From the Desk of Jill Jones-Soderman
Commentary on the Article
- “Why Cops Lie”
As to the experience of staff of the Foundation for the Child
Victims of The Family Courts, we find that there is a globally cynical view of a parent who files a
complaint – or even asks a question of police, where the back story
involves custody litigation. We have
found that police immediately take a position that the person making the call
is somehow making a false accusation against the other party, or somehow
looking to establish an excuse for “getting away with ….....”something!
In one instance a call to local police in the midst of a
major snow storm, occasioning road closures in the New York tri state area
regarding a specific area was met with a barrage of questions as to why the caller was asking such
questions. A direct response to the question which involved the driving of a
child to a parent after a visit and an attempt to gauge time and driving
conditions with storm conditions was followed by a team of officers being sent to the home of
a domestic violence victim for a well check on the child and demands that the
parent provide the name and number of the parent to whom the child was being
returned so that officers could “investigate”.
With the intervention of the FCVFC at the time of the event,
this over reach of demands for investigation where there was no probable cause
for any police intervention was stopped. A complaint filed with the officer in
charge of this police jurisdiction was met with completely appropriate internal investigation, an apology to our client and an assurance that
future interventions would be handled with insight and discretion. The FCVFC
appreciated the response of the Chief and said so in writing.
The Foundation always deals with adverse actions experienced
by our clients with a response that takes in consideration for the immediate
protection of our client's rights as well as the public policy issues central to
the presenting problem which threatened our client.
No comments:
Post a Comment