PIERCE COUNTY, WA - The Fife Police Department (FPD) wants to make it known that the Remann Hall Pierce County Juvenile Detention Center is refusing to take and book teen suspects on non-felony crimes.
According to KIRO7, FPD Chief Pete Fisher said this has happened multiple times. He said that the facility has told his officers that they are only booking the teens for felony-level crimes. Fisher said that his department is worried about the safety of alleged victims and the family members willing to take in the suspects after these crimes have been committed.
Fisher addressed the issue to his community and cited FPD policy, which states that officers don't release teens without returning them to a responsible adult or family member, "both for the well-being of the teen as well as to protect against liability should something tragic happen to the teen after release." He said that the current policy at Remann Hall creates an unnecessary danger to the victims and the community.
He also highlight the fact that it creates liability exposure for officers and the communities they serve. In a statement, he said, "This is unacceptable and something needs to change to ensure that the families are not further victimized and the officers on the street are not placed in untenable positions." He said that the policy at Remann leaves officers in the position where they have to figure out for themselves what to do to try and protect the victims, the teenagers, and choose the option that provides the greatest mitigation for liability.
Fisher said, "It is completely unacceptable that a system meant to protect, rehabilitation, and hold juvenile offenders accountable has failed their community on numerous occasions and has pushed liability to our officers, our communities, and the citizens they are sworn to protect." He then gave an example of a recent case.
On the morning of October 24th, officers with FPD responded to a home where a 17-year-old boy was allegedly throwing things, punching holes in the wall, and assaulting his parents. Officers arrested him for fourth-degree assault domestic violence, third-degree malicious mischief domestic violence, and interfering with reporting of domestic violence.
Fisher said, "This incident is a sobering reminder of the ever-widening disconnect between current policy practices conflicting with real-world realities. In the aforementioned case, officers were forced to deal with the fallout. Based on the allegations of domestic violence against a family member, how could officers release the juvenile suspect back to the same family? To further highlight the disconnect, if the offender was 18-years of age or older, the same alleged conduct would result in a mandatory arrest.
Mandatory arrests serve several sound public policy goals such as protecting victims and the community as well as providing a cooling-off period with the goal of preventing further violence or harm to the victim. With these types of incidents on the rise, unfair pressure is placed on the officer forced to come up with a reasonable, safe solution to the problem. What options are available to the officer when Remann Hall refused to take custody?"
Fisher added, "Further exacerbating the issue, what happens when the officer must employ 'use of force?' Based on what we learned today, when an officer responds to a domestic violence assault call involving a juvenile suspect - knowing in the back of their head that Remann Hall will not book the juvenile - and the suspect resists should the officer even attempt 'use of force' to take the juvenile into custody? If not, how does the officer explain this to the victim or victims?
All too often officers are faced with this exact situation where the victims plead with the officer to take the suspect to jail. This presents the classic 'no-win situation' for the officer: take the juvenile suspect into custody only to have no available jail option and be left scrambling to figure out release options or do nothing and risk harm to the victim family members as well as accusations of failing to do their job and potential lawsuits resulting from any assault or property damage that occurs after the officer leaves because the officer did not make an arrest when they clearly had probable cause."
Fisher went on to talk about how not all juvenile suspects should be arrested and booked into jail, but that there are certain highly volatile situations where the juvenile suspect should be book, for everyone's safety. Fisher said, "Thus, I believe it is imperative that Remann Hall adjust their intake policies to allow for the booking of all juvenile offenders arrested for any physical assault, especially those that occur against a family member or household member."
He added, "Finally, from my perspective, this situation is more egregious since police chiefs from around the area have met with Remann Hall officials to discuss these concerns and brainstorm solutions. To date, nothing has been done to address our concerns."
According to KIRO7, FPD Chief Pete Fisher said this has happened multiple times. He said that the facility has told his officers that they are only booking the teens for felony-level crimes. Fisher said that his department is worried about the safety of alleged victims and the family members willing to take in the suspects after these crimes have been committed.
Fisher addressed the issue to his community and cited FPD policy, which states that officers don't release teens without returning them to a responsible adult or family member, "both for the well-being of the teen as well as to protect against liability should something tragic happen to the teen after release." He said that the current policy at Remann Hall creates an unnecessary danger to the victims and the community.
He also highlight the fact that it creates liability exposure for officers and the communities they serve. In a statement, he said, "This is unacceptable and something needs to change to ensure that the families are not further victimized and the officers on the street are not placed in untenable positions." He said that the policy at Remann leaves officers in the position where they have to figure out for themselves what to do to try and protect the victims, the teenagers, and choose the option that provides the greatest mitigation for liability.
Fisher said, "It is completely unacceptable that a system meant to protect, rehabilitation, and hold juvenile offenders accountable has failed their community on numerous occasions and has pushed liability to our officers, our communities, and the citizens they are sworn to protect." He then gave an example of a recent case.
On the morning of October 24th, officers with FPD responded to a home where a 17-year-old boy was allegedly throwing things, punching holes in the wall, and assaulting his parents. Officers arrested him for fourth-degree assault domestic violence, third-degree malicious mischief domestic violence, and interfering with reporting of domestic violence.
Fisher said, "This incident is a sobering reminder of the ever-widening disconnect between current policy practices conflicting with real-world realities. In the aforementioned case, officers were forced to deal with the fallout. Based on the allegations of domestic violence against a family member, how could officers release the juvenile suspect back to the same family? To further highlight the disconnect, if the offender was 18-years of age or older, the same alleged conduct would result in a mandatory arrest.
Mandatory arrests serve several sound public policy goals such as protecting victims and the community as well as providing a cooling-off period with the goal of preventing further violence or harm to the victim. With these types of incidents on the rise, unfair pressure is placed on the officer forced to come up with a reasonable, safe solution to the problem. What options are available to the officer when Remann Hall refused to take custody?"
Fisher added, "Further exacerbating the issue, what happens when the officer must employ 'use of force?' Based on what we learned today, when an officer responds to a domestic violence assault call involving a juvenile suspect - knowing in the back of their head that Remann Hall will not book the juvenile - and the suspect resists should the officer even attempt 'use of force' to take the juvenile into custody? If not, how does the officer explain this to the victim or victims?
All too often officers are faced with this exact situation where the victims plead with the officer to take the suspect to jail. This presents the classic 'no-win situation' for the officer: take the juvenile suspect into custody only to have no available jail option and be left scrambling to figure out release options or do nothing and risk harm to the victim family members as well as accusations of failing to do their job and potential lawsuits resulting from any assault or property damage that occurs after the officer leaves because the officer did not make an arrest when they clearly had probable cause."
Fisher went on to talk about how not all juvenile suspects should be arrested and booked into jail, but that there are certain highly volatile situations where the juvenile suspect should be book, for everyone's safety. Fisher said, "Thus, I believe it is imperative that Remann Hall adjust their intake policies to allow for the booking of all juvenile offenders arrested for any physical assault, especially those that occur against a family member or household member."
He added, "Finally, from my perspective, this situation is more egregious since police chiefs from around the area have met with Remann Hall officials to discuss these concerns and brainstorm solutions. To date, nothing has been done to address our concerns."
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