Articles Posted in Law Enforcement

In every case, the answer to this question is the same – it is an unqualified unequivocal NO!

The way this issue usually comes up in my practice is when a client or potential client calls my office and says that they received a call from police asking them to come to the station to “answer a few questions,” what should I do?

First of all, let’s remember that words mean things, and the cops know what words to use.  They will ask you to come down for an interview.  What they really want to do is interrogate you.  If they were asking you to come down for an interrogation then how would you answer?

Our country was founded on the principle of limited government.  This means that police officers are supposed to be limited in their ability to do things like search your home, stop and frisk you on the street or even stop your car.  The question is limited by whom?  And the answer is, limited by judges.

The judges are members of the judicial branch of government, while the police are members of the executive.  Thus, when judges limit the power of the police they are doing what the constitution says they are supposed to do.  But when they expand the power of the police, they are abnegating their constitutional role.

This is a problem at all levels of government, but is a gigantic problem when we are talking about the court of final authority, the Supreme Court.  That’s why it’s so significant when a Supreme Court Justice complains that the United States Supreme Court is bending the rules to favor the police and prosecutors.