What To Do If Police Stop You: These Are Your Rights : Life Kit : NPR - 0 views
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Routine stops can be downright life-threatening for Black and brown people in America.
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The Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable search and seizure. And the Fifth Amendment gives you the right to remain silent.
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2. Look into state-specific protections you may have. Check your state constitution, and look for state statutes that might grant you additional protections.
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Unreasonable search and seizure Excessive force Filming the police Rights at the time a police officer stops you Consent to search
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3. There are different levels to an interaction with the police: conversation, detention and arrest.
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Just like you can walk away from conversations with other people, you can walk away from the police if you are not being detained. Ask:
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1. Familiarize yourself with your constitutional rights. The First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments are most relevant in interactions with the police.
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If you are not free to leave, you are being detained. During this phase of the interaction, you are being held so the police can investigate any reasonable suspicion. An officer may ask to search you while you are detained. If that search leads to incriminating evidence, you may be arrested.
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4. If you are stopped, stay calm and don't volunteer too much information — you don't want to accidentally incriminate yourself. Under the Fifth Amendment, you have the right to remain silent.
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"If we start saying things to the police, you know, in an attempt to mitigate our involvement...That is going into a police report, which can go into a prosecutor's hands," says Hollie. That information could be used to decide whether or not to charge you with a crime.
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5. You do not have to consent to a search. If you opt out, make sure you verbally assert that right.
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If you are asked by a police officer if they can search you or your belongings, you have the right to say no, under the Fourth Amendment. If you are opting to exercise this right, it is crucial you verbally assert that you do not consent to a search. You can simply say, "I do not consent to a search."
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Beware: in some cases, body language can signal consent. "So really [be] mindful of your body language, the non-verbal cues that could be used to establish that you gave consent, even if that wasn't your intent," cautions Hollie.
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You can do everything "right" and still have your rights violated. If that happens, try to stay hopeful that a court of law will uphold your rights.
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If you don't consent to a search but a police officer does it anyway, Hollie says: don't resist. That could lead to charges against you. "Save it for court. Save it for your advocate to argue that what the officers did was unlawful and unconstitutional."
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"I think that this system gives you new and unfortunate reasons to not trust and to not hope. But if anything, I just can't see myself doing the work that I do if I don't have hope."