Changes to arrests regarding misdemeanors

“They will question, why should they call law enforcement, because what’s going to make a difference?” said executive director of the Idaho Falls Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center, Teena McBride.

On Wednesday, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement officers can’t arrest someone for a misdemeanor unless they have a warrant or witnessed the crime being committed.

“Everybody is moving very quickly to react to this ruling and to make sure that we’re doing the right thing,” said Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde.

Everyone’s big concern is how this will affect the way that law enforcement responds to domestic violence calls.

Before the officer could arrest someone as long as they had a probable cause, now, unless the officer actually sees the domestic violence as it’s occurring, or has a warrant, they can’t make an arrest or remove the accused from the scene.

“It’s a setback for law enforcement and the law enforcement community,” Sheriff Wilde said.

“It’s just been a scramble, because some safety measures and some tools that have been effective at protecting people, well it was a huge tool, it’s just erased, it’s no longer available it’s gone,” McBride said.

The ruling has left law enforcement and domestic violence shelters scrambling to figure out what practices they have left to utilize to ensure the safety of domestic violence victims.

“You have access to twenty-four-hour shelter, here is the crisis line number, so they can assist the victim in getting them into a shelter. We have access to civil protection orders, now it doesn’t mean we can get them a civil protection order in the middle of the night,” McBride said.

The Idaho Coalition against sexual and domestic violence encourages all survivors of domestic violence who have been impacted by this law to reach out to their local domestic and sexual violence programs.