Part 1:
Law enforcement agencies are a very attractive target when it comes to litigation. Thus, civil liability is a concern in American policing and will continue to be. Often time civil lawsuits against police are filed when they abuse their power, are negligent, or violate the civil rights of a citizen. Police officers and administrators understand the possibility of litigation. However, the circumstances where they will be held liable is not always clear. For this reason, police administrators need to understand the law and how police practices can potentially lead to litigation. Their goal is to minimize the risk of law suits in their department as the costs of liability in policing can be astronomical.
You are a mayor of a large city. The police department in your city has several complaints filed in the past year with Internal Affairs about certain police practices. As a mayor you are concerned that these complaints may turn into lawsuits against the city that could potentially cost millions of dollars. You have never had to deal with a lawsuit against the city and its police department. You want to understand more about the nature of civil liability associated with policing. You call the police chief into your office and give him an assignment to prepare a report answering the following points:
· What are some of the more common reasons why people sue a police department?
· Can someone sue the police in a state and federal court? Explain.
· What is the harm caused when someone sues a police department?
· How can civil liability be reduced?
Deliverable Length: 2 pages
Part 2:
You are a Wichita Police Department detective working in the major crimes unit, and you are assigned to a joint federal–state–city crime task force working on a number of major drug cases. Over a period of several months, your task force has been able to gather information and make cases on several of the drug suppliers, drug dealers, and drug buyers in the Wichita metropolitan area. The task force is about to complete its mission by filing criminal charges in the federal district court, the state district court, or the Wichita Municipal Court against these various suspects. These suspects will not be arrested until the warrants are issued.
Your job is to make recommendations concerning which jurisdictions should file the charges on which defendants. You will need to evaluate the criminal statutes and penalties in each jurisdiction and even the rules of evidence to determine where your task force has the best chance of obtaining a conviction and in getting the punishment to fit the crime.
The memo that you receive from your Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force supervisor explains the situation:
MEMO
Re: Charging Decisions
You are the primary investigator in the cases against Jones, Smith, and Thompson. As I review your reports, it appears that each of these cases has strengths and weaknesses that we should evaluate before we determine whether to file charges in the U.S. District Court, the Sedgwick County District Court for the State of Kansas, or the Wichita Municipal Court. I will summarize those strengths and weaknesses here to make sure I am reading your reports correctly. I need you to give me advice on where you think these charges should be brought.
Jones has been working for you as a confidential informant because you have evidence against him for a February 6, 2005 third possession of cocaine after convictions in 1993 and 1994. He appears to have followed the terms of his deal with you to introduce our undercover agents to his dealer. We have promised not to prosecute for any drug offenses he may commit in the presence of our undercover agent while playing the role of our informant. His assistance has enabled us to get sufficient evidence on Smith and Thompson to obtain convictions. Based on Jones’ two prior convictions for possession of cocaine, we would normally want him to go to federal court, where the maximum sentences are available. However, because of his cooperation, we could file the case in the Sedgwick County, Kansas, and district court under state law. We could even change the charge to a drug paraphernalia offense and send his case to the city of Wichita.
Smith has sold cocaine to our undercover agents on two occasions: July 12, 2005 and August 3, 2005. We have found no prior record on this individual, but we believe that he regularly sells to his friends and acquaintances. Your report indicates it took several contacts between Jones and the undercover agent to persuade Smith to make those two sales. It also appears that although we have tried to make additional purchases from Smith, but he will no longer deal to either Jones or our undercover agents. Based upon the evidence, I do not think we will need to require Smith to testify against his friend, Jones, and we should have enough evidence to convict based solely upon the testimony of our undercover agents.
Thompson appears to be a major dealer but not a local supplier to other dealers in the community. Jones brought our undercover agents to him on several occasions, but Thompson appears to be very wary of obtaining new customers he does not know personally. Thompson has never sold directly to any of our undercover officers, but our officers have personally observed Thompson selling cocaine to Jones on five occasions in March and April of 2006. Your undercover officers indicate that Thompson displays large quantities of cash, keeps major quantities of drugs in his hidden safe in the bedroom floor of his house, and has a number of firearms throughout his house. I believe that if we can get Thompson on these five drug sales made to Jones, we could leverage him to help us get to his supplier. The problem is using Jones, with two prior convictions for cocaine possession and working with us only to save himself, as a witness for the prosecution. I would like to obtain the higher penalties for drug sales and drug possession available in federal court, but we must determine whether Jones’ prior criminal record will be allowed into evidence. His credibility is crucial to getting Thompson convicted, but if the jury hears about his entire past, it might be difficult for them to convict Thompson.
I am going to need you to provide me reasons for each recommendation, and I will forward those to the prosecutors in these courts.
I need your help on this.
DEA Task Force Supervisor
Consult the Web resources on federal, Kansas, and Wichita laws to find information to support your recommendations.
Deliverable Length: 2 pages
Do not forget to include APA citation and references for your work.
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