Cop Screwed Up.
For one thing, IDK if CA has a "Romeo & Juliet" clause to their sex with minors law. Most places a 15-year-old and 14-year-old just get grounded for having sex, not a criminal matter.
Now the cop acting as a father is one thing, but when he was in uniform, with a gun on his side and put the kid in cuffs, he was acting on official authority. He should have taken the kid at that point to lockup and let the process take it from there.
By making a "false arrest" well, that is exactly what he did - kidnapped the kid. Broke the law himself.
It is a shame that a simple life problem is now so blown out of proportion because of this father reacting to a problem with his daughter but using his authority of his position to scare the boy.
If he had taken off the cuffs and gun, went in his own car and approached the boy's parents it could have been so much better handled. If an arrest was required, say the boy was 18, then he would not have been involved - calling it in for another cop to execute. Or at least that is how it should have been done when an official has a conflict of interest.
Edit:
This is the latest I found on this story from October. As the parents' lawyer mentioned back in Sept. the DA will not pursue these instances of cops overstepping their bounds. Still, he may get sanctioned by his dept. for not following policy (or good sense)
DA won't charge San Jose cop in teen sex, fake arrest case
By Sean Webby
Posted: 10/21/2010 03:44:04 PM PDT
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office will file no criminal charges against a San Jose police officer who pretended to arrest a 15-year-old boy who had sex with his 14-year-old stepdaughter.
Prosecutors, who reviewed the nationally publicized case and analyzed a smartphone video of the incident secretly shot by the boy's father, said this week that the officer was within his legal rights to investigate the potential crime of unlawful sex between minors.
I still think if one of the minors is related, then you have to recuse yourself from such investigation and call it in like any other citizen.
This, despite the fact that the officer wrote no report on the incident and didn't refer it to another investigator.
"Police have wide latitude to investigate crimes, especially when it involves juveniles," Assistant District Attorney David Tomkins said. Tomkins used an analogy of an officer pulling over a driver who was speeding and letting them go with a warning.
Although the officer will not be charged with any crime, he remains on paid administrative leave while the police department's internal affairs unit probes whether he broke police protocol. Command staff will then decide any discipline, which could range from extra training to termination. The Mercury News is not naming the officer to protect the identify of his stepdaughter.
The case of the mock arrest by the angry dad instantly went viral, with police and pundits weighing in on whether it was a righteous parenting moment or an abuse of power.
Hitskin.com
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