👩⚖️Knowing your Rights
**All case laws, laws and regulations can be located HERE.
Law enforcement officers have been delegated a multitude of authorities, and with that authority comes checks and balances. The balances are internal and external policies and regulations put in place to ensure abuse of power or misconduct is accounted for, and thy parties are held accounted for. Here are some rights that the Los Santos Police Department wishes to provide the public so that they may be able to detect wrongful conduct, or defend themselves from it. The San Andreas law enforcement departments have in place a system of accountability, which you can appeal to by:
Requesting the presence of a Supervisor.
Submitting an Internal Affairs complaint at the local department
Miranda Rights
During the process of the arrest procedures, officers must inform the suspect(s) of their Miranda Rights.
" You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you.
You may choose not to say anything during the arresting procedure
If you do choose to say something, it may be used against you.
You have the right to a government-appointed attorney present during legal questioning.
If at any point, a Police Officer chooses to question you, you can request a lawyer to be present with you. This does not apply when you are not being questioned.
Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you? "
These rights must be repeated once and only once if the individual being read the rights to does not understand them prior to sentencing and/or questioning.
These rights can be read at any location and at any point of the arrest prior to the sentencing, at no point are officers required to stay on scene due to a lack of understanding of the Miranda Rights.
Search and Seizure
The authority to search and seize applies when a misdemeanor or felony crime has been committed.
Officers are allowed to search and seize any and all illegal or potentially dangerous items from the person of interest, and any and all property involved at the time of the crime, and at the time of an arrest.
A citation alone does not authorize law enforcement officers the right to conduct a search and seizure, but does authorize them to lawfully identify the person(s) involved.
Evidence
No witness account other than that of an actively employed law enforcement officer (on/off) duty is permissible as evidence on its own.
Proof of a crime being committed, or that will be committed, needs to be present in order for there to be enforcement of the law.
Without permissible evidence of a crime committed, law enforcement officers are still allowed to investigate the matter with the element that no person(s) is found guilty of a crime prior to the presence of evidence.
Custody
Being Detained and Arrested are separate matters.
When detained the person(s) is under the law enforcement officer’s custody and is not free to leave until otherwise told to by the officer/deputy. One could also be detained while inside a police vehicle.
Detainment can include situations such as traffic stops, on foot, etc. During a traffic stop, all occupants of the vehicle are detained.
Arrest is the deprivation of a person(s) freedom where the person is charged for a misdemeanor or felony crime and imprisoned.
Probable Cause
Probable cause is when officers suspect that a crime has been committed/will be committed/is being committed. The following elements qualify as the probable cause:
Violation of a law (Citation, Misdemeanor, Felony, Etc.) including face concealment.
Matching descriptors.
Threats being made.
Firearms possession.
Wearing apparel resembling that of a club/organization/group involved in criminal activities is not a crime in and of itself, however, may prompt further investigations or questioning by officers.
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