El Monte Police Use Of Force
May 18, 2009
The recent El Monte Police use of force has many in the Southern California legal community scratching their heads. As usual, the pundits have jumped into the “hear me the loudest” fray. I always try to steer clear of that circus, and did so again with this incident.
I would like to note, however, that in evaluating any use of police force, it is the law and the rules that matter. By the “rules” I mean, of course, the police department’s written procedures for using force. Different agencies are free to have policies and procedures regarding when and how their officers may use force. Most attorneys are surprised to learn how varied these policies can be.
In the criminal arena, I am confident the District Attorney’s office has been reviewing the video and will look hard at any possible prosecution(s). On the civil side, there will be no shortage of plaintiff’s counsel interested in whether or not these officers’ actions violated the standard. Both of these inquests will be thorough in the extreme.
In the legal community, we should stay above the three rings, and remind ourselves and our colleagues that the officers’ actions as measured against the twin metrics of the law and internal policy, not the hype or anger in the community, that will determine the end result of any legal matters.
Comments
Got something to say?