| Chapter 1
The
Crime Beat
By
Dave Krajicek
The Arrest Process
Learn the steps of prisoner processing, including arrest, booking,
bail procedures and arraignment.
The process has many implications, including financial. Inefficient
booking operations can idle arresting police officers, often while
on overtime pay. During the crime spike of the late 1980s, some
police officers in the most inefficient cities were cautioned against
making arrests late in their shifts. Many cities were placed under
court order to process and arraign suspects within a maximum period
– typically, 72 hours – or release them.
Since then, law agencies have worked to streamline booking through
such innovations as prosecutor-cop teleconferencing, development
of centralized booking facilities, and use of bar-code scanners
and computer imaging. (Baltimore, for example, opened a $54 million
central booking facility in 1995 that was considered a prototype
for efficiency.)
Details vary from one jurisdiction to the next, but here are the
basic steps from arrest to arraignment:
Arrest
The legal guideline for a felony arrest is "probable cause,"
a reasonable belief by police that the suspect is responsible for
a crime, based on statements by victims or witnesses or observations
by police. Standard operating procedure calls for an arrest to begin
with a frisking and cuffing. The restrained suspect is placed in
a secure police vehicle and taken to headquarters or another booking
venue. Before questioning, the suspect must be informed of basic
rights.
Miranda Warning
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything
you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You
have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you
while you are being questioned. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer,
one will be appointed to represent you before you answer any questions."
This well-worn warning is based on a seminal 1966 Supreme Court
ruling in Miranda v. Arizona, a rape case. Suspects can waive the
right to silence verbally or in writing. A suspect who acknowledges
the warning and continues to answer questions is considered to have
waived his right. Interrogations can occur before or after booking.
A prosecutor frequently consults or participates before questioning
in a serious felony case, such as homicide. Some suspects hear the
warning several times during the arrest process – from the
arresting officer, from investigating detectives and from the prosecutor.
(Click here for more details
on the Miranda case and here
for the Gideon ruling concerning a suspect's right to an attorney.)
Tip: Be careful of arrest terms. Police do not "file"
felony charges. Only prosecutors can bring felony charges. Avoid
writing that a suspect was arrested "for" a crime. That
implies guilt. Substitute "on suspicion of," "in
connection with" or, in news shorthand, simply "in."
For example: "A Memphis man was arrested today on suspicion
of robbery in Sunday's church holdup downtown."
Booking and Bail
During booking, a police supervisor records in a registry (or book)
the suspect's identifiers and the charges he faces. Police remove
and inventory the suspect's property. He is photographed and fingerprinted
(with a digital scanner, not ink). Some jurisdictions take saliva
swabs for a DNA test. This "pedigree," photo and fingerprints
are shared via computer links with state and national crime information
centers. (Click here for a sidebar
on the NCIC.) Drug and alcohol tests can be given during the booking
process.
A suspect can be held for arraignment after booking and interrogation.
In some places he is taken by police or court personnel to a courthouse
and confined in a holding cell. In others he is confined at a police
facility.
In many minor cases, the arresting officer or a supervisor can
set bail based on a schedule determined by local courts. Many defendants
are released "on recognizance," without bail. They agree
to appear in court when asked.
Bail can be "paid" with cash or with a bond and collateral
personal property, such as the financial equity in a house. A bond
firm, which acts as intermediary between the court and accused,
typically requires a 10 percent fee that will not be returned, regardless
of the outcome of the case. Any cash bail paid will be returned
minus an administrative fee once the accused meets the bail conditions
– to appear in court and stay away from a victim, for example.
Those not eligible for immediate bail are evaluated for any special
security classification and cell assignment. Police agencies are
compelled to consider the well-being of a suspect, including any
medical, mental health or dietary needs.
Arraignment
This is a suspect's first appearance before a judge, justice or
magistrate. The accused is informed of the formal charges. (Arraignments
likely will be covered by a court reporter, but crime reporters
should understand the process.)
During the late 1980s, a legal mandate requiring arraignment within
72 hours of arrest became a national standard. Improvements in the
process from arrest to arraignment have reduced that mandate to
as little as 24 hours in many cities. (There are exceptions. In
places with no weekend arraignment court, a Friday night arrestee
unable to make bail may be locked up until Monday morning.)
An assistant prosecutor normally handles arraignments, and a public
defender acts on behalf of felony suspects who have not hired a
lawyer. In rural courts that lack staff public defenders, the arraignment
judge will appoint a local lawyer to represent an indigent suspect
who may face jail time if convicted. (The appointment of a lawyer
or public defender does not absolve the suspect of financial responsibility.
If he is solvent, he may have to pay.)
If police set bail, the suspect can request a bail reduction during
arraignment. The judge has the authority to alter, grant or deny
bail. The suspect's lawyer also can request a bail hearing.
Perp Walks
Editors and producers often call on police reporters to provide
information about photo or video access to suspects. Ask your agency
to explain its protocols on "perp walks." (For more on
the subject, click here.) Also
ask about the process for obtaining mug shots.
Access After Arrest
Few police agencies allow media access to a suspect "in the
system" after arrest. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Needless
to say, those charged with crimes are fair game for the media once
released from police custody. (Access to those in jail or prison
after conviction is discussed later in this chapter.)
'Bad News' Beat
No matter how many stories a crime reporter writes about heroic
cops or Good Samaritan citizens, he is liable to be criticized for
dwelling on negatives.
Sometimes the critics are readers or viewers who would prefer cheerful
news. Sometimes the critics have a political or financial stake
in positive news. In one recent example described on the Criminal
Justice Journalists' Cops and Courts Reporters discussion list,
an East Coast reporter said he had been blackballed by the local
police department, perhaps on orders of City Hall, after the paper
published stories about downtown crime. The stories were seen as
an impediment to redevelopment.
Often, anti-media sentiment is a reflection of the abhorrent subject
matter of a story. Such was the case a few years ago near Flint,
Mich, when a kindergarten boy shot and killed a girl in his class.
The local media were widely criticized by viewers and readers for
giving prominent coverage to the case.
Some accused the media of sensationalizing the killing, although
that seemed impossible, given the circumstances. Others saw racial
implications. The name and photograph of the girl, who was white,
appeared across the breadth of the media while the boy, who was
black, enjoyed anonymity. The media withheld his name because he
was a juvenile. And there were the usual complaints of media intrusion
as reporters tried to interview neighbors and classmates.
Sometimes the media can't win. The killing of a kindergartner by
her classmate is not a story anyone wants to hear – or to
report. Despite all the easy barbs about heartless media sensationalism,
the truth in Michigan newsrooms was quite different.
Ron Fonger, one of about 20 Flint Journal writers who covered
the killing, told me he needed no reminder to tread lightly.
"Any time you get a case that deals with a real emotional,
tragic type of situation, like the death of child, it has to affect
you," Fonger said. "I've got a 4-year-old daughter who
some people say bears a resemblance to Kayla (the victim). So every
time I see a photo of the little girl, it kind of chokes me up all
over again. It's very sad."
In his memoir, journalist Russell Baker said he first faced the
negativity criticism as a Baltimore Sun police reporter in the late
1940s. Baker wrote, "'It happened, didn't it?' That was a sentence
I was to use many times in years to come when dealing with desperate
people who believed that terrible things didn't really happen unless
they were reported in the newspaper. 'It happened, didn't it?' Keeping
it out of the paper can't make it unhappen."
Edna Buchanan wrote of the phenomenon in a chapter of her memoir
entitled "Nobody Loves a Police Reporter":
"To be a police reporter is to be an unwelcome intruder. It
can be lonesome and arduous. People blame you for the bad news.
It's human nature: Somebody gets in trouble, you report it, and
he turns on you like it's your fault, not his, that he is in this
mess. The truth can get you in a lot of trouble."
But she added, "Police reporters deal with lives, reputations,
and careers. So you keep on – ask one more question, knock
on one more door, make one last phone call, and then another. It
could be the one that counts."
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