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HARRISBURG — The ink from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto pen was barely dry from rejecting rules for police secrecy when a prosecutors group yesterday pressed to withhold the names of officers involved in shootings.

Among a raft of guidelines for handling police shootings, the Pennsylvania District Attorney Association suggested that officers not be identified to the public unless they are criminally charged. The group said that would mirror the treatment of citizens involved in shootings that are deemed justified.

As he rejected a bill calling for similar secrecy, Wolf said last week that shootings involving police “demand utmost transparency, otherwise a harmful mistrust will grow between police officers and the community.”

Wolf’s spokesman, Jeff Sheridan, yesterday pointed again to the governor’s veto message, which indicated that decisions should be made locally.

Only identifying officers who are charged with misconduct is a half-step, said Andy Hoover, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania. He noted that the identities of officers who face criminal charges would be revealed in court anyway.

It’s possible that officers found to have not broken the law took actions violating their training, Hoover said, and the public has a right to know that.

The public also has an interest in knowing about officers who’ve acted heroically, he said. “If he did his job, we should know that.”

The district attorneys group indicated that prosecutors won’t likely follow all 16 of its recommendations. Those include a warning against police departments investigating themselves, suggesting that district attorneys handle news media, and encouraging the release of recordings of incidents, when available, if officers’ actions are found to have been justified.

In a statement, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said prosecutors may tailor recommendations to the “needs and resources” of their communities.

Crawford County District Attorney Francis Schultz said he plans to do that, but it’s too soon to tell how many of the guidelines he’ll put in place.

Schultz said he is first sharing the report with police chiefs to get their feedback.

Schulz said he’s not had a police shooting since becoming district attorney in 2000. If one occurred, he said he would decide whether and when to release an officer’s name based on circumstances.

In small communities such as the ones he serves, Schultz said it’s likely that the public would learn the name of the officer anyway.

In a statement accompanying the guidelines, Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan said they “reflect a straightforward, common-sense and balanced approach to these difficult events.”

Hoover said the ACLU agrees that some guidelines are common-sensical. He noted, for example, a suggestion that multiple officers at the scene of a shooting be separated immediately so that they may be interviewed independently.

But the guidelines also say a local district attorney should decide whether an investigation has determined a shooting was justified.

Given how closely prosecutors work with police, Hoover said the public might be skeptical that a review overseen by the district attorney is really independent.

Hoover said ACLU appreciates that prosecutors took the initiative to craft the recommendations, even if they don’t agree with all of them.

“It’s a glass half-full scenario,” he said.

The bill vetoed by Wolf last week would have prevented police agencies from releasing names of officers involved in shootings for up to 30 days following an incident.

The bill stemmed from Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey’s policy of immediately naming officers – a decision that drew rebuke from police unions. The bill passed in both houses of the Legislature by wide margins.

The Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association supports public access to the names of officers involved in shootings, for the same reasons cited by Wolf.

“It provides accountability and promises trust and understanding between law enforcement officials and the community,” said Melissa Melewsky, an attorney for the group.

Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law covers police and district attorneys, she added, so they would have to justify keeping officers’ names secret.

John Finnerty covers the Pennsylvania Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jfinnerty@cnhi.com.