Law enforcement/protocol question (All the trigger warnings)

[Carrie12345]

I’m so confused. Or am I just naive?

Say there’s a SEVERE domestic incident. Alcohol involved. Weapons and gasoline, so intentions to make good on threats. After a foot chase, “suspect” is apprehended.

How in the world does said “suspect” get released in the morning?

He went home and killed himself. (No one else, fortunately.)

[Katy]

That's probably not a law enforcement decision. That's a DA/prosecution decision, and probably also has something to do with jail crowding. In most places the DA is elected.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

These kinds of decisions aren’t typically made by law enforcement. They’re made by the courts/judge/prosecutor. LEO’s find it completely frustrating and sometimes (often) can feel like their jobs are pointless because of it. 

[Heartstrings]

Often the victim refuses to press charges and there is nothing the police can do.  Just because she was in extreme danger doesn’t mean she was willing to do anything to protect herself in that moment.  

Edited May 28 by Heartstrings

[prairiewindmomma]

It happens way more often than one would think, for a variety of reasons. 

[KSera]

Nt

Edited May 28 by KSera

[Carrie12345]

I’m having a very hard time digesting this. To be  fair, I haven’t given every detail, but obviously the highlights are there. I’m struggling on two ends.

For one, I go right to mental health. This person was clearly a danger to self and others. Like, there’s no way to deny that. I don’t know the intimate details, but the altercation wasn’t with a romantic partner, but other family members. From the bits I do know, it sounds like a real mental break.

And the other, my own personal/family safety. The proximity to my home was nerve wracking when he was running. And dh and our friends were staged for the potential inferno that was meant to be caused. Then he was just set loose to deal with whatever monsters were in his head as he wished!

I hate that I was relieved to learn he took himself out. But without help or containment, what other outcome could we (general) possibly hope for?!?

[El...]

Scary stuff. 

[City Mouse]

Unfortunately, there is a lot a variation among different states. 
In some states, domestic violence suspects are not held long, if at all, if the other party won’t press charges. In many cases, an overnight in jail is the best the police can do. There are other states where the state will press charges even if the complaintant won’t. Mental health holds can be even harder. A person who has experience with the system often knows exactly what to say to avoid a psyc hold even if what they say is not true.

I live in a state with decent domestic violence laws, but horrible mental health care. My DH is a police officer. More than once he has told me stories of people taken to the hospital for mental health issues who are released and later attempted suicide. 

 

[Faith-manor]

Here something like this would because our jail is overcrowded and one section is actually water damaged to the point they cannot use the cells. Every single year, the sheriff begs for millage to build a new jail because the building is so old, and the state told them they cannot bring it up to code/new jail regulations. Every single time, the voters defeat the millage. Our poor sheriff routinely has to let violent people out because he has to keep the ones who were already sentenced to county lock up in. Sometimes he requests a bed in the county northeast of here. But they charge $1000 a day for that, and his budget doesn't have that much wiggle room.

Also, the DA in some counties moves very slowly. In my dad's case, it took them 7 weeks from when he attempted to kill my mom and himself, before charges were filed. He had been our of the psych ward for 4 weeks when he was finally arrested.

The system is very broken.

[gstharr]

He could have simply posted bail.  In my area,  bail for a felony DV w/o priors is around $50,000. Using a bail bond he would have only paid $5,000 commission. 

[Spryte]

I’m sorry this happened close to your home, and hope that all of you can regain a sense of normalcy soon. It’s very upsetting, and I do agree that we can do better than this. 

We had a semi similar situation recently, with neighbors warning us about an upcoming arrest of someone a few streets over, and not to engage as they might run. It was a pretty dicey situation, with a shelter in place, and ended the same way. He wasn’t released too soon, though, so not quite the same, but I did think it could have been handled differently. We didn’t know him, beyond sight, but it left all of us sort of in shock and dazed, and sad that it came to that. I wonder if you might be feeling that same surreal, sad sort of feeling. Hugs to you.

[Katy]

My dad warned me to stay away from a certain block in my neighborhood when I was a kid. There were constant DV calls. The man ended up murdering his family, then calling 911 to confess. The cops knew it would eventually happen, but the laws weren’t written in a way they could do anything about it. Unfortunately there was so much abuse happening in mental hospitals in the mid 1980’s & earlier that the whole system was ended under Regan and never replaced. There are no easy answers for any of it if we want mentally ill patients to have freedom.