Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Denver7 spent months requesting and analyzing records from more than a dozen law enforcement agencies — large and small — across Colorado, seeking to calculate arrest rates on calls of domestic violence and domestic unrest.
The state’s domestic violence law mandates an arrest when probable cause demonstrates a crime has been committed. The key phrase, “probable cause,” gives officers discretion to walk away from a domestic call without arresting anyone if there is no physical evidence or eyewitness statements to corroborate allegations of abuse.
