Over and over I am asked why didn’t the police read me my rights? These constitutional rights are known as miranda warnings. What they don’t teach us in school or on television is that the police are not required to read a person miranda warnings until they try to question a suspect who is in custody. That means the police do not have to read a suspect miranda warnings when they get arrested. The police do not have to tell you what you are arrested for either. The question of the police informing a suspect of their rights is very important to understand. Many times the police come to a suspect’s home for questioning. When being questioned in your home, you are not under arrest or “custody” for miranda purposes. Therefore the police don’t have to advise her/him of their right to remain silent and the other miranda warnings. Many times the police invite suspects to the police department to be interviewed. In that case a person walking into the police department may be under the mistaken belief that they are merely going in for a friendly interview, and have no idea that they are probably a suspect, who the police will try get a statement or admission or confession from, or who will simply be arrested upon arrival to the police department. The police are not required to warn you of your rights until they arrest you or you are not free to leave. Many times people are arrested and the police never advise them of teir rights. This happens because the police do not always interview everyone they arrest. Most people get nervous when the police tell you you have the right to remain silent; You have the right to an attorney before answering any questions, Anything you say can and will be used against you……. The police look for ways to skirt around reading suspects their rights, because they are less likely to extract confessions from people who know their rights. A suspect is more likely to confess if they do not know their rights. Sadly, oftentimes, an individual does not even “confess” but makes statements that are construed or twisted by law enforcement and later used as confessions. Remember, statements are not required to be tape recorded! So many times it is your word against the police officer’s word. Knowledge is the key in everything we do in life. Knowledge maybe the key to your freedom. Most of the time you should never speak to the police if they suspect you did something wrong. In future blogs we will talk about the reasons why one shouldn’t speak with the police. How remaining silent can never be used against you, and how the police can lie and trick a person into confessing. Remember most people are convicted by their own words. Remember what your parents taught you: SILENCE IS GOLDEN, whenever you deal with law enforcement.