Reverend Al Sharpton on Tuesday came to the State Capitol to push for independent investigations whenever a police officer is involved in a shooting.
Sharpton's visit intended to urge lawmakers to pass a bill that would create three regional independent investigation teams, which would open probes into police shootings on request of prosecutors or law enforcement agencies.
The New York-based minister said his state created something similar after the death of Eric Garner was blamed on a police chokehold, and Sharpton added that Wisconsin also now has a special prosecutor even though, he said, Governor Scott Walker is not considered progressive.
"If they can have this law," Sharpton said, "certainly California, the land of Hollywood Progressivism, the land where we are given this reputation that this is the state that has birthed many progressive movements, really the hidden secret is that it is not progressive with police accountability in terms of prosecution."
Sharpton insisted that district attorneys' need for police endorsement and the daily interaction between their offices make it all but impossible for an impartial investigation.
The California District Attorneys Association had not return a call for comment as the printing of this article.