Letter: Debating 'gray' area of policing
Sarah Goode of Medford in an undated photo. Credit: News 12
I read with interest both letters regarding the investigation of the killing of Sarah Goode, 21, of Medford ["Police mistakes 'mind-numbing'," Oct. 23, and "Some police probes enter 'gray' area," Nov. 5].
The writer of the second letter, a 17-year Suffolk County Police Department homicide detective, is disturbing. He seems to think it's OK for detectives go into a "gray" area to gain justice for the victim and family. He further claims that most pretrial hearing decisions support detectives' entering that gray area. Rarely does a judge throw out evidence or suppress a defendant's statements based on mistakes of the detectives, he says.
The Goode case involved defense attorney allegations that the defendant's statements and evidence was illegally obtained. The first writer said detectives made these mistakes.
As a former New York City homicide detective of 13 years, I can tell you that no district attorney in New York County, and no judge I ever went before, would allow a "gray" area. Going into a "gray" area is deliberately stepping over the boundary, not a mistake!
Sometimes you lose your evidence or statements that way. The writer of the Oct. 23 letter was right.
Jim Grant, Massapequa
