Local Juvenile Bomb Plot Brings Home the Realities of Police Tactics

Once again, the public’s concern over police investigation techniques and how those are applied to children was evident in this week’s issue of the Hook.  The editorial section of the paper features a letter by a local resident lamenting the fact that parents have had to instruct their children not to cooperate with the authorities.  She makes several suggestions for how the police should deal with children and juveniles.  Her suggestions also highlight some of the popular misconceptions parents have about police interactions with their children.  She suggests that the police should be present when children are questioned.  This is important because children have no right to have a parent present when they are questioned. Unless some other constitutional right is violated, the fact that a parent is not present when a child is questioned does not render that child’s statement inadmissible in any subsequent criminal proceeding.