Yamiche Alcindor

USA TODAY

A Wisconsin father bent on changing police procedures after an officer killed his son is waging a public battle to change how such deaths are handled across the country.

On Nov. 9, 2004, Michael Bell's unarmed son was shot in the head outside his home by police officers who were cleared of any wrongdoing by their department.

Since then, Bell, who received part of a $1.75 million civil rights lawsuit settlement, has spent more than $850,000 on billboards, newspaper ads and commercials questioning whether police officers should be allowed to investigate other officers who kill while on duty.

Recently, his efforts led the Wisconsin assembly to hold a public hearing on a bill that would bar departments from investigating their own officers after such deaths.

"The goal right now is to have a structure in place that allows for unbiased discovery of police-related fatalities," Bell, 56, of Kenosha, Wis., said. "Police just investigating themselves have an institutional stake in the process so therefore there is a built in bias. They are looking out after themselves."

Bell believes that was the case in his son's death. Michael Bell, 21, died in Kenosha, Wis., after getting into a scuffle with Kenosha police officers. Bell was returning from a night out with friends when police stopped him. His father says he was murdered by overzealous cops but police say the young man was resisting arrest.

In a police report, officers say Bell stopped in front of his home, got out of his car and ignored repeated commands by officers to get back into his car. The young man then fought with officers and was eventually Tasered several times, the report says.

The fight, however, continued. Bell reached for an officer's gun and got a hold of the service holster and twisted the gun belt, the report says. Police then say the officer yelled out that Bell had his gun and another officer shot the young man in the head. A spokesman for the Kenosha police department would not comment on the incident to USA TODAY.

The Kenosha County district attorney declined to charge the officers, and says they acted with "courage and distinction," according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Bell's family later sued the city saying Bell was unlawfully stopped, kicked and choked by police and later unlawfully shot in the head as two officers pinned him down against Bell's car.

On March 2, 2010, the city of Kenosha settled the suit, awarding money but admitting no wrongdoing or liability for the young man's death.

So far, Wisconsin State Rep. Gary Bies and Bell have put forth Wisconsin Assembly Bill 409. If that law passes, officers would be investigated by police departments other than their own. It would also create a five-member review board that would be appointed by the attorney general and made up of a retired or reserve judge, a former police chief or sheriff, an assistant attorney general, a criminal law or justice professor, and a former district attorney.

Supporters hope the bill would become a national model that would increase transparency and public trust after an officer kills. However, some including police unions argue that only active duty officers and district attorneys should assess such deaths.

"When you are judging people by the merits of their work, it should be judged by people who understand the work," said Jim Pasco, executive director of National Fraternal Order of Police.

Nationally, most police departments' internal affairs bureaus handle police-involved deaths, Pasco said. He added that the civilians mentioned in Bell's bill likely wouldn't have the qualifications needed to judge officers' often split second decisions.

Jim Palmer, executive director of Wisconsin Professional Police Association, agrees. He supports requiring police departments to rely on outside officers to investigate officer-involved deaths. But, he adds that the majority of police departments in Wisconsin already do that.

Christopher Ahmuty, executive director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, however says the board isn't diverse enough and should include people who aren't so closely tied to law enforcement. He suggested possibly adding public defenders to the board. Palmer and Pasco are convinced officers can investigate other officers without bias.

Rep. Bies, who introduced the bill, said he thinks the bill will likely be amended to create some compromises.

"This is an issue that comes up all around the country," Bies said. "If we can come up with something that is acceptable in this state, other states may take a look at it and decide it's a policy for their state."

Around the country, hundreds of civilian review boards look into reports of police misconduct but few if any look into incidents where an officer kills someone, experts said. That job is usually left to other officers and district attorneys.

Bell sees the Wisconsin law as a successful step forward after nine years of effort. Part of those efforts included posting dozens of billboards across Wisconsin in areas where officer-involved deaths happened. Several read: "Fix the review process, bad cops stain good cops," and "Should police judge themselves?"

The father also took out national ads in USA TODAY and The New York Times and bought commercial time during high-profile football games. And, he unsuccessfully ran for Kenosha mayor, talking about police-involved shootings during his campaign.

"We were undeniably persistent," said Bell who works with families of others killed and community organizers.

Delores Jones-Brown is a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice's department of law and police science and center on race, crime and justice. She explained that police killings that involve black and Latino youths sometimes result in increased training but usually change little about police practices.

Jones-Brown and Bell both said in many cases, families aren't be able to launch well-funded campaigns for real change.

"He could probably spare $850,00 out of his settlement that other families of color couldn't spare," Jones-Brown said of Bell. "This bill might get us closer to being able to develop some best practices for how to avoid the use of deadly force in these cases."