Polk County, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd stated what almost no law enforcement officer will ever admit. Sheriff Judd was quoted in his local newspaper, The Ledger, as saying that if someone calls about a domestic assault in his or her home, “somebody is going to jail. Every time.”
While it comes as no surprise to defense attorneys that police officers have an unwritten policy to make an arrest on all domestic violence calls, it is quite startling to hear a sheriff admit to such a policy.
You see, to make a legal arrest, police must have probable cause that a crime has been committed. “Probable cause” requires more than a mere suspicion that a suspect committed a crime, but not an absolute certainty. Probable cause is the key issue in the arrest process. The police need probable cause to make an arrest or obtain an arrest warrant from a judge, per the US Constitution.
When arriving at the scene, law enforcement officers often tell couples exactly what Sheriff Judd stated: If they have to come out, someone is going to jail. But what if no probable cause exists that anyone committed a crime? What if a couple got into a heated argument and one of them decided to call the police? The decision to call the police could have been an overreaction or a simple lapse in judgment. The caller may have thought that their lover or family member did something that violated the law, but in fact they did not.
Here is a hypothetical fact pattern to consider: Wife and Husband got into an argument after a few drinks at home. Wife gets angry and verbally insults Husband. Husband thinks that this insult constitutes verbal abuse and calls police. In his call to police, Husband says his wife abused him; thus, the call comes in as a domestic dispute. In this scenario, no law has been violated, but according to Sheriff Grady Judd, “someone is going to jail.”
If police come out to investigate a domestic violence call, the law states that an arrest can only be made if the officer has probable cause that a crime has been committed. If a decision has already been made by police that an arrest will be made before the police even arrive at the scene, there is no possible way a lawful arrest can be made. Therefore, any arrest made without probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In fact, any policy to make arrests before finding probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment.
So while Sheriff Judd’s admission that this kind of behavior is a systematic policy and may serve as a deterrent for people not to call police unless it is necessary, it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States, which requires probable cause to make an arrest or issue an arrest warrant.
If you feel you have been unlawfully arrested, call the criminal defense attorneys at Hendry & Parker, P.A. for a free case evaluation.