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police screw up?

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lauras2u

Member
What is the name of your state? Illinois

What rights do we have that the police investigate a crime?

I can prove the police left evidence behind.
i can prove they did not talk to witnesses for 6 days.

I can prove personal injury from this.

I don't know if i can prove that they willingly did not do thier job to the best of thier ability can i? maybe they are just stupid
 


B

bomber

Guest
I think the only thing the Constitution requires is that police eat doughnuts.:D
 

lauras2u

Member
I put it here because it was under this heading that i found the only information on this sight. I have not been able to find any information anywhere about what is minimal proformance for the police.
 
B

bomber

Guest
I've heard of one case where it was determined that the police are not legally obligated to perform their job to any certain standard.
There have also been civil cases against police for failure to arrest drunk drivers. I know of one case in my area where the police stopped some kids that were driving drunk but the police let them go. The kids later crashed the car and one died. The parents of the dead kid sued the police for NOT arresting their son. I'm not sure of the outcome of that case.
 
J

justathought

Guest
Bomber--where are you from?

It kind of sounds like Irwin v. Town of Ware (Massachusetts--Alan Goodman for the winning (!) plaintiff). Don't have any citations handy, sorry.
 

lauras2u

Member
commonwealth?

I have to say i am no a lawyer and i am having trouble finding any information on the subject of a commonwealth but it is my understanding that Mass. is a commonwealth state whose laws go back to english common law. I believe these laws are highly protective of the state. What happens with this case may not be indicative of what might happen elsewhere
 
J

justathought

Guest
Re: commonwealth?

lauras2u said:
What happens with this case may not be indicative of what might happen elsewhere
Sorry Laura, that post wasn't directed towards you, rather towards Bomber to see if that's what he was talking about. His story reminded me of the Irwin case which made national headlines (60 minutes, etc.) because it was a successful suit against the state municipality whose police negligence lead to the horrific deaths of half a family.

Out of curiosity, what are the specifics in your case? Maybe sharing those might shed some light on why they didn't pursue to the lengths you believe they should have?
 

lauras2u

Member
specifics

home invasion with rape. the rape is statutory in illinois rather than the completion of all he apparantly intended. a stranger.
I suffered from acute stress disorder making me appear to those season professionals as 'calm'.

they missed taking with them the lightbulb he unscrewed (i made em come back) they missed the light cord unplugged from an extension cord...they wouldn't look. they didn't take any fingerprints nor find any body fluids. they didn't take me to a doctor. they didn't speak to the neighbor who lived next to the only exit he could have taken from my back yard ( the dew on grass was undisturbed) for 6 days. both the adult neighbors heard the man jump over the locked gate.

they didn't reinterview me for 6 days; when they did they were trying to make me confess i made it up because the found no evidence.

they left the lighbulb alone for 2 days then fingerprinted it...then they didn't take the fingerprints to APHIS for 12 days (by then i was recovering nicely and making a fuss).

there is more, these are some highlights of thier 'investigation'

as u can imagine, my damages are phychological but documentable i had no ability to withstand thier accusations.
 

lauras2u

Member
in an effort to understand thier (to me) most unusual behavior i have been reseaching false accusations of rape. it has generally been reported that between 2 and 15 percent of accusations are false. I have found in my research that the behavior of my police department is not unusual that this problem has been reported in city after city over the years. but the real question still remains...

what right do the police have to not investigate a alledged crime to the best of thier ability?
 

lauras2u

Member
u jerks are so predictable. this is why i didn't mention the word rape before. you all see it and decide to look to see if there is any interesting questions.
 

crager34

Member
They - they - they...

Take responsibility and prove it. If it's worth it, you will do what it takes.

Considering everything you said to be true, you have all you need.
 

lauras2u

Member
I have found out that illinois statute give immunity to local governments as well as employees for failure to act
IL law: 745 ILCS 10

http://www.legis.state.il.us/ilcs/ch745/ch745act10articles/ch745act10Sub6.htm

But they just didn't fail to act. When they took me outside (probibly a total of 60 seconds) i heard them talking about the fact i was probibly lying. They had effectively skirted the law otherwise...they didn't call me a liar they implyed it heavily to my face.

It is worth it to me to sue these jerks, thier behavior was outragous. Is that conversation i overheard enough?

Fingerprints form the lightbulb still not back...to prove it happened there is me my husband and the 2 adult neighbors who heard him running away (you know the ones they talked to just one week later).


help me please no man i haven't seen nakid should be able to make me feel this bad
 
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Bravo8

Member
The police have no legal requirement to investigate a crime, nor do they have to arrest someone they know committed a crime. Additionally, the police have no obligation to protect you.

While your story, which is so obviously one-sided it's hard to swallow, sounds as if the police were being lazy, they committed no crime in not doing as you wish. Maybe they evidence is truly lacking.

The only obligation the police have would be in the arena of negligence, such as the DUI case stated above. The police were not negligent by not arresting the driver, they were negligent for allowing the driver to continue driving.

The police would be liable for standing by and allowing someone to be raped, but not liable for failing to investigate the crime to your expectations.

If you have a problem with the way things are handled, speak to the administration of the department. No luck there, go to the prosecuting agency in your state (here it's the District Attorney). No luck at the DA, got to the state agency (here it;s the Attorney General).

My guess would be that you find there are reasons for the way things are handled. Sorry they aren't to your expectations....didn't realize you were an expert detective.
 

lauras2u

Member
i did report locally they are investigating.
i did report to state's attny.
they did mess up...they do have an obligation.
they didn't mail the fingerprints to the state lab until i contacted out local chief...jerks
 

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