Netflix & Ava Get Sued By a Police Interrogation Firm

There is a certain chance that you may have got the chills and even developed a sense of anger if you have seen Netflix's miniseries When They See Us. The show, as we know has already received a lot of critical acclaim and bagged several awards too. However, it seems that the depiction of police interrogation in the series has rubbed real-life police in the wrong way.

When They See Us is the dramatized version of the actually happened Central Park jogger case, where a woman was raped and murdered while she was on her evening jog. The bigger devil in this scenario was how five black boys were kept in custody and forced investigation was carried upon them resulting in false imprisonment.

Now, according to a report in Variety, The company behind a controversial police interrogation technique filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against Netflix and director Ava DuVernay, claiming that it was defamed in DuVernay’s miniseries on the Central Park jogger case.

John E. Reid and Associates developed the Reid Technique in the late 1940s, and it has continued to offer training materials and courses to law enforcement since then. According to the company, it is the most widely used interrogation method by police agencies worldwide. But critics have alleged that its approach can result in false confessions.

The same technique has been depicted in When They See Us where a character confronts NYPD detective Michael Sheehan with allegations that he coerced a confession out of the five original defendants, who were later exonerated. 

“You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing, without food, bathroom breaks, withholding parental supervision,” the character states. “The Reid Technique has been universally rejected.”

Sheehan replies: “I don’t even know what the f—ing Reid Technique is, OK? I know what I was taught. I know what I was asked to do and I did it.”

The lawsuit claims that this dialogue mischaracterizes the Reid Technique, which it says does not involve coercion and also alleges that it is false to assert that the technique has been “universally rejected.”

“Defendants intended to incite an audience reaction against Reid for what occurred in the Central Park Jogger Case and for the coercive interrogation tactics that continue to be used today,” the suit states. “Defendants published the statements in ‘When They See Us’ in an effort to cause condemnation of the Reid Technique.”

The suit alleges that the series has damaged the company’s reputation, and seeks actual and punitive damages. The suit also seeks an injunction barring Netflix from distributing the series in its current form, and a disgorgement of Netflix’s profits from the show.