If you or someone you know has been arrested and charged with a crime, it is essential that you know your Miranda rights. Knowing how and when you’re obligated to cooperate with police — and when you have the right to decline — is how to protect yourself against self-incrimination when you are the target of police questioning.
Police have the right to find, question, and ask you to come in without a warrant. Understanding your rights and their limitations is how you avoid making incriminating statements or even being arrested for a refusal to cooperate with law enforcement.
Can Police Bring You In with No Warrant?
The short answer is no. Police cannot force you to come into the police station if there’s no warrant out for your arrest. However, the police can ask you to come in for questioning. When this happens to you, you have a few options.
If the police have asked you to come into the police station and answer some questions, you can:
- Decline to speak with the police
- Go into the station for just questioning
- Request to meet for questioning at a neutral, third-party location
In most situations, the smartest move is to agree to cooperate with the police — but only with a lawyer present. Speaking to the police without a criminal defense lawyer is a considerable risk, as it is far too easy for seemingly innocent responses to be used against you in court.
When Can the Police Force You to Come in for Questioning?
Police can only physically compel you to come to a police station if you’ve been placed under arrest.
Police have two valid grounds for arresting someone — a warrant and probable cause. If the police have probable cause that you’ve committed a crime, they can arrest you without a warrant.
Often, the “probable cause” police use to place someone under arrest isn’t enough to charge them with a crime. This is where people often make a grave mistake: answering questions just because they’ve been arrested.
If you give incriminating responses to a police officer, what you’ve said can be used to convict you of a crime. If you hadn’t said it, there may not have been grounds for a conviction.
When responding to police questioning, it doesn’t matter whether you were arrested due to a warrant or probable cause. Talking to police without a lawyer present significantly increases your chances of being convicted of a crime.
Do You Have to Respond to Police Questions if You’re Arrested?
In most situations, you don’t have to respond to police questions. You have the right to remain silent both before and after an arrest.
If you’ve been arrested, you’re most likely being charged with a crime. Your court outcome will determine whether you are convicted or not. You need a criminal defense lawyer at this point in the process.
Your lawyer will advise whether speaking with the police can help your situation. However, if you do answer police questions, do so only with your lawyer’s approval and with your lawyer present.
Can Police Question You if You Haven’t Been Arrested?
The police can question you if you haven’t been arrested. However, that doesn’t mean you must — or should — answer questions.
Police can stop you in public or come to your residence or workplace to ask questions. In nearly every situation, it’s best to protect yourself by declining to speak with them.
There’s one key exception to this. Many states, like Illinois, have “stop and identify” statutes. So if law enforcement suspects you’ve committed a crime or traffic violation, they have the right to ask you to identify yourself.
Refusing to identify yourself to the police can lead to further trouble, including arrest. If you have a valid concern that prevents you from giving identifying information to the police, you can request that the police call your lawyer.
Can the Police Prevent You from Leaving Without Arresting You?
In some situations, police use tactics like intimidation to coerce people into giving them the answers they want. If the police are trying to question you, ask if you’re being detained.
The only reason the police can force you to remain somewhere without placing you under arrest is if they are detaining you. Therefore, they need to have grounds to do so. If they don’t, they’ll tell you you are not being detained and can leave.
A Criminal Defense Lawyer Can Help
Navigating interactions with police can be stressful and can have serious legal repercussions. Therefore, it’s best to keep police interactions courteous and brief—and involve a criminal defense lawyer at the first sign of trouble. If you need help understanding your rights, our experienced criminal defense lawyers at the Law Offices of Glenn & West, LLC can help.
Our Central Illinois law firm has two convenient locations in Litchfield and Nokomis. We also serve multiple counties in Central and Southern Illinois. Contact us today to schedule a one-on-one consultation with a knowledgeable criminal defense attorney.