Ellison: State needs plan for police shootings

Minnesota's top prosecutor says the state cannot "keep going from crisis to crisis to crisis" whenever law enforcement fatally shoots someone.

Attorney General Keith Ellison will join Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington as co-chairs of a 16-member working group focused on officer-involved shootings.

Ellison said Monday that everyone needs to get together and figure out a plan that assures fairness and transparency.

Harrington says the time to discuss deadly-force encounters is not when one happens. He says since 2014, there have been 101 officer-involved shootings in Minnesota resulting in injury or death.

The group includes Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin and Clarence Castile, uncle of Philando Castile, who was fatally shot by a police officer during a 2016 traffic stop.

Three public hearings are planned, starting next month. A final report to the Legislature is expected by February 2020.