Should I Speak with the Police

The answer to the question of whether you should speak with the police on the surface seems like a tough choice. From an early age, we are encouraged to trust the police, and that we should answer their questions in order to "assist them" in their investigation. A person who hesitates to speak with officers is treated as a guilty person who is refusing to speak in order to hide something. You must have done something wrong if you don't bother to tell your side of the story. Police officers understand the pressure to speak and use different means, some subtle, to encourage you to speak.

If the police have asked to interview you and get "your side of the story", understand that prior to talking with you, the police have already decided whether they are going to arrest you. It's a done deal, one way or the other. And it doesn't matter if are completely innocent of the charges. The history of criminal law is littered with cases where innocent people have made statements to the police and have still been arrested and charged with crimes. Do you not fool yourself into believing yourself the exception to the rule and that you, of all the millions of defendants before you, will someone "talk your way out of" an arrest.

Take, for example, the case of a 9-11 call for domestic violence. Your spouse has called the police claiming that you assaulted him or her after you got home drunk. You happen to be completely innocent of the charges-you never assaulted your spouse, but you did have a beer or two that evening. Emboldened by the belief that the "truth will set you free", you willingly speak with the police and give them your side of the story. Unfortunately, the police have already decided whether to arrest you based on what the "victim" has already stated.

Anything you say to the police will be used against you and even the most innocuous and seemingly positive statements in your defense can be twisted to support elements of the "victim's" story. Returning to the hypothetical, thinking that you might be helping your case by talking, you might also be admitting that you had been drinking; that you got mad at your spouse; and that this wasn't the first time you have argued. An interviewing police officer will hear each of these seemingly innocent statements as facts corroborating the "victim's" story.

Please remember that your silence, even to police officers, cannot be used against you in a court of law. You are under no obligation to speak with police officers and before you consider trying to "talk your way out" of an arrest, remember: the police have already made up their minds about you and there is nothing you can say that will keep you from being arrested.

Before talking to the police, you can call The Law Office of Andres R. Guevara for a free consultation at (720) 379-8262.

• P. v. MM (2010): Arapahoe county case involving innocent client mistakenly charged with drug sale. Successfully argued for dismissal of case.
• P. v. C.B. (2010): Felony drug possession case. Successfully argued for suppression of drug evidence in case where police illegally entered an apartment under the pretense of conducting a child welfare check. Case dismissed.
• P. v. I (2010): Client charged with inciting a prison riot and faced long mandatory prison if convicted. Successfully negotiated plea for probation.
• P. v. B-G (2009): Arapahoe County felony case in which client was passenger in vehicle containing over 200 grams of cocaine. Over prosecution's objections, and despite the fact that a co-defendant received a two-year prison sentence, successfully argued to the judge for a sentence of probation.
• P. v. J. (2009): Felony identity theft case in Arapahoe County. Client wrongly accused of being involved in a scheme to defraud when in actuality client was a victim of the same scheme. Case dismissed.
• P. v. E. (2009): Client falsely accused by third party of illegal weapons possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Case dismissed after attorney investigation into accuser's background and the allegations.
• P. v. O (2009): Client charged as look-out for alleged felony cocaine drug sales. Case dismissed.
• P. v. C. (2008): Client accused of public indecency for changing clothes in a secluded part of a park. If convicted, client would have had to register as a sex offender. Client acquitted at trial of all counts.

Law Office of Andres R. Guevara
1733 High Street
Denver, CO 80218
Phone: 720-256-2306
Toll Free: 888-265-0044
Fax: 303-333-9493
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