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[phone ringing]

Hello.
Yeah, this is John Aslon.
The American consulate.
Yes ma’am.
My son’s been arrested.

A parent’s nightmare, a phone call telling you that your child is in trouble with the law, but the worst part of this scenario is that he’s in trouble thousands of miles away in another country. It suddenly dawns on you that the legal system you know, the system you enforced, the system that guarantees your rights and is fundamental to the American way of life, may not apply to your child, and the nightmare just might get much worse.

Under the US Constitution a treaty like the Vienna Convention on consular relations is the supreme law of the land. It is also in effect in more than 160 other countries. Just as the Vienna Convention and other treaties protect Americans overseas, they also apply to foreigners residing or visiting here. They ensure that federal, state, and local authorities provide the opportunity for arrested or detained foreigners to communicate with consular officers from their governments.

The assistance of consular officials is a provision of the Vienna convention on consular relations which is a treaty which binds all of our countries to allow their citizens access to their embassies and consulates. American citizens who are arrested in foreign countries have the right to contact their embassy and to have assistance provided by their government and the same thing applies here in the US where American authorities are required to inform foreign governments when they arrest a citizen of those countries.

The Australian embassy’s experience with the arrests is that arresting officers often take it for granted that the Australian is most likely an American. We have cultural diversity as well, but people generally speaking sound like Americans, look like Americans, behave like Americans, are assumed to be Americans. So the assumption that they are American can interfere in the early days of an arrest with proper notification, with proper rights being exercised for the Australian citizen. So a police officer needs to ask.

By complying with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations we help ensure that other countries meet the same requirements with Americans living or visiting abroad. Also there are additional treaties that make notification mandatory for citizens of certain countries. Imagine being arrested in a country where you don’t speak the language or understand the legal system, or you don’t know what to expect next. You worry that your family at home doesn’t know where you are or how you are. Consular officers can help.

When an American is arrested or detained abroad the state department through our embassies or consulates insures that US consular officers are there to assist. They help see that Americans are treated in accordance with local law. This helps level the playing field.

Arrested citizens needs consular help because in many occasions they don’t know what the legal system is about, they don’t know what their rights are, they don’t know what they’re supposed to do, on many occasions they do not know the language. So the consul steps in and helps them through the legal system.

Well Americans who are arrested abroad find themselves in a very confusing situation. For one they’re not familiar with the legal system often in the country they are arrested in, they may not understand the language, they may not understand the charges against them and the possible sentencing guidelines or what have you that may apply to them.

It is very important for us to obtain immediate notification so that we can actually go and take some actions as a consul. I think it’s also important for the citizens, for example, of the United States when they are in Mexico, this will ensure that they will have access also to their consuls.

When we learn of an arrest of an American citizen, we make contact with that person as soon as we can and depending on the situation notification can come to us by the person who’s been arrested, or by the arresting officer or by the courts. Once we learn of their arrest or detention we make contact, we again provide the list of attorneys if they are going to need any legal assistance and if they give us permission we can contact their family members in the United States and let them know that they have been arrested.

Not all countries treat prisoners the same. Legal procedures and prison conditions vary greatly from country and country, and if, just if your child were in jail, you’re sure you would want your child to receive all the protections that local law allows. This commitment starts with law enforcement professionals. In the US failure to offer consular notification to a detained foreigner may not necessarily effect the outcome of the case, but it’s a risk we shouldn’t take. Notification is the law and it is the right thing to do.

The department of state is committed to working with local, state, and federal officials to ensure that arrested or detained foreign nationals receive what they’re entitled to under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations or other treaties. Some of you may have attended seminars or briefings on these issues. We can not stress enough the importance of good record keeping in this as in all legal matters. Law enforcement agencies should keep written records showing compliance with the consular notification requirement. The best way to notify consular officers of an arrest or detention is also the best way to create a written record. Use the fax. Most arrests don’t happen during business hours, so trying to phone and speak to a consul directly can be difficult.

The best way to contact us would be by fax, that way we have something in writing, a lot easier to follow up, we have the right phone numbers the right spelling of names, it’s also if these arrests happen after hours we have a record when we come in the next day and there’s always a record on file of when we were notified of their arrest. When we first get notified of an arrest, especially if we come in in the morning and there’s a fax sitting on our desk we will try to first call the arresting authorities to find out exactly what the person was arrested for, have they contacted their family, has the person been notified that they can contact the embassy, has our name and our phone number or at least the embassy’s name or the closest consulate’s phone number being provided to them. If they don’t, haven’t done that we ask that they do that as soon as possible and we do follow it up.

Faxing allows you to make notification during booking or arraignment procedures and the confirmation copy of the fax becomes your record that notification was made. The state department often receives complaints from foreign governments about failure to notify. The department in turn requests a report from the state or locality where the detention occurred. Good record keeping can ward off frivolous legal challenges, it can also prevent a potentially embarrassing claim by a foreign government that the US is not living up to its responsibilities.

We’ve concentrated on consular notification and what consular officers do in arrest cases. Consular officers have many responsibilities in addition to helping in arrest cases, among these are issuing passports and visas, trade promotion, and reporting births and deaths abroad.

It’s very important for any officials, police or otherwise, normally it’s the police, to advise us immediately of a death. Most police in our experience particularly in the United States, they seem to be more alert of the need to inform an embassy of a death or a serious accident than they are of an arrest for a criminal offense. I suppose with a criminal offense the focus is on dealing with the alleged criminal, but in the case of a death or a serious accident the normal human reaction is to find a way to help, and often it happens that we get a telephone call or a fax from a remote police station and they say, “Look, we called 411, we got your number, what do we do?”

In the event of the death of an American abroad the Vienna Convention also requires that the consular officers be notified. They can help the family with arrangements and legal requirements. Officers also assist if a guardian is appointed for one of their citizens, or one of them is involved in a wreck or air crash. Here we can only introduce you to what consular officers may do for someone who was arrested or detained. The state department’s brochure, consular notification and access can help you understand all the issues. Included is a sample fax for making notification. It has suggested language to advise detainees about consular notification. The department of state also distributes pocket cards that summarize key points from the brochure. Both the brochure and pocket cards are available free of charge to law enforcement officers.

Consular notification has important implications for the way Americans are treated overseas. We hope you’ll agree how important consular notification is.
Think of it as meeting the international golden rule. After all, offering to notify a consul is the law, and it is the right thing to do.

All right, so all he has to do is pay a fine?
Oh, that’s excellent.
Okay, how should we get him the money then?
Okay, through the consulate.
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For Further Information Contact (202) 647-4415.