It’s only natural to feel nervous or intimidated by a police officer during questioning. It’s important to be polite and remain confident when speaking to an officer. However, it’s also important to remember that you may be under investigation and considered a suspect in a crime. With one misstep, a person can go from participating in a voluntary encounter to being arrested for a federal crime they did not commit. If you are in need of a federal criminal defense lawyer in Tampa, please contact us today.
In this three-part article, we first discussed legal rights pertaining to police questioning. In the second section, we discussed what requirements the police need to detain you. In this final section, we will discuss some tactics the police use during questioning.
In some cases, the police officer may want to endorse that they are on the “same side” as you and just want to confirm your innocence by having you consent to a search. Maybe the officer offers you some vague leniency if you admit any wrongdoing. These are misleading tactics the police use to try and take authority over a situation in which they are powerless. Remember that if you give consent to the officer, they will have free reign over your private property.
Sometimes police officers will try to get a confession from you by providing some vague assertions that they have mounting evidence against you. A common example of this is when a police officer claims they have some faceless witness, like “one of the neighbors”, that observed you commit the criminal act. This simply is not true considering the questioned person would be placed under arrest with any concrete evidence that implicated them in a criminal manner.
A frustrated officer may suggest that a person’s silence or refusal to consent to a search is “not a good look” or further implicating them in the crime by refusing to help with the situation. You’re not raising red flags by refusing to consent to a search, you are exercising your rights. It’s important to communicate this to the police officer.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for general educational information only. This information does not constitute legal advice, is not intended to constitute legal advice, nor should it be relied upon as legal advice for your specific factual pattern or situation.