Arkansas Sets 30-minute Statute of Limitations for Crimes Committed by Police
Seriously, I am not joking. The Arkansas State Police apparently reserve the right not to consider any complaints of police brutality or mis-use of force if they are not filed within a half hour of the incident:
The killing led to a town hall meeting Monday, and the city prosecutor, Kyle Hunter, was assigned to investigate, saying his job was to determine whether the actions were justified. Hunter requested an investigation by the state police, who were not called in following the killing of the 107-year-old Isadore, but, theArkansas Times reports, state police declined Hunter’s request:
With the lapse in time, [Arkansas State Police’s Bill] Sadler said, the crime scene has been compromised, the local law enforcement agency (the Pine Bluff PD) has already processed the evidence, and the witnesses were (long since) no longer sequestered. "It's a credibility issue and a forensic issue," he said.
"APB routinely responds to those requests when they come in in a timely matter," he said. He said that requests typically come within 30 to 40 minutes after deadly force was used. Sadler said that there was no law or protocol requiring local authorities to call in the state police in a situation in which an officer uses deadly force. "That is the choice of the local jurisdiction," he said. If called, they could have arrived within half an hour, he said. "We would have immediately responded."
jimkimmons:
Protect and Serve
September 12, 2013, 4:39 pmNL7:
That really means they only want to come when called by the local police. The victims and friends of victims would have to complain up the chain to somebody else (such as local politician or some sort of public attorney) who could call with authority - which wastes time and in any case almost certainly won't be done in a timely manner because most victims will need time to consider their options or may be hospitalized. A half hour or an hour time limit is really only long enough for the police to use, since officers are supposed to radio in to report activities.
September 12, 2013, 4:48 pmMingoV:
What a crock of crap. The local police already will have examined the crime scene. Claiming that someone cannot be investigated for a crime unless they were invited to look at the crime scene within 40 minutes is insanity.
September 13, 2013, 4:40 pmCurtis:
So if some person killed the only cop around, heaven forbid, and nobody called in the State Police for a few hours these clowns would refuse to investigate?
September 13, 2013, 7:15 pmSounds fair to me. Just.
CT_Yankee:
A savvy defense lawyer for any suspect will now be able to claim that the State Police themselves acknowledge that their investigations are severely compromised, and the results unreliable or perhaps even useless, whenever they are summoned later than a half hour after the crime. That would be any crime. It is not only murder scenes that can be compromised over time. Clearly any evidence they collect or theories they devise after the first hour should be inadmissible in any legitimate court proceeding.
September 14, 2013, 1:02 am