Read through Open Inns LTD v. Chester County Sheriff’s Department (1998), and provide a synopsis of the overall issues that this case brought about.
I think the biggest issue here is the lack of direction; more specifically, the lack of a thorough policy. Ideally, this policy would provide the officers with the knowledge and direction required to deal with situations such as this.
The issues here are many, for one, the fact that the officers were hired for the purpose of assisting with the illegal seizure. As noted throughout the case, this was a common practice and part of their unwritten policy of “don’t ask, don’t think.” I believe we would all agree that this is a conflict of interest.
I also thought it was very unethical for the deputies to take their orders from someone’s private attorney. Not to mention, the lieutenant testified that he believed attorneys to be officers of the court and that they were obligated to follow their orders. I find this hard to believe, but nonetheless, another issue easily addressed in policy.
Should all law enforcement agencies have a policy that addresses the practice of Civil Summonses (both police and sheriff departments)?…show more content… Although not all departments are tasked with serving civil summonses, it is something that could happen, or the policy could say that it is prohibited. In most cases, there are other civil actions departments may need to address in policy, such as dealing with landlord-tenant issues. If a department has a policy dealing with any civil issues, then they should include all potential civil issues to include serving civil summonses. According to Welsh and Harris (2013), “We want to know, in detail, who does what to whom in what order, how much, and how often” (Welsh and Harris, 2013, p.
