Nashville Police More Cautious With Domestic Violence Cases
The Nashville Metro Police Department made national headlines last year when it was discovered they were dropping a significant number of cases, more than they were making arrests on. Now, however, Metro Police are getting their numbers up and while a spokesperson says they haven’t made any procedural changes, the negative attention no doubt played a role in the about-face.
We first blogged about the controversy here, when it was discovered last fall by The Tennessean that Metro Police were dropping a significant number of cases due to lack of victim cooperation.
While it’s not unusual for a victim of domestic violence to change their mind about pursuing charges, that didn’t seem to be the situation with many of these dropped cases. It was discovered that “lack of cooperation” was inferred by something as simple as a single phone call from police gone unreturned by the victim, or an address change that wasn’t told to police.
In 2005, the police dropped around 200 cases. In 2009 that number had risen dramatically to about 5,500. In each of these cases, lack of cooperation was cited as the reason. In 2010, following the Tennessean story, that number had dropped back to 1,200.
The Department never did admit any fault with the dramatic number of dropped cases, nor can they explain the significant improvement last year. “One thought is that perhaps more victims are cooperating,” says the police spokesperson in this updated Tennessean report.
Although they won’t admit there was a problem within the department, the change shows they have done something different to correct the non-problem. It seems they have been making greater efforts to contact victims, whether they’ve moved or changed their number.
In relation to this case, the Mayor ordered an audit of the department’s crime reporting, which came under fire after it was discovered many offenses were being classified as “matter of record” rather than criminal offenses. Again, it was domestic violence cases that were under scrutiny.
One can hope the shakeups that occurred over the past year will serve to help more victims of domestic violence while still providing due process to those defendants accused of the acts. Domestic charges are very serious indeed, and something that can forever change your life.
If convicted of a domestic assault or similar charge, you could be looking at jail time, fines, and the long lasting stigma of being labeled a convicted criminal. If you are facing such charges, speaking with a local defense attorney may be able to help you gain some perspective on the case and what your options are.
Contact our attorneys today for a free consultation on any criminal charge in TN.
