In the discussion below, Bob makes a comment that deserves attention.
If I understand correctly a POI does not have the same protections (wouldn't require Miranda, for instance) a suspect has, and once the genie is out of the bottle, I don't trust the system to protect that non-Mirandized (POI) information from being used. Just too tempting.
We generally Mirandize everyone in one form or another. There is a misconception that Miranda only applies if a person is being arrested. That's not true. Miranda applies to everyone, all the time. A citizen is never under any obligation to talk with the police, and applies whenever. While it is certainly true that each agency has a Miranda form that can be used to document the process, the absence of the form doesn't mean that a person does not have Miranda protections.
Sometimes it is in the person't best interest to talk with us. Other times it is not. But, we always start the conversation with "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to.", or words to that effect.
YOU ALWAYS HAVE YOUR MIRANDA RIGHTS. You do not have to talk to the police if you do not want to.
One example. In the early 90s I was working a murder investigation. We had a corpse in a kitchen, in a suburban neighborhood. The coroner set the time of death at Friday night about 6:00 pm. We found the body on Monday morning. During the investigation we did a neighborhood canvass. We knocked on doors asking the neighbors if they had seen anything suspicious on Friday afternoon. Some folks wanted to talk with us, some folks didn't. They all had the right to tell us that they didn't want to talk with us.
Everyone has Miranda right, all the time. The one exception is in what we call a Spontaneous Declaration. If a person comes up to me, and tells me that they have committed some heinous offense, then I can arrest based on that declaration. I didn't ask for it, I wasn't looking for it, it just dropped in my lap, and I can use it. And, you can believe I am going to bring out a Miranda form.
2 comments:
"I had the right to remain silent......but not the ability."
Ron White
Hah! Ron White with cigar in hand and short glass on the nearby stool. :-)
Pawpaw, add me to the list of those with the misconception. Well, maybe not really so, but I think there is a a difference between things we know and things we realize -- followed by the Ron White Syndrome.
Thank you for addressing the subject. Time much appreciated.
You know, even if you didn't want to do a more formal form of it, I'd bet there would be quite a few people who would enjoy, and pay for, a few musings compiled into a PDF regarding some of your LEO experiences. Speech-to-text is easy and fairly efficient/accurate these days. I use it all the time in documenting my World War II history notes, paragraphs and pages to cross-reference, notes to others, etc. You know -- during all that spare time you have while not shooting!
Seriously though - think about some "I remember when we..."
Thanks again.
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