Policy Change Overdue

It is good that Sheriff Bob Brooks has decided to comply with the spirit as well as the letter of the law by ending his department’s long-standing practice of “rearresting” suspects to give prosecutors more time to investigate before filing charges. But it is disappointing that this dubious policy was accepted procedure for at least 20 years--and that it was abandoned only in the face of a legal challenge.

Under a justice system based on the presumption of innocence and the right to a speedy trial, state law requires that a suspect must be either released or arraigned in court within two days of being arrested, excluding Sundays and holidays. During an arraignment, a suspect appears before a judge, is formally charged and is asked to plead guilty or not guilty.

For decades, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department has skirted that requirement by technically releasing suspects and simultaneously rearresting them--setting the 48-hour clock back to zero. That gave investigators two extra days to interview witnesses and gather evidence. But it also meant that suspects could be held in jail longer than the law intended.

Public Defender Kenneth Clayman challenged that policy with a civil petition accusing the Sheriff’s Department of unlawfully holding suspects in custody too long before they are arraigned. The test case was that of Jorge Roberto Juarez, who was arrested on suspicion of felony burglary and rearrested 47 hours later. Juarez spent 105 hours in jail without ever going before a judge, the petition said. He was eventually released, and no charges were filed against him.

“We can’t hold people in custody for undue lengths of time like they do in South Africa,” Clayman told The Times.

Sheriff Brooks announced last week that his department will join all local police agencies in releasing suspects from jail when the legal time limit expires, even if district attorney’s investigators haven’t gathered enough evidence to file criminal charges.

The Sheriff’s Department acknowledged that over the past 20 years dozens, if not hundreds, of suspects have been rearrested rather than released. Most were later prosecuted successfully.

The sheriff sent a memo last month to his staff and to all local law enforcement agencies, calling for an end to the practice of rearresting suspects.

No one wants to make it easier for the guilty get away with crimes. It is possible that complying with the spirit as well as the letter of this law will do that in some cases. A greater danger is that innocent people could be held in jail for days on end without being charged. Even more worrisome is the notion that the people Ventura County relies on to enforce the laws don’t see anything wrong with circumventing them.

We agree with Chief Deputy Public Defender Michael McMahon, who told The Times: “The entire notion is, frankly, un-American. Our founding fathers and mothers would be disappointed. They got the job done on time without computers, video arraignments, e-mail, digital booking photos and all the other newfangled conveniences. So can we.”