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First Circuit: Camden Burglary Investigation Conducted Properly

By Dyanna Quizon, Esq. on February 14, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A woman disgruntled with the way a Camden burglary investigation was conducted lost her challenge in the First Circuit Court of Appeals last Tuesday.

Finding in favor of the Camden Police Department, the First Circuit held that Linda Ann Irving's appeal offered "little in the way of substantive challenges to the district court's decision."

Irving had initially argued that the police failed to properly investigate a March 2008 burglary of her Camden home. She alleged that her neighbor had entered her home to steal her financial identity by obtaining her computer compact discs; however, the police could not obtain enough evidence to target any suspects or even conclude if a burglary had occurred.

A lower court had sided with the police department on all counts, finding Irving's legal theory of the case "disjointed and... difficult for the defendants and the court to keep track of her proposed prospects of attaching liability." Irving had submitted both equal protection and civil rights conspiracy claims against the police, the town manager and the city itself.

Failing in the lower court, Irving tried to appeal the court's decision to the First Circuit. The First Circuit, however, could not find fault with the judge's decision, similar to how the lower court could not find fault with the Camden burglary investigation.

Upholding the lower court's decision, the First Circuit held that "even with all reasonable inferences drawn in her favor, [Irving's challenges] do not call the court's judgment into question."

Given both courts' rulings, it looks like Linda Ann Irving will have to be satisfied with the results of the police's Camden burglary investigation.

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