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Domestic Violence Arrests In Queens, New York

Today you can be arrested in Queens County, or any other County in New York City, for DOMESTIC VIOLENCE quite easily. The usual criminal charges in an arrest of this type is Assault, Harassment, and Violations of an Order of Protection.

Years ago, if family members, or persons involved in a relationship, were having an argument and possibly one person pushed the other, the police may have been called by one of the parties to calm down the situation. The Police would arrive, evaluate the situation, and routinely decided, no harm, no foul.  They would usually leave without an arrest for a DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCIDENT in this push, shove, and screaming type domestic case.

However, it is a totally different ball game today. Time after time, I, as an Attorney practicing Criminal Law in Queens, have Domestic Violence Criminal and Family Court Cases where there is no more than a loud verbal argument, and possibly a slight push or shove. When the Police arrive, even if the alleged victim says she or he does not want the Domestic Partner or family member arrested, it is almost certain an arrest will take place. It is NYC Police Department policy to make an arrest on any Domestic Violence call if there is the slightest indication of a dispute or confrontation. The rationale is that the officers involved on the call do not know what will happen after they leave. It is the ” Let’s be safe rather than sorry” policy.

This policy is mainly due to incidents in the past, where the police did leave without making an arrest after a Domestic Violence call, and the situation spiraled out of control leading to one of the domestic partners or family members being severely injured, or even worse, murdered. This policy can also avoid civil liability against the City of New York for a claim of negligence against the Police Department, and the responding officers.

It is important to note that along with this hard line policy of making an arrest on any Domestic Violence call, that the Police have no discretion to issue an DESK APPEARANCE TICKET for an incident involving Domestic Violence. A DESK APPEARANCE TICKET is a way the Police can avoid putting the person arrested through the process of an ARRAIGNMENT in front of a CRIMINAL COURT JUDGE, whereby the person arrested usually spends at least 12 to 24 hours in police custody before appearing before a Judge, who will decide whether or not to release the person arrested on his or her own recognizance, or to set bail.

With a DESK APPEARANCE TICKET (DAT), as long as the person arrested has valid identification, no warrants, and no past violent criminal convictions, the Police can issue the arrested person a DAT to appear for the arraignment before a NYC CRIMINAL COURT JUDGE at a later date, thereby releasing the arrested person within a few hours after the arrest. This can not happen after an Arrest for Domestic Violence, as it can happen for certain misdemeanor arrests, such as for small personal use marijuana possession, shoplifting, and non-domestic violence assault cases with minor injuries.

I am DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ATTORNEY, LUKE SCARDIGNO, practicing CRIMINAL DEFENSE in QUEENS, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, in NEW YORK, since 1987. If you have any CRIMINAL or DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASE you would like to discuss, you can contact me at 718-414-6186 for a FREE CONSULTATION.