a police department spokesman, said publicly identifying the undercover officer would compromise his safety. Bedwell adds that if the officer's cover is blown, it also could jeopardize ongoing criminal investigations.

If the department's policy of secrecy is allowed to stand, however, it would thwart the accountability that American police departments owe the public. Refusing to identify officers who use deadly force, and closing the subsequent coroner's inquests, would be more compatible with Third World systems than ours. Just as undercover officers can be called upon to testify during public trials, they can and should be identified by name whenever they wound or kill someone. A policy of allowing undercover police officers to be treated differently than regular officers opens the door to increased secrecy. What's to stop a police department from saying any officer involved in a shooting was working undercover?

The public entrusts police officers with the power of deadly force. The trust should be repaid by being accountable and open whenever this force is used.