Re: deputydawg???? Or, anyone in law enforcement.
I have seen officers who will be destructive when searching vehicles, houses, and other personal property. That is definately wrong! Our policy is when we do a search do not break anything unless it is absolutely necessary. If we do break something out of reckless disreguard then we are personally liable and must pay for repairs out of pocket.<br />If we impound a car then we have a legal reason to do so. We will not impound unless it is necessary, mostly because it costs us money from our budget to impound. Even if the fees are paid by the owner, we can not collect money it goes back to the county general fund so we lose from our budget. <br />Anything we do break, such as a door to a house, the county will accept a claim for repairs. You must pay first then submit a claim for re-imbursement. In almost all cases as long as the repair is not unreasonable for the damage it will be paid back in full. <br />As for the falsly accused having to pay out legal fees, that is why we can not and will not go to court without probable cause for the arrest or citation. Probable cause means the suspect has put himself into a situation that leaves clear and convincing evidence that the person committed the crime. Sometimes it is possible that the evidence is not as it appears, but there should be a reasonable explination that clears things up before court. The courts also look to see, how often is the common decent law abiding citizen falsly accused? I have met a few that have been falsly accused many many times, but I personally have not been. None of my friends have ever been. This thought and the probable cause are designed and in MOST if not all cases eliminate the innocent from having to defend against false accusations. If someone is falsely accused, and it is proven in court then the department or municipality can be sued for false arrest.<br />Back to the damage question, if an officer damages property in a search then they and or their department are liable for the damage. And it is typical that only the decent citizens that are completly innocent will actually go to the trouble of claiming damages. But then those people are usually not accused in the first place.<br />A few years ago I was on a traffic stop where a dog indicated on the rear quarter panel of the car. We searched but found nothing. In the ned we had to tear the car apart to get inside of the rear fender, and had to bust the tires to search there. We found nothing. We were all getting nervous until we checked and found this vehicle had made 2 border crossings within 48 hours, and the DEA had been watching this vehicle. Turns out the driver was hired to run a load of dope over the border, unload, and keep the car as payment for his part of the transport. The passenger got paid 5,000 which we did find, for his part of the trip. This was the same value as the car. We did damage the vehicle, and keep it in impound for several days. The driver came back and paid for all charges without a complaint. If he would have claimed we would have had to pay for repairs.<br /><br />Hope this answers your question.
