North Carolina Agencies Spar Over Control of ‘Untrustworthy Officer’ Identification

A bill currently making its way through the North Carolina General Assembly highlights an ongoing dispute the state’s prosecutors and law enforcement on the process of identifying untrustworthy police officers, Virginia Bridges reports for The News & Observer.

The proposed legislation, House Bill 704, aims to repeal a section of a 2021 law that mandates the reporting of “Giglio letters” – notifications from district attorneys designating officers as untrustworthy for court testimony. The dispute primarily centers around whether the state’s Conference of District Attorneys or the Police Benevolent Association should have control over this process. Critics argue that repealing the notification requirements diminishes transparency and could allow officers with a history of bias or dishonesty to find new positions in law enforcement while the Police Benevolent Association says repealing the notification requirements is necessary to give officers proper due process while identifying problematic individuals.