Since in general the police need a reason to stop, question, search or arrest you, it's very important for you to know your rights, in order to avoid unintentionally giving the police evidence in a criminal case against you. When clients are interested, I always discuss our rights and our ways to protect them. Sometimes this information is only helpful if you are ever in contact with police in the future, but it's handy to know whether or not you're charged with a crime.

Basic facts to know when you have an encounter with the police:

1. You have no obligation to talk to the police, ever, unless you are subpoenaed to come to court and asked questions by a lawyer in a hearing.

Stand firm when you are asserting your right to remain silent. Police may tell you they will do something (like arrest you) if you don't talk to them. In general, if they have enough evidence to arrest you, they will whether or not you talk to them. Rarely, if ever, can a person talk his or her way out of an arrest if the police believe they can make a case in court against the person. Most often, when people being investigated talk to the police, they wind up providing the police with a little bit of information that the police didn't have before, making the case against them worse when it gets to court. If the police want to talk to you and you refuse, and then the police arrest you, if they didn't have the proper factual basis to arrest you your lawyer can challenge the arrest in court. If you've tried to talk your way out of an arrest, and the police arrest you anyway, all the things you told them will be brought out as evidence against you, and usually misinterpreted to boot. If you want to talk to the police, request permission to speak to a lawyer first, get the officer's phone number, and have the lawyer call the officer to arrange a time when the lawyer can advise you during the interrogation.

2. Police don't have to tell you the truth of what they're looking for when they arrive at your house.

You never have to let the police into your house. When they have a search warrant, you should let them in, because they can break the door and barge in if they want. When they have an arrest warrant, you should come out of your house to be arrested, because otherwise they can barge in to look for you, and then search the inside of your house once they're inside. If they have a warrant, you should ask the police to show it to you before letting them in. But if the police have no warrant at all, you do not need to let them in. Often the police will tell you they will get a warrant if you don't cooperate. Let them, they may be bluffing. More people than I can describe become their own worst enemies in court by agreeing to let the police do something, thinking they'll get a break later, only to find that their own agreement, or statements, are what led the police to gather the evidence against them.

3. If you're walking on a street and a police officer wants to talk to you, you do not have to stop and talk to them.

Tell them (politely) that you're busy, and keep going on your way. If they already have a reason to arrest you, they probably will. But if they don't, they may try to talk to you to gather the additional information they need to arrest you. Your stopping to talk to them may be deemed to be "consensual" in court, and not a violation of your rights.

4. Be aware that the police are often looking for something other than what you think they are looking for.

Usually, when they talk to you (on the street, in your car, or in some other public place) they will examine you (without your knowing it!) for signs of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. There is nothing you can do about some of these symptoms, they pertain to things like the amount of moisture in your mouth, the smell of your breath, and the size of your pupils. I advise clients not to voluntarily stop and talk to the police in part because often during these "consensual encounters" the police will see "symptoms" of what could be drug influence that they couldn't have noticed if you just kept going when they "asked" to talk to you.

5. If you're in a car, the police need a specific reason to hit their red lights and pull you over.

Be aware of the condition of your car and the rules of the road, to avoid giving them such a reason. The most common traffic violations that I've seen, which give the police reason to pull you over, are: no current registration tags, a brake light or headlight out, failing to signal while turning or changing lanes, failing to come to a complete stop, speeding, weaving (even within your own lane - that's considered "suspicion of drunk driving"), and changing lanes over a solid white line.

6. If the police pull you over and you have not apparently violated any law, always be polite, but remember your case might be successfully challenged in court because your constitutional rights were violated.

7. If the police pull you over for a routine traffic stop, you do not ever have to give the police consent to search your car.

Sometimes the police will suggest that you must consent or they will arrest you. They are lying; failure to consent to a search is not grounds to arrest you, the police need something else to justify an arrest. If the police have a lawful reason to search, they are going to no matter what, you don't need to give them consent to do so (it just makes their case easier to prove in court). You should tell them clearly and firmly that you do not give them permission to search, or they may interpret your silence as implied consent to search.

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