Has Garrity Become Irrelevant in Law Enforcement Administrative Investigations
The question of whether or not the legal standard established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967) is still relevant to law enforcement administrative investigations is a legitimate one. Given the recent changes in the “attitudes of prosecutors and community member since the George Floyd incident in 2020,” this is question that warrants further discussion. The basic Garrity Rights that were established as a result of this U.S. Supreme Court ruling has resulted in a multitude of states enacting a law enforcement officers bill of rights and procedural guarantees that provide law enforcement [...]
The Use of the Prisoner/Inmate Restraint Chair has been Commonly Used for Violent and Self-Harming Prisoners
During the first five (5) of my twenty-six years of service in the department it was common practice to use the restraint chair to control violent, self-destructive, or combative inmates. The restraint chair has not been a control method used in my department for several years now. Over the years with lawsuits regarding the use of the restraint chair best practices within jail and prison has changed. Recently there has been a lot of chatter regarding the use of the restraint chair. “Several lawsuits leading to jury findings as well as settlements with respect to the use of restraint chairs [...]
Restraint Chair
The traditional hard restraint chair has been used since the beginning of my career at the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in 2013. The purpose of the restraint chair is to protect combative and physically non-compliant inmates from themselves and staff. The chair also serves as a device for de-escalation, and we use it for transportation to court. In rare cases, we place suicidal inmates in the chair for their own protection. During the five years I’ve worked with this device, officers are the only one’s who actually sustain injuries during the application and use of this device. The device itself, [...]
The Use of Prisoner/Inmate Restraint Chair
Imagine you respond to an Officer assistance call and you find an inmate bleeding from his scrotum. As you the supervisor evaluate the situation you are informed the inmate used a toenail to cut then rip open his scrotum. The inmate is sent to the hospital and then returns. These types of situations are plaguing Jails and Correctional Facilities across the nation. Inmates with mental health disorders are turning up more and more frequently in local jails. How to handle them is becoming more and more difficult due to more extreme behavior and increased risk of civil liability. The common [...]
How can law enforcement best train personnel on employee involved domestic misconduct?
As more and more departments struggle with the increased number of “outside the workplace” issues that affect a unit, it is paramount to tackle each one head on. Domestic misconduct can run the gambit of infidelity all the way to full on criminal prosecuted domestic violence cases. These cases have both a nexus with criminal statutes as well as agency policies and are essential topics that require a strong strategy to handle. A solid strategy would include policy, training, and documentation to insure employees are handled with dignity and respect as well as meeting the overall impact that these situations [...]
Domestic Violence Training for Law Enforcement – How can law enforcement best train personnel on employee involved domestic misconduct?
Throughout the country and around the world, police departments invest time, funding, and expertise to train law enforcement officers in best practices to reduce incidents of domestic misconduct. On the very onset the psychological screening and background investigations of the candidate selection process should be screened with intense scrutiny. Candidates with certain traits such as aggression, dishonesty, and substance abuse are more likely to engage in acts of violence against their intimate partner. Through probing interview questions and thorough background checks a good, trained investigator should be able expose attitudes or historical information suggesting the candidate may pose certain unacceptable [...]