There was a crime committed where a woman walking alone late at night was found brutally raped, beaten, and left for dead. There was a gang of young men seen in the area previously threatening and assaulting people passing by. Two Members of that gang were picked up later that day and interrogated by my partner about what had happened. Once he had finished interrogating them he stated that they have confessed and are guilty as sin. I asked him if their parents had been contacted he said that they were not able to get a hold of them. I also asked if I could view the footage of the interviews He again replied he had not taped the interviews. But the two 14 year old boys in custody where most defiantly the ones who committed the crime.
My Partner has put me in a very hard spot by not following proper department policies he has jeopardized the case against these two boys if they did in fact commit this crime. Without a taped interview there will be no way to prove that the confessions were not coerced out of them. I decided to contact the district attorney and inform them of what my partner had done. Needless to say they were not happy to hear what had transpired. The teens confessions were thrown out and we were forced to let them go. This decision was very difficult with my I wanted justice done as much if not more than my partner. However I was not willing to cut corners like that I could not allow the district attorney to take these confessions to court where they could have potentially been embarrassing to the DA and our police department. I chose the greater good and reputations of those that enforce our laws. I could not stand by and allow my partner to spit on everything I believed in. My department had put in place these polices for a reason. They parents present with a minor are to try and protect the child from being coerced into confessing or intimidated. Yes some teenagers are not so easily influenced but there is a reason we are supposed to follow these...
