Police show up and 12:19 am 1/1/2010 stating a call came in the there where underage juviniles stumbling around in the street with beers in their hands.
Depending on the detail provided by the caller, this can be a legitimate concern and can give rise to probable cause. It might also depend on whether the caller was anonymous or someone that could be used as a witness.
The next question, where is your son. That was asked 3 - 4 times. This is were we know that they came with an intended target, our son. The reported "caller" was no where near our home when the call was made.
How do you know where the caller was? Why would someone nowhere near your home call about your son?
As my husband opened the front door and was trying to close it the reserve officer pushed it open (would not let my husband close the door). My husband was going to get our son and meet the officers on the front porch. There were 3 people that witnessed that.
For safety reasons, the cops tend not to like doors being closed while we stand out there ... it's a safety issue. Keeping the door open is not the same as making entry.
In this case in the state of Oregon is is legal for a parent to purchase alcohol for their underaged child and allow them to consume it as long as they are on your property and a parent is home.
Then you can testify to that fact in court. However, if stepping onto his back porch after having consumed alcohol constitutes a violation of the MIP laws in your state, then that may negate the whole thing. In some states the laws that cover a minor being in possession also cover a minor that has consumed alcohol. Do you recall the specific statute for which he is charged?
Miranda warnings were not issued to any of the "arrested", which infact no one knew they had been arrested until we got the police report.
Miranda is NOT required if you are arrested. Miranda is generally only required when a person is under custodial arrest AND is to be interrogated. Most arrests will never require Miranda rights to be read.
Oregon law states that mirandas are not required if you are free to leave, if you reasonably feel that if you did leave you would be in more trouble then you are not free to leave. No one was free to leave because they were told they would be tazered if the did. How much more clear can that be?
The law allows people to be detained even if not subject to Miranda. Miranda applies to custodial arrests, or to "force"used equivalent to that of a custodial arrest (such as being detained in handcuffs).
The officer then states " How about we go inside and see if there are any juveniles drinking inside the residence?" My husbands response "Ok". None of these statements were made either from the police or my husband.
Of course, that may be the recollection of the officer writing the report. Whether it is accurate or not would be a matter of dispute, but being incorrect is not the same as making a false report. Of course, you are free to consult an attorney to see if this is something worth pursuing in civil court ... I suspect it will not be, but, an attorney can tell you more about the common practice for such things in your state and how likely an award might be ... and how likely it might be to prove a case for intentionally filing a false report.
Tell me what part of that makes any sense. If he at first told them there were no juveniles at the residence why would he then in just a matter of minutes allow them into the home "to see if there were any juveniles drinking in the home????"
Many people make statements to us (the police) that do not make sense or contradict themselves. I gave up trying to ask "why?" more than 15 years ago.
Verbal abuse, they threatened for 3 hours if anyone runs we will tazer them, we have no problem doing that.
Not really abuse,simply saying you were not free to leave and a Taser could be deployed if someone ran. Now, I would have some questions about a three hour detention for a matter of minors drinking. If the only minor that had been drinking was your son, that length of time would be a huge problem. Now, if they found other minors on scene that had been drinking, and needed to get a hold of parents,that might be a reasonable time frame. Maybe.
During these 3 hours why would any of them have run due to the fact that the officers had all of their ids and their vehicles were parked outside???
Why, indeed ... been there, had it happen. Some people do odd things - especially if they had been drinking.
The officers behaivor while on our house was inexcuseable. They continued to poke a prod verbaly over the next 3 hours, with no provocation from anyone.
Have you made a personnel complaint? OR law may provide a time frame in which a complaint against an officer may be lodged, or a time frame in which the agency has to discipline officers. If this happened three months ago, this clock may be running out.
There were 4 officers that showed up. One of the officers that came knew some of the boys that were there.
Okay ...so, there WERE juveniles present that had been drinking?? Maybe the caller was NOT off base?
Were the parents of all these juveniles at the house?
Within about 5 minutes of the officers being in our home he walked into the living room and stated to all of the kids, "I am sorry this is happening, I do not see anything wrong going on here and I will have nothing to do with it." He promptly left. How do you explain this not being in the report, or even mentioned that there where 4 officers there and not 3????? Gee whiz this must be a cover your ass policy.
It certainly lends itself to beg the question why he was not mentioned. It could also be that he had another call. If you do make a civil suit, then be sure to call that officer to testify as to what he might have said or at least why he left.
As for the info on the officer "rumors" thank you for the info to find out if in fact any of this is true. If in fact any of this exists, was any of it in regards to misconduct, misuse of power, ect..? It would be interesting to know if the problem has occured in the past and action was taken against the officers, you might see a pattern here.
It is generally no easy task to obtain personnel records of discipline. A review of the relevant documents in a successful Brady motion is generally held
in camera - that is, reviewed by the judge out of view of the courtroom and even the attorneys. If relevant, the judge may allow all or part of it in. But,you can be assured the agency will fight any release of these documents. Even if no such record exists, they will fight even that disclosure as a matter of policy. ... At least that is what we do here and I presume the same is done in OR.
Police never acted in good faith as you can read above. When they arrived at our house, what the caller stated was taking place was false. You tell me where is the so called "reasonable good faith" with the inforamtion they were given?????
That depends on the information. It sounds like the caller may have been right about juveniles drinking.
There were no juveniles outside the residence all evening!!!
But, the police may not have had to rely on that, they might have been able to rely on the call. Again, a lot will revolve around what the police knew and how reliable the information might have seemed at the time. Police actions are viewed in terms of what the police knew at the time, not what the facts were determined to be later on.
We are being forced to just accept the bad behavior of the local police in this town, and if they are not held accountalbe for this they will continue to do these things to anyone the choose.
You have a variety of options available to you. Even if a civil suit is not a viable option, there are complaints to the agency, complaints to the city council or city manager, reports to the media, etc. There are actions that can be taken.
There are certainly questions here - most notably the 3 hour detention and an arrest for someone on a backyard porch? Unless the back porch is exposed to the general public, in an unfenced yard, that's not really in public. A complaint may well be in order, but I am not sure that any case can be made for a "civil rights" action under federal or state law. But, you can speak to an attorney to see if the damages are worth pursuing.
And what charge is your son facing? What statute?