NCJ Number
83238
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1982) Pages: 73-78
Date Published
1982
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Panelists discuss the work of police attorneys for the Charlotte Police Department (N.C.) and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Abstract
Two attorneys are employed as in-house counsel by the Charlotte Police Department, answering to the chief of police, who can discharge an attorney for cause. The police attorneys are available to answer legal questions from officers and administrators as those questions arise. They also provide instruction and guidance in the areas of arrests, searches, seizures, lineups, interrogations, equal employment opportunity, and the administration of discipline. Police attorneys also provide the department with legal advocates to present its position and represent its interests in any setting, legal or nonlegal, including legislative committee hearings, city council hearings, civil service board hearings, employee grievance hearings, and hearings before other governmental bodies and commissions. In Ohio, legal advice and representation in court can only be provided by the Ohio attorney general where State agencies and employees are involved. The Ohio attorney general has assigned an assistant attorney general to provide legal counsel and representation to the Ohio State Highway Patrol and its sworn officers. This assistant attorney general operates out of Patrol headquarters and is considered in a lawyer-client relationship with the superintendent of the Patrol. The attorney's primary concern is to protect the superintendent from any possible adverse legal consequences from actions taken. The attorney also represents individual officers in any job-related litigation.