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Know your affirmative duty Training, hiring and supervision duties
or supervision. I City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378
(1989): Te “failure to provide proper train- ing may fairly be said to represent a policy for which the city [or county] is responsible” if “the need for more or different training” is “so obvi- ous, and the inadequacy so likely to result in the violation of constitutional rights, that the policy makers of the city can reasonably be said to have been deliberately indifferent to the need.” Te city of Canton dealt with the issue of training needed to enable officers to determine whether a prisoner required medical care. Te U.S. Supreme Court held that the evi- dence did not support a finding of deliberate indifference because there were “no past incidents of ‘deliberate indifference’ to the medical needs of emotionally dis- turbed detainees [nor] any other circumstances that had put the city on actual or constructive no- tice of a need for additional train- ing in this regard.” Hiring In Board of County Commissioners of Bryan County v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397 (1997), the Su- preme Court said that a county would be con- sidered to be “deliberately indifferent” to a nec- essary hiring need “where adequate scrutiny of an applicant’s background would lead a reason- able policy maker to conclude that the plainly obvious consequence of the decision to hire the applicant would be the deprivation of a third party’s federally protected rights.” Te U.S. Supreme Court remanded Ms.
Brown’s case for trial on the issue of whether the county had been “deliberately indiffer- ent” to a necessary training need for the of- ficer in question, an inexperienced officer who had been hired and put on patrol with no training although he was in line for stan- dard training provided by the state law en-
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n the context of law enforcement and detention, a county has an affirmative duty to “not be deliberately indifferent to a need for” necessary training, hiring,
forcement training academy. Supervision On the issue of supervision, Brown won a
jury verdict in her favor. Brown v. Bryan Coun- ty Board of Commissioners, 219 F.3d 450 (5th Cir. 2000). Te jury’s verdict was appealed. Te Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s verdict, stat- ing that the verdict was supported by evidence that the sheriff knew of that particular officer’s “exuberant and reckless background” and “his record of ‘taking down’ a number of arrest sub- jects” (during his first 12 arrests). Te Court of Appeals ruled that “under certain circumstances, § 1983 liability can attach for a single decision not to train an individual officer even where
for’ necessary training, hiring or supervision. “A
there has been no pattern of previous constitu- tional violations . . . [where there is] . . . evi- dence that would support a finding that it was obvious that the offending officer . . . was highly likely to inflict the particular injury suffered by the plaintiff.” Te Court concluded that evidence was suf- ficient in Brown’s case for the jury to have con- cluded that “it was obvious to [the sheriff] that his policy decision not to train [the particular deputy in question] would result in a constitu- tional deprivation.”
Annual deputy training Arkansas Law: “Each law enforcement agen- cy shall provide annual training to all officers that ... emphasizes the prohibition against [un- lawful] profiling ... and stresses ... development of effective and appropriate methods of carrying out law enforcement duties.” A.C.A. 12-12-1404. Tis annual training is
County Law Update
to: (1) empha- size the prohibi- tion against un- lawful profiling; (2) ensure that operating proce- dures adequately implement the pr ohibition against unlawful profiling (so that all law en- forcement personnel have copies of, understand, and follow the operating procedures); (3)
Mike Rainwater Risk Management Legal Counsel
in-
clude foreign language instruction, if possible, to ensure adequate communication with residents of the community, and (4) stress understanding of and respect for racial, ethnic, national,
religious and cultural
county has an affirmative duty to ‘not be deliberately indifferent to a need
”
differences and apply such to the development of effective and appropriate methods of carry- ing out law enforcement duties. A.C.A. 12-12-1404.
deputized:
Tis applies to all persons When considering
these principles, don’t forget that the principles apply to auxiliary deputies and to any other per- sons deputized. If, for example,
you choose to “deputize” city or town officers, your grant of your “sheriff” power carries with it the duty to “not be deliberately indifferent to a need for” necessary training, hiring, or supervi- sion. Before deputizing auxiliaries or non-coun- ty officers, count the additional cost in necessary training, hiring or supervision. (Note: Arkansas law limits the use/authority of auxiliary officers.)
(Mike Rainwater, a regular contributor to
County Lines and lead attorney for AAC Risk Management, is principal shareholder of Rainwa- ter, Holt, and Sexton, P.A., a state-wide personal injury and disability law firm. He has been a law- yer for more than 30 years, is a former deputy pros- ecuting attorney and has defended city and county officials for more than 25 years.)
COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2012
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