Not surprisingly, communities of color, who are disproportionately exposed to police violence and misconduct, have a much less favorable view of the police than the population overall, and little belief that misdeeds will be revealed or punished. In a 2017 Pew Research poll, 64 percent of Americans said they had generally warm feelings toward the police. But for black Americans it was just 30 percent. If mayors, police chiefs and legislatures are serious about instilling real faith in these communities, they should hand over full control of investigations to the one group of lawyers used to treating the police in an adversarial fashion, all of them experts in police rules and procedures: public defenders.

Unlike prosecutors, who often work hand-in-hand with the police to make a case for conviction, defenders are used to questioning the stories police officers tell. For example, in a case of mine many years ago, the prosecutor and his police witness seemed confident that their evidence was unassailable: Two officers had walked up to the car my client was sitting in, looked in the windows, and seen what looked like cocaine. What never occurred to them, although it was easy enough for me to find out, was that their walk from the police car to my client’s car took them from one city to another. When they arrived, they were out of their jurisdiction and had no authority to make an arrest. It seems minor, but it exemplifies the different approach that defenders must take to protect our clients’ interests — and the rigor we are accustomed to bringing to our investigation of everything the police say and do.

As a result, our relationship with the police tends to be adversarial. This is not to say that we can’t be cordial and respectful, but there is an understanding that defenders are there to challenge and scrutinize the police, not work with them. Unlike prosecutors, we almost never have to worry about calling officers as witnesses for our clients. And unlike state police or departments from neighboring locales, we will never find ourselves collaborating with the police officers on a case, so we don’t have to worry about whether they will work with us.

It can be professionally perilous for prosecutors to buck the wishes of the police. A new generation of reformist prosecutors has lately taken a less punitive approach to criminal justice — for example, by declining to prosecute certain drug charges or to seek bail — prompting resistance from some police officials. The governors of Texas, Florida and Massachusetts have publicly chastised these progressive prosecutors or curtailed their authority.