Ya know. In reading some of the posts where a few put the officers involved down for making the decision to arrest didn't sit very well with me. It's really easy to be a back seat driver, or an arm chair quaterback, or any other term you want to apply. One mentioned, "what happened to officer discretion"? We have all the time in the world to sift through things after the fact, but a cop has to make his decision right then and there for the most part. I made arrests maybe that I shouldn't have made. But based on the situation at hand, I made my decision. If the cause was found, the arrest stood. If the evidence didn't support me, as in this case, the charges were dropped. Everyone involved with this did the job they were hired to do. What more can you ask of anyone?
I think we could have and must ask for common sense to prevail. The arresting officer "jumped his gun" in being so quick to arrest the victim. Had he used better judgement, the victim would have never gone through what was foisted upon him, and he would not have an arrest record to contend with.
On the outside, looking in...it appears that LEO takes no interest in the long term ramifications of these quick arrests and the harm they might cause an innocent person who plays by the rules all his life and causes no harm, ever.
This isn't a condemnation of LEO painted with a broad brush, but...dammit...LEO works for us who abide by the law, and they need to remember that sometimes while doing the most difficult job imaginable to proyect us all.
This old guy now has a permanent record of a felony arrest. And you know how that's viewed by most folks? They think he "beat it on a technicality". Which he did. The technicality was that he didn't commit a crime.
Let things cool down a bit, hire an Atty. and look at an expungment of his record. He already seems to be in good with the DA, who would be the one to primarily object. Expungements happen all the time here. Do they do them in the court that you work in???
We don't have an expungement statute in AL. Seen it tried and failed only a handful of times. There's talk of writing legislation to allow it.
Second, that only works at the state level, he'll still have a record on NCIC. Since 9/11, the Feds won't expunge anything.
