Associate Magazine FBINAA Q1-2023

Continued from "Productive Relationships", on page 12

either agency. Regardless of the circumstances, it is in the best i nterest of the community that both agencies strive to provide high quality criminal justice services through improved levels of cooperation. There should be no place for egos, agendas and secrets when the safety of the public is at stake. Cooperation can improve the number of successfully prosecuted arrests, build interagency teamwork, provide justice with a more victim centric approach, and show a united front against criminal behavior. It is clear that both sides can reap the benefits of cooperation. WHAT DOES SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION LOOK LIKE? Successful collaboration can take on whatever shape the participating agencies would like it to have. A successful beginning would open with frequent and regular conversations between supervisors, leading to improved communication be tween prosecutors and officers. These conversations should ex tend beyond the status of a single case but move into the realm of prosecutorial strategy, court preparation and joint training between the police and prosecutor’s office. Mutual training could involve prosecutors sharing the latest changes in laws, trends they are seeing in local courtrooms and strategies for building stronger cases. In turn, law enforcement can bring forward their latest technology, training methods and real-life examples of situations they encounter. Law enforcement should begin to invite prosecutors to ma jor crime scenes. Their first look at a homicide scene, should not be from the crime scene photos in the sterile environment of an office. There is no substitute to seeing the details firsthand and having the innate understanding of the circumstances because they saw the details with their own eyes. Prosecutors should also be encouraged to observe and advise during major case interrogations. A lawyer’s understanding of how questions and responses will be interpreted in court can prove invaluable in shaping lines of questioning. Simply advising the officer to clarify a statement or ask a specific line of questions, could prevent legal challenges that bog down cases with unnecessary court ap pearances, when they could have been easily prevented on the front end of an investigation. While each side of the legal system has a distinct function and there are times where the skills of each can complement each other, care must be taken to remember each is independent and distinct from the other with unique goals and needs. Neither should have policies and procedures dictated to them by the oth er. Rather, both parties should develop an understanding of the needs and pressures impacting the other so as to complement the other’s services. In this way mutual respect and cooperation can be built between different portions of the criminal justice system and a renewed sense of teamwork can be brought forth to better serve the victims of crime. REMEMBER THE BIGGER PICTURE At the end of the day, both law enforcement and a prosecu tor’s office have an obligation to their constituents to whom they answer. The members of the community demand a well-run and functioning criminal justice system with all of its parts working in unison for the betterment of society. The criminal justice sys tem is bigger than any one agency and all parties have a moral obligation to ensure the rights of the accused are secure and that justice is provided for victims of crime.

About the Author Patrick Harris is a committed, ethical, and accom plished 28-year career law enforcement veteran with a distinguished record of public service and progressive management responsibility. More than 17 of those years have been in a supervisory or management capacity in a major resort city with a permanent popu lation of 450,000, a yearly influx of visitors numbering in the millions, and 800 sworn officers.

Continued from "A Message from Our Chaplainr", on page 15

Having a close and personal relationship with the Lord is what works for me. Many of you have heard me say in prayer that God hears our prayers, and that He is present in our lives and that we can call on Him anytime. He never puts our prayers on hold, nor do we ever get a voice message. God may not always respond in the timeline that we want, but that doesn’t mean He is not listening. Trust that He will hear your fears and guide you.

References 1 The Fear Virus by Ed Young P.10

God bless,

Mike Hardee National Chaplain

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