Police Interview
One of the crucial components of a crime investigation is conducting a formal police interview with a suspected criminal. It is one of the first steps in initiating an investigation when someone is accused of a crime.
The police conduct a video-recorded interview of the accused suspects. These interviews play an important role in helping the jury and the detective decide whether a person is guilty or not.
While anyone convicted must attend a police station when called for an interview, it is essential to know and understand your democratic rights in such circumstances. Although a criminal defense attorney can assist you in dealing with police interviews, here are some essential guidelines on how to participate in a police interview when suspected of a crime.
Many suspected criminals often think they will get into more trouble if they refuse to participate in an interview. While refusing to answer specific questions may indicate that you are hiding something, you have every legal right to remain silent in response to any question you feel uncomfortable with.
Your inability to answer some questions during the interview cannot influence the verdict of a magistrate or jury. It will simply be seen as your legal right to remain silent. Therefore, it is always better not to answer certain questions rather than make mistakes, such as incriminating someone else, providing an incorrect date or time, or giving false information.
The prosecution may consider you untrustworthy if you make the mistake of giving false answers during your police interview.
Are there consequences for not answering any questions?
There are no consequences for remaining silent in response to a question. Your silence cannot be considered evidence of your guilt by the prosecution. While you have every right to refuse to answer any questions during the video interview, your selective approach to responding during a police interview may be admissible as evidence during the trial.
Selective response refers to answering some questions and not others.
The police do not have the right to offer you money to participate in the interview.
The police do not have the right to offer money or exert any incentive to convince you to answer the questions in the interview. They do not have the power to pressure you or offer you bail in exchange for answering some interview questions.
However, if you experience this behavior before or during the interview, you should inform your criminal defense attorney about it before completing the video interview.
As a criminal defense attorney, Jorge Fernández has extensive experience in helping his clients deal with the Mexican police. If the police seek you out for an interview or have arrested you after being accused of a crime, do not hesitate to contact me at 686.2.55.85.32.
