Cops teach tips for dealing with police

About 30 people gathered in a meeting room at the Elmont Public Library on Dec. 15 to learn about the grand jury process and participate in a workshop designed to educate young people about how to handle police interactions.

The Jamaica Square Improvement League organized the presentations in response to the outrage and debate sweeping the nation concerning recent police killings of young, unarmed black men. The group’s president, Claudine Hall, said education should be part of the reaction. “I support marches. I think they’re awesome,” she said. “But I think education is the most important thing we can do.”

South Floral Park Mayor Geoffrey Prime, an attorney and former prosecutor, gave a presentation on the grand jury process, explaining that it’s a group of citizens chosen at random who hear evidence presented by a prosecutor in order to determine if there is enough to bring a case to trial. Grand juries in Nassau County sit for one month and consist of between 16 and 23 people who are summoned by letter. A minimum of 12 must be in agreement to make a decision, he said, and if no indictment is returned, prosecutors can present the evidence to a new grand jury.

Prime explained that controversy surrounded the hearings regarding the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri and the Eric Garner case in Staten Island because the officers in question gave lengthy testimony. Because prosecutors have total control over what evidence is presented, allowing potential defendants to give their side of the story was unusual, he said, and raised questions about whether the prosecutors wanted a trial in each case or not.

“I know that there’s been a movement to maybe revamp the grand jury system, because it’s a system that’s been in effect since New York State’s Constitution was enacted, which was about 200 years ago,” Prime said. “There’s a thought that maybe it’s a little bit outdated in this day and age.”