By Judge Steve Halsey | Kanabec County Times
One of the life-saving technologies of the past 40 years is the 9-1-1 emergency communications system. Countless lives have been saved and injuries minimized because police, fire and EMT personnel are quickly dispatched to the scene of a medical emergency, fire, accident, or crime.
Unfortunately some parents and family members resort to calling 9-1-1 and getting the police involved in their civil or family law disputes instead of “cooling off” and contacting an attorney for advice the next day.
I am not referring to domestic assault or physical assault cases where the intervention of law enforcement is necessary to protect the victim from harm, investigate the crime and prevent the perpetrator from avoiding justice or inflicting greater harm.
I am talking about the parents who meet at the visitation exchange site, often a fast food restaurant or other public place, where the children exit one parent’s vehicle and enter the other’s car at the beginning or end of parenting time.
It is common that if one or the other is 10 or 15 minutes late to the visitation exchange site, the “wronged” party calls 9-1-1 and gets law enforcement involved. These are the same officers that should be out keeping the streets safe and answering calls for REAL emergencies.
Whenever I have the opportunity and feel the need because of the allegations of a court pleading, I try to discourage parents from calling the police to get them involved in a family law dispute.
But, why? Isn’t upholding a court order for parenting time important? Of course it is. Shouldn’t the rights of a parent to see their child be enforced? Absolutely. But at what cost?
Statement by Kaine Fisher, director of Rose Law Group Family Law Department: “I think a distinction needs to be made between when a parent is 15 minutes late for visitation and when they are unreasonably withholding visitation altogether. There is a big difference between these two situations.
“The first instance should not involve the police in any way. There simply needs to be communication between the parents. It’s something that should be worked out without police intervention.
“The second on the other hand constitutes a crime. It is tantamount to custodial interference. Some parents get too wrapped up in trying to document the inappropriate conduct of the other parent for future use in litigation. But this has to be balanced with the risk of wasting public resources.”
If you’d like to discuss family law, contact with Kaine Fisher, director of Rose Law Group Family Law Department, kfisher@roselawgroup.com.
