[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by molson

It's no different than any other criminal inquiry. That's one of the few types of government records that's fully exempted from public record request laws.

I was surprised the St. Louis DA's office was this blunt about it:

"St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said Wednesday that details about the Brown shooting would not be released any time soon. He urged anyone with information to come forward and promised that every piece of evidence would be reviewed, presented to a grand jury and eventually made public.

By withholding details from the public during the criminal inquiry, investigators would be better able to gauge witnesses’ credibility, he said"

It's a criminal investigation, the officer is being investigated for criminal conduct. I know people get understandably frustrated when stuff with officers, (or with self-defense cases like Zimmerman/Martin) take more time than we're used to seeing for regular crimes. But they do take longer and it makes sense why. The inquiry isn't just about the facts of what happened, but also about whether the force that was obviously used was reasonable under all of the circumstances. You don't have to make those kinds of determinations in cases without police force and without self-defense components, so those things happen much faster.

Very fair point.