20 Secrets Police Officers Don't Want You to Know
The police don't have the right to look through your phone, even when you're in custody.
Unless you give your express consent or there is a warrant, the police do not have the right to look through the contents of your phone—even when you're in their custody. This was decided in the landmark Riley v. California case in 2014, for which Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. decided that, since "digital data stored on a cell phone cannot itself be used as a weapon to harm an arresting officer or to effectuate the arrestee's escape," there is no immediate need for an officer to access the contents of a person's digital devices.
Nor can they enter your residence without a warrant or your consent.
Regardless of what you might see on TV, police officers can't actually burst into your home unless they either A. have a warrant or B. have received your express consent to do so. However, as Scharff Law Firm in Raleigh, North Carolina, points out, there are a few exceptions to this rule. For instance, an officer can enter your home without your consent under the plain view doctrine when they "can see evidence within their sightline."
They also can't search your property without a warrant or your consent.
Not only do police officers not have the right to enter your home without a warrant, but they also can't search your property without one or your consent. But this right is rather recent; it was only in 2018 that the Supreme Court ruled in Collins v. Virginia that "when a law enforcement officer physically intrudes on [a person's property] to gather evidence, a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment has occurred."
Police officers can legally lie to you about having evidence.
And they can trick you into giving them your DNA.
It's also possible for them to get access to your DNA through DNA testing kit companies.
You are legally allowed to film and photograph police officers.
And they can't ask you to delete videos or photos from your phone without a warrant.
Not all states require that you show an officer your identification.
Police have the right to search any abandoned property.
Everything you say is on the record.
Unless you have been arrested or are being detained, you have every right to leave a police station.
The police aren't required to read you your rights if you aren't being detained.
And even if you were arrested, there are things that you can say before being read your rights that are admissible in court.
You have the right to look at any search warrants.
Officers with search warrants almost always have to knock before they enter your house.
Police need probable cause to pull you over.
The police don't have the right to pull you over without probable cause, notes Dallas criminal attorney Mick Mickelson. What's more, if they do pull you over without a reason to do so and subsequently find evidence of a crime in your car, "they usually can't use that evidence in court against you."
A police officer can give you a speeding ticket based on their visual observations alone.
Police officers aren't as familiar with the laws as we may believe.
Just because police officers are tasked with keeping the streets safe and making sure that citizens are abiding by basic laws doesn't mean that they know every single thing about the criminal justice system. Rather, Rick Bruno, a retired police commander, noted on Quora that "there are a lot of laws out there, and we [police officers] know the basic ones for the most part—the ones we deal with all the time—but sometimes someone does something that looks illegal and we're not quite sure."
And they don't always trust their fellow men in uniform.
Know your rights.
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