JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A newly instated New York law highlights a situation that most law enforcement offices have to deal with across the country.
Arresting parents in front of children is a situation News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney describes as a challenge.
“Having done that before and having incidents where that has happened, you try to do the least amount of harm in executing the arrest. Sometimes, it can’t be helped, but other times it can be and it’s so traumatic for the little ones to see,” Hackney said.
The Child-Sensitive Arrest Law requires New York law enforcement officers to know how to interact with children when parents are arrested. They will also be required to arrange continued care for the children when their parents are taken to jail.
According to the National Institute of Health, two out of every five children above the age of two years old experience significant emotional and behavioral problems when a parent is arrested.
However, only one in every ten children receive mental health services.
Hackney, who is a retired JSO director of investigations, said before JSO makes a plan to raid a home where an arrest is likely, the officers consider the presence of children in that plan to prevent any physical or mental harm.
“Just about every law enforcement officer I know and have experience with during my time here with the sheriff’s office was that you want to be aware of that and you want to avoid that if possible,” Hackney said. “So, you do plan that and if you can avoid making that arrest in front of the kids; efforts are made to do that. Sometimes things are what they are, and you can’t make those changes and make those arrests somewhere else, but you certainly try when you can.”
According to the Institute for Research on Poverty, arrests of Black and Hispanic parents are 50 times more likely to involve the use of force, which causes their children to be even more traumatized while watching the arrest.
Hackney said all police officers have to be cognizant of what they do and say during the arrest of a parent with children present.
“Be aware that everything matters. Your presence matters. What you say. How you say it. If you can make the arrest other than the presence of the child, but if you’re forced to do that, remember, everything you do and everything you say can impact that child for the rest of their lives,” Hackney said.