Falsely Arrested Woman Told She Should Thank The Police For Realizing Their Error

from the heckuva-job dept

Tue, Sep 14th 2010 10:06am — Mike Masnick

We've seen all sorts of stories about identity fraud and how it really is a pretty horrible crime -- one where the victims are often left entirely on their own to unravel the resulting mess. However, there are times where things get even more ridiculous. Mitch Wagner points us to a case where a woman who had her identity used by a petty crook/coke addict was picked up by the police, believing she was the scammer, leading to this victim of identity fraud being jailed, strip-searched and de-loused, until she finally convinced police to look at a photo of the actual crook. Even then, they kept her in jail for an additional 24-hours.

And, now, the police responsible have added insult to injury.

After the woman sued the police over this, she was told that that she should thank the police for realizing their mistake. I'm not joking:

Instead of suing Seminole, Shields should thank its employees for "doing a great job," discovering the error and turning their findings over to a judge, who ordered her release April 25, 2002, the day after her arrest, [Defense attorney Tom] Poulton said.

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Filed Under: identity fraud, police

32 Comments

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ofb2632 (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 10:16am

really?
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ofb2632 (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 10:17am

really?
oh!! you should thank me for shooting you in the back. It was a perfectly good bullet. At least i wont charge you for stealing the bullet from me
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- Ron Rezendes (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:12am
  
  Re: really?
  If I give the bullet back you shot me with isn't that only infringement? How dare you call me a thief!
  
  Medic!! Hurry I need to return the projectile before the cops get here so I don't get arrested for theft after I was shot in the back!
  
  ;P
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  - Medic, 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:59am
    
    Re: Re: really?
    Sorry sir, the projectile passed clean threw. The owner will have to file suit with the manufacturer of that wall you were standing in front of.
    
    Now, I need you to carefully read and sign this 450 page waver before I start first aid.
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- interval (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 1:48pm
  
  Re: really?
  In the last few centuries many countries charged the cost of the bullets used in capital punishments meted out firing squad to the victim's families, often even though the victim may have been later found to have been innocent.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2010 @ 5:19am
    
    Re: Re: really?
    The Romans made anyone they defeated pay for the military cost of defeating them.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2010 @ 10:29am

If you has read all the article you would know that it is an un-factual software sales promotion.
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- A Dan (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 10:39am
  
  Re:
  The second link is to capitalize on the story to sell a product that for the company that the submitter works for (the first link). The third link is the actual story.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2010 @ 3:04pm
    
    Re: Re:
    And if you read the story it ends in a paragraph peddling e-mail protection software.
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    - BearGriz72 (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 7:23pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      The ACTUAL Article (3rd link above) is from The Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com) of West Palm Beach, FL. You know a newspaper...
      
      They may be dying but they do still exist.
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2010 @ 5:20am
  
  Re:
  I has read all of articlez
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2010 @ 10:36am

Real story link here:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/innocent-woman-sues-after-identity-theft-leads-to-900 829.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss
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- A Dan (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 10:40am
  
  Re:
  That's the third link in the post. Did you not bother to actually click them?
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SUNWARD (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 10:44am

secured link
the first link goes to a secure site. Not a good thing to do, in my opinion.
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Jeff, 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:00am

She should get a lawsuit and sue their asses.
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- MrWilson, 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:24am
  
  Re:
  From the article:
  
  "After the woman sued the police over this..."
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Overcast (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:02am

That's just STUPID. She SHOULD sue them.

Innocent until proven guilty seems like a lost concept anymore.
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:46am
  
  Re:
  What are you some kind of radical? Did you ever hear of 911?
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Cipher-0, 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:51am

My job...
... is to install fingerprint scanning machines. These scan prints, package them up and send them off to the FBI. In less than two hours they have proof-positive ID if someone's in the system based on those prints.
The local criminal courts are starting to demand the police provide the responses from the FBI before they'll talk about charges on a suspect - and if the PD doesn't have them, forces them to get such.
I'll bet the PD spends more on discovery for the lawsuit than this system costs - around US$40,000.
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- ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 11:56am
  
  Re: My job...
  Somehow I don't think that'd help. If you can't convince police to look at a fraking picture in a timely manner, imagine how difficult it'll be to convince them to double-check a false positive in a 'proof-positive' system that they've been sold.
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  - Cipher-0, 14 Sep 2010 @ 12:05pm
    
    Re: Re: My job...
    ... imagine how difficult it'll be to convince them to double-check a false positive in a 'proof-positive' system...
    True enough - it's not a panacea, but it also provides proof-positive ID on who in the PD needs their personal ass kicked and sued; the system puts their ID all over the fingerprint record, and (at least in the state where I do installs) the officer is required to check the responses.
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- interval (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 1:39pm
  
  Re: My job...
  My wife works a Sheriff's clerk for the county, part of her job is finger print processing and data base look-ups, and her mother is a shift super. Part of her (my mother-in-law) job is being sent out on trips to other jurisdictions (sometimes even international) to stay with the current finger printing technology or demonstrate the county's finger print technology to other jurisdictions. The impression I get from her is that there is still a lot of work to get all American jurisdictions working with finger print technology at the same level and getting them to share information at the same level. Apparently some backwaters still use index cards filed in a shoebox, others don't use the same nomenclature, or a whole host of weird issues that you wouldn't think would come up in a supposedly technologically advanced nation. Its kinda funny to hear her talk about people she has to work with in other jurisdictions who don't seem to have a clue what she's talking about with regard to finger printing (this is LA county, CA, I can only assume we're on the cutting edge or something.)
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known coward, 14 Sep 2010 @ 12:10pm

Maybe the police
Could bill her for room and board for the time she was there?
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TriZz (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 12:15pm

De-loused?
...If she was lice infected, then ridding her of those lice is a thankful task.
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- interval (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 1:43pm
  
  Re: De-loused?
  Yeah. Whenever I feel the need for a good de-lousing I get arrested. My criminal record is shot to hell and I've contracted TB from being put in a cell with a carrier, but by God I am louse-free.
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Jay (profile), 14 Sep 2010 @ 2:24pm

Convincing argument
I'm more and more convinced that as people gain power, they abuse it for the most inane reasons possible.

Odds are, if we got rid of lawyers and politicians, the entire world would prosper quite well without them.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Sep 2010 @ 2:43pm

Police = uneducated jocks with guns that have now joined the government gang. Aren't we lucky that such great, upstanding, people are "protecting" us?
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R K, 14 Sep 2010 @ 3:47pm

Date of arrest
The article says she was released in April 25, 2002. I know justice moves slowly but a pre-trial hearing 8 1/2 years after the incident? And once she was ordered release still handcuffing her until she was processed out 3+ hours later - if the Sheriff's office ackmnowledged the mistake, the Judge ordered her release, is she a flight risk? "Poulton said it takes several hours for jail employees to run through all their checks and process out an inmate. Shields, he said, was treated no differently than anyone else." Under the circumstances, she certainly should have been treated differetly!
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Johnny, 14 Sep 2010 @ 5:01pm

And the police wonders
And the police wonders why people hate them so much, and why they are perceived as violent and power hungry primates with one brain cell.
It also doesn't help that they always try to cover up the crimes of other officers.
A cop can kill you or seriously injure you and face nearly no penalty.
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bshock, 15 Sep 2010 @ 11:46am

why not?
Isn't this just a standard reaction for authorities?

When a drunken Dick Cheney shot someone in the face, wasn't it the victim who apologized to him?
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PrometheeFeu (profile), 15 Sep 2010 @ 11:57pm

"Shields also contends that she should have been set free as soon as Seminole County Judge Carmine Bravo ordered her release around 2 p.m. She wasn't. She was handcuffed, led from the courtroom and held for another three to 3 1/2 hours.

Poulton said it takes several hours for jail employees to run through all their checks and process out an inmate. Shields, he said, was treated no differently than anyone else."

Sounds to me like that's the jail employee's problem. Don't see why their byzantine procedures should result in keeping someone in custody. For all it's flaws, when you are set free by a judge in France, you walk out without handcuffs or anything.
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D0M1N8R, 16 Sep 2010 @ 6:47pm

I havent read into this story beyond this article but it would make since that if there is a arrest warrant the Police must honor it. So was it a Police mistake or just another fault of the legal system?
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