Associate Magazine FBINAA Q1-2023

SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING PRODUCTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

PATRICK HARRIS, NA Session 283

The people that bring law enforcement officers’ cases to prosecution have many titles: city prosecutor, district attorney, state’s attorney or commonwealth attor ney. No matter the title or locality, every law enforcement jurisdiction could benefit from improving their relationship with the organization that prosecutes their criminal cases in court. T he community has an expectation that law enforcement agencies will write tickets and make arrests. They also have an expectation that those charges will result in convictions so the offenders will be held responsible for their actions. It is therefore critical for all organizations within the criminal justice system to work together to ensure the rights of the accused are respected and the victims of crime see that justice has been done for them. POTENTIAL POINTS OF CONFLICT WITH A PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE • Case screening • Lack of aggressive prosecution • Lack of support for arrests • Decriminalization of offenses • Out of sync philosophies about arrest and prosecution • Arrests without sufficient evidence for successful prosecution

How does a law enforcement agency become more in sync with a prosecutor’s office, especially when there are potentially many points of conflict and sometimes competing interests? Cooperation needs to begin at the highest levels of both organizations with candid conversations based on mutual understanding and respect. If there is existing conflict, one party must rise to the occasion, take the first step, and extend the olive branch. When all is said and done, it is the victims of crime we serve above our own self interests. While there may never be complete harmony, the efforts put forth by leadership can lay the foundation for future cooperation or at a minimum, an understanding of each other’s interests and constraints. The only difficult step is the first one, and once the precedent is set all future work will be normalized and the natural order of investigations. VALUE OF COOPERATION BETWEEN OFFICES DESPITE DIFFERING AGENDAS • Improved quality of arrests • Improved rate of prosecutable cases and convictions • Improved sense of teamwork • Improved service to the victims of crime • Provides a united front against crime to the community • Building trust in the criminal justice system in the eyes of the community Rather than being in direct conflict, it is much more likely that the relationship between a law enforcement agency and the prosecutor’s office functions as a matter of necessity under rules established years prior that may or may not be functional and relevant for 21st century policing. It is also possible that changing societal pressures are putting new constraints on

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