The Travis County district attorney says she's changing longstanding policy on officer-involved shootings and will only forward to a grand jury those cases where a shooting was unlawful or if the facts are in dispute.
District Attorney Margaret Moore told KVUE-TV and the Austin American-Statesman that she's discussed the change with groups like the Austin police union, which supports the move.
The district attorney's office previously forwarded to the grand jury all cases in which police used lethal force.
Moore says the change makes her office more accountable in determining which cases are forwarded for possible prosecution.
Her predecessors had viewed grand jurors as independent reviewers who should determine whether to indict.
Travis County grand juries rarely indict officers for using deadly force. Only one officer has been indicated in the past decade.
