There is a famous saying that a grand jury “would indict a ham sandwich” if the prosecutor in the case asked them to. In fact, in 2010, of the 162,000 cases brought before a federal grand jury, all but 11 ended in indictments (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

On November 24th, 2014 a grand jury in St. Louis, MO voted not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Mike Brown.

On December 3, 2014 a grand jury in Staten Island, NY voted not to indict Office Daniel Pantaleo for the killing of Eric Garner.

Both of these cases were brought by local prosecutors who work closely with police and rely on the same police departments for help in prosecuting other cases.

And that is the problem.

Local prosecutors need local police departments, and it is incredibly difficult to perform an unbiased investigation and prosecution under these circumstances.

With so many police involved shootings and distrust of our legal system, it is important that police do not handle their own investigations and ensure that there is no conflict of interest with prosecutors. This would allow for more transparent investigations to take place and make sure that law enforcement isn't getting preferential treatment because of any prosecutors conflict of interest.

That is why I am calling on Governor Jerry Brown to publicly call for special prosecutors to be appointed in any criminal investigation involving a police officer.

Justice should always be fair and impartial -- no matter what.