In latest feedback in regards to the tragic taking pictures of a scholar at Garfield Excessive College, interim Seattle police Chief Sue Rahr claimed a latest legislation defending the rights of youth in police custody prevents cops from interviewing youth witnesses. Rahr is mistaken.
I ought to know, since a number of years in the past I wrote the legislation she wrongly blames for her officers’ failure to query witnesses and make an arrest within the Garfield investigation.
On the subject of police questioning youngsters, the legislation requires a cellphone session with an legal professional, obtainable through a hotline staffed 24/7, if police have taken a youth into custody and are asking them to waive their constitutional proper to stay silent. Seattle Metropolis Council and Metropolitan King County Council handed an much more restrictive legislation in 2020 that SPD was beholden to earlier than the state legislation was handed, in order that they know what this legislation does and the way it works. In a case just like the taking pictures at Garfield, this legislation doesn’t stop police from interviewing the various witnesses to the tragic demise of 17-year-old Amarr Murphy-Paine — these interviews don’t violate any constitutional rights and will not be lined by the legislation.
Seattle police know this. The King County Prosecuting Legal professional’s Workplace has supplied steerage to them, and to different legislation enforcement entities, clarifying that “Officers should still converse with, and query, juveniles who will not be in custody or detained primarily based on possible trigger.”
This legislation promotes public security by constructing belief between legislation enforcement and the neighborhood. It additional ensures that legislation enforcement who comply with it get correct data from the remoted, confused and scared youth who they’ve taken into custody and search to interrogate. When youth really feel intimidated throughout an interrogation by a police officer, analysis reveals that they’re more likely to say one thing that’s not true — however that they suppose the officer desires to listen to — in order that they’ll be allowed to go dwelling.
Earlier than this legislation was handed, youth reported that “legislation enforcement strain us to speak to them and the subsequent factor you already know, you’re saying ‘sure’ to one thing you didn’t do.” And make no mistake, particularly for Black and brown youth, a custodial interrogation with police is a universally intimidating expertise. Earlier than the legislation was handed, youth reported, “The police are actually scary. I want I had recognized my rights.”
Offering the prospect to speak to an legal professional earlier than interrogation can stop miscarriages of justice similar to within the case of the Central Park 5, the place the assailant chargeable for the sexual assault in that case wasn’t apprehended till 13 years after the crime. Having this safety for youth the police take into custody, after which search to interrogate following a waiver of constitutional rights, merely acknowledges the analysis demonstrating that youth want extra time and the assist of a trusted grownup to perceive their rights.
In Washington, this legislation is working exceptionally nicely: 96% of calls to the Workplace of Public Protection’s hotline are answered inside two minutes and two-thirds of consultations conclude inside 20 minutes. Having this procedural safety in place makes our neighborhood safer by connecting these in police custody with a lawyer who can assist them perceive their rights.
If legislation enforcement follows the legislation as it’s written, and because the prosecutor has informed them to, we will defend weak youth in police custody, promote belief between police and our neighborhood, and advance public security.
