|
|
|
| NEWS > 28 February 2007 |
Other related articles:
Retired police officer charged
BOSTON --A retired Brockton police lieutenant was charged with mail fraud in federal court on Friday for what prosecutors said was a scheme to dishonestly inflate his pension by $52,000 annually by abusing sick leave so he could work two public jobs.
Charles B. Lincoln, 65, of Middleborough, was a 32-year veteran of the Brockton Police Department who for the last three years of his career also worked as director of security at the Plymouth County jail.
During that period, Lincoln worked the day shift at the sheriff's department and a night shift at the police department, ... Read more
|
 Article sourced from
|
|
LaCrosse Tribune, WI, USA
28 February 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
|
Madison Police Department,WI
|
After botching rape case, Wisc
MADISON, Wis. — Police officers may use trickery and deception only as a last resort when they believe people reporting crimes are lying, according to guidelines released Tuesday.
The guidelines for interviewing crime victims come in response to a book detailing the Madison Police Department’s mistreatment of a blind rape victim after she reported the crime in 1997.
Police Chief Noble Wray said the guidelines would restore trust in his department, give victims respect and minimize chances that detectives will force victims into recanting their statements.
But detectives said they would change little in the way they treat victims of rape, domestic abuse and other sensitive crimes. And the book’s author and the city council president blasted them as a weak response to the case.
“It does nothing to change the set of circumstances that were in place when they tricked and pressured and conned a rape victim into recanting,” said Bill Lueders, author of “Cry Rape” and news editor of a weekly newspaper in Madison. “It’s a sham response.”
The guidelines allow investigators to use ruses “as a last resort when the integrity of the allegations is in serious doubt,” such as when witnesses or evidence contradict the person’s statement.
In a report Tuesday, police said they needed the discretion to use those tactics when people falsely report crimes. The report emphasized they would be used rarely and only when they are “justified, reasonable and ’expected’ by the community.”
Detectives will decide whether to make a recording of such interrogations on a case-by-case basis, the report said.
The guidelines came in response to a city council resolution requiring the department to eliminate “the use of lies, coercion, deception, ruses or other techniques to break down individuals” in all but the rarest of circumstances.
Previously, the department had no written guidelines for victim interviews.
Outraged by details in Lueders’ book, the council passed the resolution in November as part of an apology to the victim known as Patty. She was raped at knifepoint in her bed by an intruder in 1997, but detectives quickly came to doubt her story.
The book recounts how detectives used a ruse to pressure her into saying she fabricated the rape during a lengthy interrogation that was not recorded. Based on her statement, she was charged with filing a false report.
Though the charge was dropped after police discovered semen on her bed sheets, the police and city defended their actions and suggested for years that she lied about being raped.
But in 2001, authorities discovered DNA from a convicted sex offender matched the semen on her sheets. That man was convicted in the rape in 2004 and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
City Council President Austin King, who authored the resolution, said he wasn’t satisfied with the new guidelines.
“We wanted to see change and I don’t see any change in this report,” he said. “This is the same policy that was in place when the police went after Patty.”
The resolution also gave Patty $35,000 in compensation and prohibited the city from contracting with a law firm that won the dismissal of her federal lawsuit because of the way its lawyers treated her.
Wray, who apologized to Patty on behalf of the department last year, said the guidelines minimize the risk of a similar case. But he said the criminal justice system remains prone to errors because humans make mistakes.
“We will work hard and treat victims with dignity and respect and sensitivity to try and make sure that does not happen,” he said, “but there are no guarantees.”
|
| |
 EiP Comments:
|
|---|
|
| |
* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications |
|
| |
|
