MAKE THE ARREST? NO...WHY NOT?

Law Enforcement Officers have a different type of job, it is different every day, and majority of the time we are operating based off the assigned call for service. That being said, recently I have noticed that the newer generation of LEOs aren’t as confident when it comes to decision making. Specifically, when it comes to deciding on whether to arrest or not.

I assisted with a call for service involving a juvenile and his/her parents where the juvenile was claiming that the parents weren’t allowing him/her to go to school. I arrived at the household to assist another unit that was already at the house, I gathered that the juvenile was not allowed to go to school because of suspension and that the juvenile clearly had some sort of mental instability. Before I could give my two cents on the matter the other unit told me to roll out and that he’d take care of it. I departed as asked to.

A few hours later, the juvenile went to the doctor and claimed that he/she was being abused at home and that the father was beating them all the time. The doctor takes of custody of the juvenile and contact Law Enforcement for assistance.

Upon learning that the call for service was involving the same people from earlier, I jumped on it and headed down to the doctor’s office to see what was going on. When I get there the situation is calm and the parents are claiming that they never abused the juvenile. I assist with the interviews, then contact Child Protective Services concerning the incident and see what they want to do.

Child Protective Services determines that the juvenile can be released into custody of the parents because there was no evidence of the allegations being made against them. This is where the incident goes off the rails and where I believe an arrest should have been made.

So Child Protective Services authorized the juvenile to be releasing back to his/hers parents, however the doctors at the office refused to let the juvenile leave with the parents. They went as far as standing in front of the exit door in protest stating they weren’t going to let the juvenile leave with the parents. I pulled the LEO aside and stated that if they didn’t move that would constitute criminal action, specifically abduction and they could be arrested.   

The doctor and his assistant continued to stand block the exit to the building in protest, I was not the lead when it came to this incident, but after the parents and the doctors argued over being released from the facility. Plus, Law enforcement telling the doctors to move and let the parents depart with the juvenile. I would have arrested both of them and charged them appropriately.

The lead LEO didn’t do that though, he utilized an emergency exit and allowed the family to depart the facility that way instead of through the front door. I asked the LEO why he didn’t arrest them and he was truthful in that he didn’t feel like they had abducted the juvenile….although they did in the eyes of the law. I didn’t press the issue, but the duty Sergeant did….

The point is that if a LEO observes a violation of the law, they shall make the arrest, simple as that…

Make the Arrest? No…Why Not?