Police don’t follow the same rules you do

Speaker 1
00;00;00;01 – 00;00;01;00
Hi, everyone. Today we’re going to talk about why do you have to follow the rules,
but the police don’t? This is Christina Williams, with Just Criminal Law.
Speaker 2
00;00;10;21 – 00;00;12;06
And this is David Mann, legal storytelling specialist. You know, that really…I’ve got to admit,
I’ve thought that many times. I mean, from simple things like, you know, the police can just blast right through
stoplights and things like that when I have to stop at them, of course. But there’s all these other things, too.
So what’s something you hear a lot about that people can’t understand why the police have freedom that we don’t have?
Speaker 1
00;00;34;10 – 00;00;34;24
Right. So it just really sits wrong with people when the police are doing something, like sitting outside of their house and just watching.
Now, if the average citizen say outside of your house and just watched you, you could actually call the police and report that they’re conducting
themselves in a manner that’s similar to stalking, right? They’re doing something that’s going to bother you, that would bother the average person.
And the average person wouldn’t be allowed to just sit outside your house. But law enforcement is allowed to do that. So that’s one way that they’re
not really required to follow the rules that we are.
Speaker 2
00;01;19;09 – 00;01;19;18
And I think there’s also, you know, we think of, like, I’m being stalking by somebody, maybe you hear about people being stalked. But yet the police
seem to people to do that. But is that legal, too?
Speaker 1
00;01;30;16 – 00;01;32;25
Well, you know, like, again, stalking conduct is just that type of conduct that would, you know, be considered a bother to a reasonable person.
Now say, for instance, they’re following you around. Are the police allowed to just follow you? We get calls from people all the time and they’re really
upset because the law enforcement officer just seemed to be making every turn that they were making and making every stop that they were making.
And, you know, the answer is yes. Law enforcement is allowed to follow you. In fact, a lot of times, they’ll follow you and wait for the simplest
of traffic violations and then pull you over. And that’s justifiable. They can do that. We may not like it, but that’s the law.
Speaker 2
00;02;21;07 – 00;02;21;25
Wow. And then I mean, following that forward, I mean, so they pull you over and now there’s that whole thing where they may be asking you
questions and things like that. And there’s a point at which they say ‘You’re under arrest,’ but even that maybe it isn’t quite all the way
to what we would think of as okay. Right?
Speaker 1
00;02;42;10 – 00;02;42;27
Right. So sometimes, law enforcement officers do make a bad arrest. That is, their arrest is not lawful. They didn’t have enough
evidence to move forward with an arrest. And so occasionally, that does happen, where someone is unlawfully arrested. And, you know, the unfortunate
thing is that we have to hire an attorney to help them with something like that. But there are repercussions for law enforcement if they make an unlawful arrest.
Speaker 2
00;03;16;06 – 00;03;17;28
Mmhmm. And you also see where, you know, if I went over to my neighbor’s house and bashed down the front door, I’d be in trouble for that. But sometimes police can do things
like that, too. Right?
Speaker 1
00;03;27;13 – 00;03;29;05
Right. And, you know, a lot of times, if they’re bashing down a door, they have a warrant. And that’s perfectly allowed. That’s perfectly okay if they’re
not being let into the premises. But, you know, they’re not allowed to use excessive force when they’re interacting with the public. That is,
they’re not allowed to show authority. And, you know, if a person isn’t acquiescing with that, you know, they’re supposed to be doing by law, then the law enforcement officer
is allowed to use force. But, again, there’s a limit and they definitely cannot use excessive force.
Speaker 2
00;04;09;23 – 00;04;10;21
And what about when they get you back to the station and they begin an interview of you. And we’ve all kind of seen this or heard about it. You and I have
even talked about the types of questions that they ask you and things that they may claim. There’s maybe a little bit more freedom with the truth than the rest of us
have to adhere to.
Speaker 1
00;04;28;16 – 00;04;30;06
Yes. And this is probably what bothers people the most. The police are actually allowed to lie to you during an interview. That is, they can say that they have evidence
that they don’t actually have, or that they’ve talked to witnesses and witnesses have said things that they actually didn’t. And the Supreme Court has held that law enforcement
is allowed to lie during an interview or an interrogation.
Speaker 2
00;04;56;05 – 00;04;57;15
Wow. Okay. Well even though the police have these freedoms that are protected for various reasons, there are times in which they overstep and do things that actually are
outside the boundaries of what’s okay. And at that point, if you’re in the court in the middle of that, you might need a lawyer to sort it out for you, and they might be looking for you.
Speaker 1
00;05;20;07 – 00;05;22;11
Sure. And we will include a link in the description where they can call, text, or chat with a member of my team, anytime, day or night.
Here at Just Criminal Law, we know you only get one shot at justice. So make yours count.