Town of Castle Rock, Colorado v. Gonzales, 545 US 748 (2005)
Facts of the Case: In 1999 Jessica and Simon Gonzales were getting a divorce.
Jessica had gotten a restraining order issued against Simon with certain child visitation stipulations in place. The children were outside playing alone and were taken by Simon without the consent of Jessica.
Jessica called the police and explained her situation to Officers Brink and Ruisi at approximately 7:30 PM, the evening the children were taken. Jessica was told that due to the nature of the restraining order there was nothing they could do. Expressly they could not seek out and arrest Simon, which is what Jessica demanded of them. Jessica would call multiple times after that until filing an incident
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Justice Scalia alluded to the fact that there would have to be considerable respect given to officer discretion in light of the direction to “use every reasonable means to enforce a restraining order” given the lack of property interest created by the Gonzales situation.
In Jessica’s court documents her legal team even admits there may be times when enforcing a restraining order can be accomplished by ways other than arrest, especially when there is a technical violation. In cases such as Sandin v Conner and Olim v
Wakinekona Castle Rock’s legal team wrote “procedural mandates do not create substantive entitlements” coupled with the explanation that states can require certain conduct by their employees without creating a property interest.
The difficulty with this case is the senseless loss of life involved which moves people to assume there had to have been someone to blame for not doing their due diligence.
This is understandable, but mistaken when the case is objectively viewed with the fact that a restraining order is not a protective order. While there can be some discussion
over the decisions made with personal values in question, the fact that there was not an encroachment on constitutional
Colorado Petitioner v. Francis Barry Connelly was a case appealed on October 8, 1986 by the Supreme Court of Colorado and later decided on December 10th, 1986 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case began in Denver when, without any prompting, Francis Connelly approached police officer Patrick Anderson and claimed he had murdered a young girl named Mary Ann Junta. Before hearing anymore details, Officer Anderson immediately advised Connelly of his Miranda rights. The respondent said that he understood his rights but still wanted to discuss the murder. Officer Anderson asked Connelly several questions, where he denied drinking and taking drugs, but had claimed to be treated for mental illness. Soon after, detective Antuna arrived and Connelly was once again advised of his rights. Connelly claimed that
City of Pinellas Park v. Brown was a case brought to the District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District by the plaintiff Brown. In this case, the Brown family sued the City of Pinellas Sheriff Department on the grounds of negligence that resulted in the tragic death of two Brown sisters during a police pursuit of a fleeing traffic violator Mr. Deady. The facts in this case are straight forward, and I shall brief them as logical as possible.
This decision requires that unless a suspect in custody has been informed of his constitutional rights before questioning anything he says may not be introduced in a court of law.
second, that the means by which this threat is diverted does not in itself constitute an infringement of anyone’s rights (1407).
The B/M continued to attempt to strike me and I clenched on to him an attempt to protect myself, while preventing him from escaping. As I was holding onto the B/M I was unable to reach my radio to request additional units. Officer D. Peal (9003) arrived on scene and assisted me in attempting to place the B/M into handcuffs. The B/M continued to ignore lawful commands and refused to place his hands behind his back after being given several lawful commands. I delivered a strike to the B/M’s midsection in an attempt to gain compliance, however the strike did not appear to have an effect. The B/M continued to ignore lawful commands and I warned him I was going to deploy chemical spray. The B/M continued to resist and would not comply, in response I provided another warning and then deployed a three to five second burst of my department issued MK-2 OC chemical spray to the B/M’s face. After the chemical spray was deployed, he was placed in handcuffs without further incident. The B/M was identified by his Florida driver’s license Emanuel
to be searched, generally must be shown a warrent if he requests it and must be
Police officers are given a significant amount of discretion simply due to the nature of the job. Officers are faced with many threatening situations forcing them to react quickly yet appropriately. They have the power to infringe upon any citizen's rights to freedom and therefore they must use this power effectively. One major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is their power to decide when to use force or when to use lethal force. Manning (1997:295) argues that it is generally accepted that police should be allowed to use force. He also explains that there is an uncertainty among people as to what constitutes excessive force. The line between what is necessary and what is extreme is very thin. Use of force is no doubt one important aspect in policing; however, force should also be used with great discretion. If officers do not use force on every suspect they encounter they may be creating a negative environment for the community.
Mrs. Griswold presented Officer Poncello with an Order of Protection and it appeared Webb was violating the order. (Ex. 4 p.2). Officer Poncello told Mrs. Griswold that she need not worry about Webb, everything would be ok, and she would be able to continue working because Webb left. (Ex. 3 p.1). At 8:00 P.M., when Mrs. Griswold’s shift ended, Webb returned and assaulted her. Officer Poncello did not mention arresting Webb. (Ex. 3 p.1). Mrs. Griswold trusted the cops and felt safe enough to continue working without any issues. (Ex. 3 p.2). The officers did not mention providing Mrs.
The situation in which a police officer apprehends a suspect can influence the officer’s decision on how to proceed. In fact situational variables are considered to be the most influential factor on an officer’s use of discretion (Goff, 2011, p. 184). Rudy listed of some situational factors that can affect a person’s discretion such as “possible educational experience, suspect attitude, community support, policies, and whether or not an officer has filled their ticket quota for the month”
Discretion is something that has to be practiced and exercised. Because police agencies don’t have enough officers to patrol whole areas and have eyes on at all times and ensure that there is no crime and to catch it all is just simply impossible. Learning to be d...
The use of discretion in the profession of law enforcement has shown to be an inevitable practice. Police officers routinely use their own beliefs and judgments to make critical decisions that include the life and liberty of the citizens in the community they serve in. Although discretion has both negative and positive sides to it, discretion is impossible to be eliminated from law enforcement. The best way to use discretion in a safe manner is to practice using discretion while on and off duty as well. While practicing discretion, officers should keep their own beliefs and prejudice to themselves and out of line of duty. When police officers are on duty, they must have knowledge of what is going on around them and eliminate discriminatory factors and use confidence to make a lawful
Laws and procedures are the most common basis for officers choosing not to allow offenders to remain free based on their discretion, a study by Mendias and Kehoe (2006) has found. The study found that laws or responsibilities were the main reason for a decision to suspend discretion in eighty-two percent of cases involving an arrest. The study also found that keeping the peace and procedural implications were the primary justifications for ex...
Thesis Statement: police discretion is the framework for promoting justice in police-citizen interactions in the traffic sector. Police officers face a myriad of challenges in their line of duty. Most cases necessitate sound decisions to settle disputes amicably. When they apply discretion in an incoherent manner, they may end up abusing human rights. Therefore, they apply it when dealing with legal sanctions such as making arrests, giving out a ticket and stopping the offending party.
I have spoken to the head secretary at our law firm nearly every day, but all she has done is insured me that all was in order with the court order of restraint. However, for some unexplained reason she has yet to send me a copy of the court document, the name of the attorney who had filed the document, or the name of the judge who had signed the document. Should I thank you for those lies as well mother? You do know the police cannot comply with my request unless I have the court order of restraint with me. If my last name was not Richton, they would have arrested me long ago for making false and misleading statements. Fortunately, the last person in charge of my security taking the blame for me being assaulted and was arrested. I believe the police are looking for Gilbert to ask him a few questions. What have you to say now, mother?”
At this moment, I call 911 within a few mins they showed up; I submitted them the recording and her personal diary.