Interacting With Police

What To Do When Pulled Over

Almost all of us have had the expereince, we’re driving down the road and all of a sudden our anxiety level rises as we see the lights flashing in our rearview mirror. The knee jerk reaction for most people is to feel guilty. We may not know what we are guilty of but we just feel like we are. This feeling leads a lot of people to feel like they should admit to whatever the officers says because as long as they admit to it the police officer will go easy on them. Well these are all misconceptions about the law and law enforcement that need to be cleared up.

The Stop

The first thing to realize is that being stopped by the police does not mean you have done something wrong. Based on the law it should at least mean that the police officer has reasonable suspicion that there has been a violation, but unfortunately that is not always true. During a traffic stop an officer is limited to what he is allowed to do (obtain your license and  registration, investigate the reason for the stop), and it is important that you don’t consent to more than that.  As a citizen you are under no obligation to help the officer in his investigation, and in fact the constitution allows you the right to not incriminate yourself. Obviously, we are not advocating that you lie to the officer or keep him from doing his job, but it is important that you don’t admit to anything whether you think you are guilty or not. In most cases the individual does not understand the ins and outs of the law and does not understand whether or not they are truly guilty and admitting to something can lead to legal consequences later.

Submitting to DUI Testing

One of the areas that people help incriminate themselves is through sobriety tests. In Utah a person can refuse DUI testing, but doing so allows the police officer to arrest you. The benefit of resisting the test, however, is that without testing a DUI charge becomes difficult to prove. If you have already been charged with a DUI then you should call us today to get help with your case. 801.900.3371

Comments are closed.