Neglect Finding Based on Children’s Exposure to Bloody Domestic Violence Affirmed’ Requirements for Admission of Police Reports Explained

In affirming Family Court’s finding of neglect based upon the children’s exposure to bloody violence involving the mother and her boyfriend, the Fourth Department noted that police reports should not have been admitted in evidence because they were not properly certified:

The mother correctly contends that Family Court erred in admitting police records in evidence inasmuch as the certification attached to those records failed to comply with Family Court Act § 1046 (a) (iv).  That statute provides that where, as here, a certification is completed by a “responsible employee” rather than the head of an agency, the certification “shall be accompanied by a photocopy of a delegation of authority signed by both the head of the . . . agency and by such other employee” (emphasis added).  The language of the statute is mandatory, and it is undisputed that “the requisite delegation of authority to [the employee] was lacking” … .  We must therefore “find the admission of these records to have been in error if we are to give effect to the clear and unambiguous intention of the [l]egislature”… . Matter of Kadyn J…, 929, 4th Dept 9-27-13