Thursday, November 12, 2015

From the Desk of Jill Jones-Soderman "Why Cops Lie"

From the Desk of Jill Jones-Soderman



Commentary on the Article  - “Why Cops Lie”

As to the experience of staff of the Foundation for the Child Victims of The Family Courts, we find that there is a globally cynical view of a parent who files a complaint – or even asks a question of police, where the back story involves  custody litigation. We have found that police immediately take a position that the person making the call is somehow making a false accusation against the other party, or somehow looking to establish an excuse for “getting away with ….....”something!

In one instance a call to local police in the midst of a major snow storm, occasioning road closures in the New York tri state area regarding a specific area was met with a barrage of questions  as to why the caller was asking such questions. A direct response to the question which involved the driving of a child to a parent after a visit and an attempt to gauge time and driving conditions with storm conditions was followed by a team of officers being sent to the home of a domestic violence victim for a well check on the child and demands that the parent provide the name and number of the parent to whom the child was being returned so that officers could “investigate”.

With the intervention of the FCVFC at the time of the event, this over reach of demands for investigation where there was no probable cause for any police intervention was stopped. A complaint filed with the officer in charge of this police jurisdiction was met with completely appropriate internal investigation, an apology to our client and an assurance that future interventions would be handled with insight and discretion. The FCVFC appreciated the response of the Chief and said so in writing.


The Foundation always deals with adverse actions experienced by our clients with a response that takes in consideration for the immediate protection of our client's rights as well as the public policy issues central to the presenting problem which threatened our client.

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