Immediate Response to law enforcement wishing information or entrance to a facility
- We cannot confirm or deny we are providing services of any kind to a specific individual.
- There is an indisputable victim-advocate privilege that exists under federal law (the Violence Against Women’s Act, 42 USC13925) and state law (IC35-37-6) which prohibits our programs from releasing any information about those we serve without a written, time sensitive, signed, targeted release of information.
- If you have concerns over our mandate to uphold those laws, please let us connect you with our Executive Director, and/or ICADV Legal Counsel Kerry Hyatt Bennett. This response is based on the direct advice of that counsel.
Staff should speak with the officers outside (if possible) and away from the facility.
Staff should capture and verify identities and review the documents.
All programs have the right to review this paperwork and consult with the Ex. Dir. or ICADV Leadership or counsel. Consider taking a picture of the paperwork and texting or email for immediate consult.
A subpoena is a formal request for info and is usually NOT signed by a judge and is NOT a court order. In this case, best practice indicates accepting the subpoena, not confirming or denying the individual target is or is not receiving services and sending the document to IDADV Legal Counsel for their formal response. Often the subpoena will not be left when neither confirmation or denial takes place.
An arrest warrant is an order authorizing law enforcement to place a specific person under arrest for the possible commission of a crime. It is important to note that this IS a court order signed by a judge, but arrest warrants DO NOT give law enforcement the right to enter a DV shelter or transitional housing facility to arrest a survivor named in the warrant.
Unlimited entry based only on an arrest warrant alone compromises the confidentiality of every other person at the facility. Law enforcement should pursue a search warrant in addition to the arrest warrant; this will require that law enforcement prove their reasonable belief the individual is in the premises to the court.
When law enforcement officers arrive with an arrest warrant, the staff member who answers the door should review the documents and then advise the officers “that they will not be permitted to enter based only on an arrest warrant, BUT that protocol requires an immediate consultation with the ED and ICADV Legal Counsel, so please stand by.”
If law enforcement wants to arrest someone they believe to be in the shelter/THF, officers may obtain a search warrant for the person at that facility’s location. If a search warrant is presented along with an arrest-warrant, staff should request the opportunity to discuss the matter with the survivor and allow the person to self-surrender, rather than have the facility searched which would compromise other residents’ confidentiality.
At no time should staff advise the survivor to flee or otherwise resist arrest.
If the survivor refuses to surrender and there is no search warrant, law enforcement will have to obtain a search warrant to search the facility while securing the premises in the meantime so s/he cannot leave.