City Council Wants Public Inquest Reinstated

The San Diego City Council voted unanimously Monday to formally ask the county coroner to reinstitute the public inquest process for all controversial police shootings.

With little public debate, the council approved a request by Councilman Wes Pratt that the city attorney send a letter to Coroner David Stark and the county Board of Supervisors calling for a coroner’s inquest every time public concerns are raised about a police officer’s killing of a civilian.

“I think a public inquest process will allow the public the opportunity to know a lot of facts about any particular incident,” Pratt said.

“We all support it,” added Mayor Maureen O’Connor, noting that the issue now goes before county elected officials. “We’ll be interested to see what comes of it.”

George Bailey, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said he was not opposed to reinstituting the public inquest for the more questionable shootings.

“I have no objection if it helps get to the bottom of some of these,” Bailey said. “But I don’t think it’s necessary for all them.

Supervisor Brian Bilbray agreed, but only if the costs for the hearings are borne by the city.

“I don’t like doing this,” he said. “I don’t think it should be a rule. It should be an exception. But I also think it’s a legitimate concern that the city has. I just want to make sure we have the appropriate way of handling it.”

Bilbray said the supervisors have informally discussed the issue over the past several weeks, including the possibility of extending the term of the county grand jury to allow it more time to investigate controversial shootings.

“I don’t think this board is afraid of breaking new ground,” he said. “We just don’t want to break any rules.”

City Atty. John Witt said California law states that the county coroner “shall” hold public inquests whenever requested to do so by the city attorney, a point he will raise in his letter to the county officials.

Stark, who could not be reached for comment Monday, voiced his opposition to the inquest process last week. He said state law limits an inquest to only disclosing the cause of death, which his office already does, and not to assessing the criminal or civil liability.

Stark said San Diego stopped holding inquests in 1970 when those limits were imposed.

Bailey said Monday that he agreed that the coroner’s office should not duplicate the efforts of police detectives.

“What else is the coroner going to see but what the body says?” Bailey said. “He’s not an official investigative detective. But I have no objections to an inquest (into the cause of death) if it would help cool a situation down.”

Pratt began calling for the public inquests after the county grand jury declined to hold an independent investigation into the death of Tommie Dubose.