When the Batterer Wears a Badge: Regulating Officer-Involved Domestic Violence as a Line-of-Duty Crime

I. Introduction..................213

II. When the Batterer Wears a Badge: The Special Case of OfficerInvolved Domestic Violence..........216

A. The Role of Power and Control in Domestic Violence............216

B. The Officer as the Abuser...............218

C. National Epidemic...............220

III. Lack of OIDV-Focused Regulation......223

A. Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban.............223

B. Model OIDV Policy...............224

C. State and Local Policies...........226

D. Judicial Approaches to OIDV Civil Liability and Their Effect on Policy Development............227

IV. Special Protocols of Police Shootings as an Archetype of Effective Regulatory Framework..................230

V. Regulating OIDV Investigations: The Need for Clear Directives and Independent Oversight..........233

VI. Conclusion.....239

I. Introduction

In 2010, Michelle O'Connell (a 24-year-old St. Augustine, Florida resident and mother of a 4-year-old girl) was found dying in her household from a gunshot in the mouth.1 Her boyfriend, Jeremy Banks, was a deputy sheriff for St. Johns County in St. Augustine.2 Banks, who had been drink- ing, called 911 to report the shooting.3 He identified himself as a deputy sheriff and alleged that O'Connell had shot herself with his duty weapon.4 A few minutes later, the police arrived at the crime scene and found Banks's semiautomatic firearm next to O'Connell's body.5 Officers quickly escorted Banks out of the house and asked him to sober up.6 "When you hear it's one of your own-adrenaline's pumping," recalled Deputy Debra Maynard.7 A detective then interviewed Banks in a police car, and Banks recounted again that O'Connell had killed herself.8 The sheriff then faced a critical decision: "have his office investigate the case itself or, as is often done when an officer may be involved in a suspicious shooting, call in independent investigators from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement [FDLE]."9 He chose the former.10

After conducting its investigation, the sheriffs office concluded O'Connell had taken her own life.* 11 The medical examiner opined this was a clear case of suicide.12 New York Times investigative reporters concluded that because police investigators were "so certain in their judgment" and "concluded so quickly that the shooting was a suicide," they "never tested the forensic evidence collected after the shooting" and "failed to perform the police work that is standard in suspicious shootings," including interviewing witnesses, such as the neighbors.13 In fact, officers rebuffed an attempt by O'Connell's sister to testify that...