WaPo: The Watch Blog: DOJ report: Arrests without PC, held for days without a lawyer; here it’s a “CID hold”

WaPo: The Watch Blog by Radley Balko:

Incredible Justice Department report finds brazen and systemic police abuse in Louisiana. Officers in two departments made hundreds of “secret” arrests without probable cause. The arrests typically included strip-searches, and arrestees could be held for days without access to a lawyer. Most were based on little more than an officer’s hunch, after which the arrestee would be pressured to confess.


The DOJ report: Investigation of the Ville Platte Police Department and the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (Dec. 19, 2016).

In Arkansas, this is called a “CID hold” and they think they can hold people 48 hours without charges under Riverside. I told a Sheriff trying to justify it once “that is bullshit and you know it. Get him to a judge for a bond setting.” I’ve also told judges that, on the record, but with less colorful language. This is a § 1983 waiting to happen. My clients get out when I raise it, but I’ve heard of people spending weeks in jail in Arkansas without ever seeing a judge or there somehow being a probable cause showing

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