Ask Me Help Desk - Does my lawyer have police report?

I asked my lawyer for a copy of police report about my statement at time of arrest I live in commonwealth virginia he told me common wealth district attorney won't release a police report don't I have the right to it? It is evidenceisnt it?isn't I entitled to evidence?

Actually no a police report is not really evidence, your statement to them at the time of arrest can be evidence if the DA wants to use it. The DA has to supply you a copy ( your attorney) of any evidence they plan to use at trial.

The basic police report is nothing more than date of time of call, what officers were sent to the call. Your statement at the time of arrest would most likely be a supplimental form, since the police reort isnormally publicly available, and your statementw ould not be.

Your attorney can file a motion to have that statement released but would not be automacticly given unless the DA planned on using it.

I would have to agree with "Fr_Chuck " If I was you I would give all details to your attorney to better understand the situation. I would ask your lawyer to look into the police officers back ground to make sure that he or she is up to date with all rules and guidelines of thir duties. I.E. Safe back- was the police officer allowed to drive the vehicle to the incident what ever it may be. Has the police officer passed it's fiscal. I wish you the best of luck.

Yes I am sure your attorney knows to do it, but all of the arresting officers POST records should be looked into. If they are not current in their annual training, they actually don't have legal power of arrest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Questionshelp

I would have to agree with "Fr_Chuck " If I was you I would give all details to your attorney to better understand the situation. I would ask your lawyer to look into the police officers back ground to make sure that he or she is up to date with all rules and guidelines of thir duties. I.E. Safe back- was the police officer allowed to drive the vehicle to the incident what ever it may be. Has the police officer passed it's fiscal. I wish you the best of luck.

If the Officer is not current the Officer would not be on the force - and as far as the "fiscal," I assume you mean physical and the Officer has to pass (and pass the arms test) every year in order to stay on the Force.

Actually Judy you would be surprised at the number of officers who slip though the training, most medical and small departments have one officer who is the training officer, the evidence officer and the PR officer who has to manually keep track of the training. They have to do a number of hours each year and many departments are very cheap about providing them. So they may have a training class in hosue, but a officer had ot leave that class a hour early and so on. In every department I have ever worked for, I have found that one or two officers slip though and miss getting all of their training.

The radar gun issue is even worst, the requirements change by state, but in ours every two years they have to take a new class. So if they can't make the two or three classes offered each year, or don't want to pay it out of their own pockets, many may also just forget to go, the state does not send out a notice, it is not caught till someone looks it up.
I would say a larger percent of officers miss that dead line than anyone ever believes.

So while it should be, that the officer does not work if not current that is far from the actual case in many areas, where they rush to "fix" the paper work after it is discovered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

actually Judy you would be surprised at the number of officers who slip though the training, most medical and small departments have one officer who is the training officer, the evidence officer and the PR officer who has to manually keep track of the training. They have to do a number of hours each year and many departments are very cheap about providing them. So they may have a training class in hosue, but a officer had ot leave that class a hour early and so on. In every department I have ever worked for, I have found that one or two officers slip though and miss getting all of thier training.

The radar gun issue is even worst, the requirements change by state, but in ours every two years they have to take a new class. so if they can't make the two or three classes offered each year, or don't want to pay it out of thier own pockets, many may also just forget to go, the state does not send out a notice, it is not caught till someone looks it up.
I would say a larger percent of officers miss that dead line than anyone ever beleives.

So while it should be, that the officer does not work if not current that is far from the actual case in many areas, where they rush to "fix" the paper work after it is discovered.

Once again it varies from State to State - this is a constant speeding ticket argument (insufficient training/no calibration) so the Police "here" are very careful. You skip/miss a class you are on leave until you catch up - or the class is offered again!