call to action. the crystallization that this is not just about eric garner in new york or about michael brown in ferguson, but it is about them because they ve helped to noteivate, if you will, this movement. but it s about tamir rice and now this has a new national dimnession. with, i believe, the president with the task force you and i had a chance to participate in the announcement of that, creating an opportunity for there to be solid recommendations around police reform. now you mentioned two cases that we ve been involved in and the whole nation has been watching. but the fbi says there was 461 justifiable shootings by police last year. that s the most in two decades. even more disturbing is the fact that these numbers may be underreported, since not all police departments supplied this
day-to-day basis. and big challenges like these should galvanize our country. big challenges like these should unite us around an opportunity that brings us together rather than pulling us apart. the president is calling for millions of dollars to fund body cameras for police. but there are many other potential reforms. everything from improved training to electronically tracking police weapons. it s clear something has to change. joining me now is mark moriel, president of the national urban league. thank you for being here. thank you. we ve been dealing with thysethese issues for a long time. as we said in our national leaders meeting today, now more americans are aware of it than ever before. are we at a tipping point? we are at a tipping point and the president s message around unifying the nation, the protesters and the activists
officer, quote, insisted that he tried to disengage as quickly as he could. well, here s what the video shows. i can t breathe. i can t breathe. i can t breathe. i can t breathe. once again, police beating up on people. back up and get on the steps. this case has become a rallying cry across the country, especially here in new york where protesters under way. there s videotape showing what happened. here is what this comes down to. i believe the system needs to be fixed. from the beginning, i called for federal intervention. there s a conflict with loyal prosecutors dealing with local police. a prosecutor depends on the local police for all of their cases. this is a national crisis, and
he went on to write about loehmann s inability to perform basic functions and emotionally function. and he said, quote, he would not be able to substantially cope or make good decisions during or resulting from any other stressful situation. cleveland police admit they never reviewed this personnel file before hiring the officer. it raises serious questions about officer loehmann s judgment. on this video, tamir rice is clearly pointing and playing with a pellet gun. someone called 911 and so the police had to respond. but is what happened when the police arrived that is so troubling. shooting tamir rice in under two seconds and now this officer s history is adding disturbing details to what happened. joining me now, cleveland city
and you know the relationship between prosecutors and police on a local level. how can that work? we have such the relationship between prosecutors and police is hand in glove. they have to work together. because the prosecutors prosecute the arrests and the cases made by the local police department. to a great extent you have to create a separate independent mechanism to hold police officers accountable. we see a broken system, but it s expected. the history of state prosecutors, prosecuting police officers for misconduct is not a good record in this country. the federal government s record is better. it s why in the garner case and in the michael brown case, we support what attorney general holder has done and that s proceed independently with a federal investigation.