The Basics of Police Investigation

To truly understand how police interrogation works, one must look at it from the prospective of a police officer. Police officers have a tough job. The people they come in contact with are either having a bad day, or are going to after they receive the ticket or the summons to appear in court. In addition, after they are done with their field work, they need to go back and prepare reports, which have to be exactly accurate or an experienced criminal attorney will pick them apart, and after that is done, there are cases that do not settle and the officer has to appear in court to testify as to what happened. As most rational human beings, police officers try to simplify their job as much as they can. They usually have to take time off work, or testify on their day off, while they rather be doing something else, so their goal is to have their report be so attack proof, that the defense attorneys have to advise their client that they should look into pleading this case. How does the police do this? By getting the accused to talk to them as much as possible before the arrest.

That’s right. Contrary to what TV says, whatever you say before you are in custody can and will be used against you in the court of law. The police will tell you that you have the right to remain silent after you are arrested. But you must also know that you have the right to remain silent at all times, and you should think long and hard before giving that up.

Let’s take an example of the most common way people come in contact with the police – speeding. You’re driving down the highway trying to keep up with traffic. You notice that you are going a little over the speed limit, yet everybody keeps passing you. For some reason your shiny red car draws the attention of the police and he pulls you over. You’re nervous by now, last you checked the speedometer looked like it was around 70 on a 60 mph zone. The officer approaches you and he has two choices: he can either state “I clocked you going 72 down the road there” to which you state “No I was not” and after some back and forth nothing comes out of it, and he more than likely will have to go to trial, or the second option is to say: “Do you know why I pulled you over?” or “Do you know how fast you were going?” These are open ended questions designed to get information out of you. So back to our scenario you are asked how fast you were going. You have a ball park idea, but do not know exactly, because you were watching the road and everyone passing you, so you try to come up with a number that you think is reasonable and reply that you thought you were going 65 mph in a 60 mph zone. At this exact moment the officer is smiling because you did what the large majority of people do in these circumstances. YOU JUST CONFESSED TO VIOLATING THE LAW. So the officer notes your confession and still gives you a ticket for going 72 in a 60, and there is a very low likelihood that this case will go to trial, since you already confessed.

So what do you do? Well first off, naturally drive the speed limit, so that when you are asked how fast you were going your answer should always be “I was going the speed limit”. If you were indeed going significantly over the limit then you can just provide the officer with your license and insurance and respectfully state that you do not wish to answer any more questions.

Certainly be aware of such questions as “Any reason you are in such a hurry tonight?” This is a very tricky question as it implies that you were in a hurry, so if you answer “No” then it simply means that you were in a hurry, but did not have a reason for it. Most often the officer’s notation would be that “driver admitted he was in a hurry”

Bottom line, both in speeding cases, as well as more serious crimes you have very little to gain and a lot to lose if you have a conversation with the police. Remember in spite of what the police tell you, they are there to get as much information as the can in order to secure your conviction. If you must talk to someone, call me at 206.6020 and I can help you.