Police questioning raises difficult decisions, whether you are the one being investigated, you know you did not commit the crime, or the police want to speak with your child. Greg McCollum addresses whether to talk to the police during an investigation, whether cooperating is a good idea when you are innocent, and what parents should do when police want to question a child.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I talk to the police if I am being investigated?
Should you talk to the police? There’s no complete right or wrong answer. If you’re being investigated though, you need to understand that the police investigation generally is there to get incriminating information from you. Now, certainly, if you’re a witness to something or you just happen to see something, then you can talk to the police and tell them what happened, but in that situation you’re not being investigated.
If you’re being investigated, you need to understand that the police don’t necessarily have to tell you that you’re the target of the investigation. And so, should you talk to them or not? It doesn’t hurt to ask for a lawyer and get some legal advice, because you can always talk to the police later. There’s no magic moment at which you can talk or not talk. Sometimes the police present it that way, almost as if this is the only time you can talk, there won’t be another opportunity.
That’s certainly a legitimate police interrogation technique which they are allowed to use, but you can always talk to the police later. You can talk to them an hour later; you can talk to them the next day; you can talk to them the next week. You can always talk later. So, if you’re being questioned, it’s always good to consult an attorney, find out what you need to do, find out what the circumstances are.
The police want to speak with me about a crime I did not commit. Shouldn’t I just cooperate?
The inclination for most people is that they want to cooperate with the police, they want to help. Many times, that’s not a very good idea.
If the questioning turns into an interrogation, then many times people end up talking to the police for hours. Many times, those statements are recorded or videotaped. People get tired. The police interrogation is designed to entrap people and cause people to make mistakes, and the more mistakes you make, the more suspicious the police become. So, that’s the danger of doing that.
If you ask for a lawyer, the police cannot question you. Regardless of the situation, when you say, “I want a lawyer,” they have to stop asking you questions until you get a lawyer. So, if it takes you a day to get a lawyer, or a week to get a lawyer, they cannot question you until you have one.
What do I do if the police want to question my child?
What should you do if the police want to question your child? This is something that many parents do not understand, and children as young as 8 or 10 years old are arrested these days.
Children are taught from an early age to respect authority, and obey authority, and respect the police; those are all very good values, however, what parents don’t understand is that the police can and will question children without the parent’s knowledge.
If the police want to talk to your child, consult a lawyer. If they want to talk to your child, it’s something important. It could result in your child’s arrest. You do not want the police questioning your child without you being present, without a lawyer being present. Police have certain tactics; they’re trained, they’re schooled in how to talk to people and most of the time they’re gathering evidence.
And they’re probably gathering evidence against your child, which is going to be used in court. You may think that it cannot be used, but it can, so it’s very important.
When police want to question you or your child, the decisions made early can matter. Greg McCollum brings 30 years of experience to criminal defense in South Carolina, including his background as a former prosecutor, and can explain your options before any statement is made.
If you have questions about police questioning and investigations, call the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team at (843) 626-5480. Consultations are confidential.