If you are ever arrested and placed in the back seat of a police car, you will likely have a flood of thoughts and feelings as you attempt to analyze the implications of what just happened. If you know that you are not guilty of any criminal offense, you are likely to have the additional stress of wondering how your rights could have been violated in this manner. And what you can do about it.

Many people in Clarke County, and in other counties in Georgia as well, are illegally ‘lawfully’ arrested every year. Essentially, it is the American system of justice that allows a police officer to arrest you for virtually any reason, even on a whim. Now granted, they are not supposed to arrest you without probable cause, but presumably no one over the age of 17 believes that everyone tells the truth all the time, under all circumstances. Police officers lie and tell untruths frequently, perhaps more than your average citizen. So if a police officer decides to arrest you because you offended him, or you refused to allow a consensual search of your automobile, or refused to answer questions, or for any other reason, they can and most likely will do it, just because they can. I have found that some officers will arrest someone for obstruction and decide later what the grounds for the arrest are. They are probably hoping that you will “take a plea” to avoid the embarrassment of a public trial.

This brief summary of what you are facing is not intended to scare you, or inform you of all your rights. Certainly, you have a Constitutional right to refuse a search and to refuse to answer any questions, although many people do waive these rights, generally to their detriment. Because, if there is one thing that is always true and hard to accept by someone who just wants to go on their way without being harassed by government agents, it is that you cannot talk your way out of an arrest once a police officer decides to arrest you. But, you can talk your way into a conviction after that arrest, even as you do not realize you are doing so.