The Long Island law office of Falk & Klebanoff handles a variety of legal matters, including personal injury and police misconduct. Despite the oftentimes police officers have broad powers, there are still limits in place on how far police can go in trying to enforce the law. When police officers cross that line and go too far, that is when we head into the realm of police misconduct as it is a violation of the rights of the citizens. And there are different ways misconduct can happen with a police officer.
Civil rights laws aim to protect citizens from abuses from the government, which includes police misconduct. Our law office takes pride in being able to represent those who suffer at the hands of police misconduct and provide them the right legal recourse. For more information about our legal representation regarding police misconduct, please reach out to us today.
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In general, police misconduct is often referred to as "police corruption." That is because both involve the violation of police department rules and regulations. Police misconduct sometimes will involve law enforcement officers who violate the laws, as well as the civil rights of the citizens they were supposedly sworn to protect. Some common examples of police misconduct include the excessive use of either physical or deadly force, arresting people based on discrimination, physically or verbally harassing people, or being selective with the laws they enforce.
Victims of police misconduct have protection from the law. According to law, it is unlawful for anyone under the authority of state law to deprive another person of his or her rights under the Constitution or federal law. Here are the most common claims brought against police officers:
A false arrest is the most common claim of police misconduct. When someone brings up this claim, they are claiming that their Fourth Amendment rights were violated. When this type of misconduct happens, the officer believes the individual had committed a crime, which means the arrest is reasonable. Police can arrest without a warrant for a felony or misdemeanor committed in their presence. Even if the information the office used to make the arrest turns out to be false, then the officer is not liable if he believed the information was accurate at the time of the arrest.
In order to win a false arrest claim, the victim must show that the arresting officer lacked probable cause, which means they must have facts sufficient to cause a reasonable person to believe that a crime has been committed. Our law office will work with facts and fight for your case.
A malicious prosecution claim asserts that the officer in question wrongly deprived the victim of the Fourteenth Amendment and their right to liberty. In order to win this claim of police misconduct, the victim must show four things:
If the police officer had probable cause to initiate criminal proceedings, then the claim will fail. But if it meets the other guidelines, then our law office can help you with the legal course of action.
When there are claims of excessive force, these are the charges that garner the most publicity. Especially when this excessive force has led to serious physical injury or even death. The surrounding circumstances will ultimately determine if the use of force was reasonable or not. The officer's intentions or motivations are not controlling. If the amount of force was reasonable, then it does not matter if the intentions of the officer were bad. However, the reverse is also true. If the officer had good intentions with the interactions, but then used unreasonable force, the excessive force claim will not be dismissed and the claim can be brought to court.
Police officers have a duty to protect individuals from constitutional violations by fellow officers. So, if an officer witnesses a fellow officer violating an individual's constitutional rights, they may be liable to the victim for failing to intervene in the interaction.
