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What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak With You | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey

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What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak With You | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey lawyers@pringlelaw.ca(780) 424-8866MenuHome Our Lawyers Alexander Pringle, Q.C. (1947-2015) Dan Chivers Michael D. Sparks Kent J. Teskey, Q.C. Lindsay Tate Nicole J. Stewart Evan McIntyre Curtis Steeves Laura Matalas Stephen Brophy Vita Wensel (Student at Law) Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence Sexual Assault & Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & TechnologyTreasonTheft, Fraud & FinancialTreasonFirearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Info Articles What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak with You Sentencing & Sentencing Options For Students Alexander D. Pringle Memorial Scholarship Articling Student Program Areas We Serve Edmonton Camrose Central Alberta Fort McMurray Fort Saskatchewan Grande Prairie High Prairie Hinton Leduc Lloydminster Northern Alberta Peace River Red Deer Sherwood Park Southern Alberta St. Albert St. Paul Stony Plain Vermilion Wetaskiwin Fees Contact What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak with You May 18, 2018nickadmin DO I NEED TO SPEAK WITH THE POLICE, OR GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION? In Canada, you have the right to remain silent. This right is constitutionally protected and enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In most cases, you have no obligation to provide any information to the police. There are some exceptions to this rule, however. Here are a few examples: If you are arrested, you must tell the police your name, address, and stage of birth. If you are the suburbanite or registered owner a motor vehicle, the Traffic Safety Act requires that you provide information to the police in unrepealable circumstances. For example, the suburbanite of a vehicle involved in an wrecking is required by law to well-constructed standoff statement. If you are participating in a regulated worriedness (for example, if you are a commercial truck suburbanite or are a hunter) the laws and regulations that govern the regulated worriedness may require you to provide unrepealable information to the investigators or regulators. In general, though, you do not need to requite the police any information or squire a criminal investigation in any way. If you are unsure well-nigh whether you have to cooperate with the police, or how much information you are legally required to requite the police, you should unchangingly consult with a lawyer. A lawyer can help teach you well-nigh what you have to tell investigators (if anything), and what information you do not need to provide. AM I ALLOWED TO LIE TO THE POLICE? No. While you have the right to remain silent, you do not have the right to lie to the police. Lying to a police officer who is investigating an offence may constitute “obstructing a peace officer” or “obstruction of justice.” These are serious criminal offences in themselves. If you are charged with an offence, lying to police will moreover hurt your worthiness to defend yourself in court. THE POLICE WANT ME TO COME INTO THE STATION OR MEET THEM SOMEWHERE. IT SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE MAY HAVE TOLD THE POLICE THAT I BROKE THE LAW. WILL THEY ARREST ME WHEN I MEET WITH THEM? They might. If the police want to meet with you and it seems like they are investigating you for having single-minded an offence, there is a good endangerment that the police do not just want to “meet with you,” but moreover plan to trespassing you and try to take a statement from you. Sometimes, the police ask to meet with people when they once have a warrant for the person’s arrest. Other times, they have unbearable vestige to trespassing someone and they simply want the person to meet them so they can be formally placed under arrest. And in other cases, the police do not have unbearable vestige to tuition someone, and they are hoping the person tells them something that gives them unbearable vestige to trespassing them. If the police want to meet with you, you should consider calling a lawyer for translating surpassing meeting with them. (See below.) If you meet with the police and they tell you that you are under trespassing or that you are stuff detained, tell them you want to speak to a lawyer immediately. You have the right to speak with a lawyer surpassing the police question you or struggle to take a statement from you. THE POLICE WANT TO SPEAK WITH ME AND “GET MY SIDE OF THE STORY.” I THINK THEY ARE INVESTIGATING ME FOR A CRIMINAL OFFENCE. WHAT SHOULD I KNOW? If the police think a person may have single-minded an offence, it is not unusual for them to contact the person and ask them to requite a statement well-nigh the incident. They may undeniability and say they want to “set up a meeting” to “discuss an incident.” Or they may say that they want to “give you a endangerment to tell your side of the story” so they can “decide how they are going to handle things.” They may say “this is your opportunity to tell us what happened” or warn you that “if you do not speak with me, I will have to seem everything (someone else) told me is true, and that’s how I will write my report.” What the police the police will not tell you, however, is: “We want you to speak with us considering we hope that you will tell us something that can be used versus you.” It is important to remember that by the time the police have contacted you and asked to meet with them, the police may have once decided to trespassing you and lay a tuition versus you. While there is a endangerment you could tell the police something that causes them to decide not to tuition you, it is moreover possible that you will say something that hurts your worthiness to defend yourself. There may be “another side to the story,” but if the police are told two variegated versions of what happened, they will often decide to lay a criminal tuition and let the matter get sorted out in court.Planeif you are innocent, there are still risks to speaking with the police. For example, it gives the police an opportunity to investigate your version of events and try to “poke holes” in your story. It moreover gives the prosecutor a preview of what you might say at a trial, which can make it easier for the prosecutor to prepare the specimen versus you. It is moreover important to remember that you may be guilty of a treason plane if you think you are completely innocent. There are hundreds of variegated criminal offences, and some of them imbricate a very wide range of behaviour. You might tell the police what you think is a reasonable subtitle for why something happened – but you might moreover be whereas that you single-minded a crime. In addition, although you may not have single-minded a criminal act yourself, you could be guilty of a criminal offence considering you helped or encouraged flipside person who single-minded the offence. Some people speak with the police thesping that they are simply a witness, but end up saying something that causes the police to think they may be guilty as an “aider or abettor,” or an “accessory without the fact.” If there is any endangerment that the police are investigating whether you tapped the law, should unchangingly speak to a lawyer surpassing you say anything to the police. A lawyer can explain the risks and benefits of speaking with the police, and requite you translating well-nigh how you should proceed. CAN I SPEAK TO THE POLICE “OFF THE RECORD” OR GIVE AN “INFORMAL STATEMENT”? There is no such thing as “off the record” with a police officer. Anything you tell a police officer, at any time, can be used versus you. It is moreover important to remember it is not just signed or written statements, or formal audio or videotaped statements, that can be used versus you. nything you shoehorn to an officer, over the phone or in person, can be instantly recorded by the officer in his or her notebook and used versus you at a trial. IF I SPEAK WITH A LAWYER BEFORE I TALK TO THE POLICE WON’T THAT MAKE ME “LOOK GUILTY”? Many people worry that speaking with a lawyer will make the police think they are guilty, or make it squint like they have something to hide. It is important to remember that, if you are charged with an offence, the prosecutor cannot oppose that it is increasingly likely you are guilty considering you spoke with a lawyer. Innocent people and guilty people both need legal advice. Ultimately, whether you “look guilty” is less important than whether it can be proven you are guilty. A lawyer can requite you the important translating you need to prevent making a mistake that cannot be undone. WHO CAN I TALK TO IF I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? A lawyer at Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey can requite you translating well-nigh what to do, before you speak with the police. Contact us for advice. Contact Us lawyers@pringlelaw.ca(780) 424-8866 Leave this Blank if are sentient Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey300-10150 100 Street NW Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 0P6lawyers@pringlelaw.caUndeniabilityus 24/7: (780) 424-8866 Copyright © 2018 Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey | Disclaimer Menu