PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Attorney General candidate Kathleen Kane picked up support from local law enforcement officials today.

Kane – a former prosecutor and Democrat – was endorsed by the Suburban Fraternal Order of Police and others.

Kane is the choice for Attorney General by Allegheny County Sheriff Bill Mullen, Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck, and the Suburban Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 91.

“We also know that she will look after the interests and the concerns of the citizens of Pennsylvania, and she’s also aware of the needs of the policing community,” Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 91 President Henry Wiehagan said.

If elected, Kane would be the first woman elected Attorney General, but she stresses she would be independent and non-partisan, charging that her opponent – Dave Freed – is the hand-picked choice of Gov. Tom Corbett.

“I am not the hand-chosen candidate. I was elected by the people of Pennsylvania, and I truly am independent. I don’t owe my candidacy to anyone,” Kane said.

Kane said the next Attorney General must be independent of Gov. Corbett in part to conduct a full investigation of the handling of the Jerry Sandusky case of which she’s been critical of him.

“As a veteran prosecutor who specialized in child sexual assault cases, that three years is too long to keep a sexual predator out on the streets. I would not have used a grand jury. I never have in all the years I’ve been a prosecutor. And I do believe that was a terrible mistake,” Kane said.

Kane pledges to do a full investigation of the delays in bringing charges against Sandusky.

“To be able to move on and to make sure we never have a tragedy like this in Pennsylvania, we need to know what happened, where the breakdown was, where the faults were whether it was politics or inexperience,” Kane said.

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